Paul Heckles training

[Farmer Giles]

Hi,

I doing a heli training day at Paul Heckles place in Swindon on Sat the 20th March and just wanted to hear other peoples experiances of the day and if you thought it was a worthwhile investment in your heli training.

My aims for the day are to improve my 8's and maybe get into doing circuits and alot more nose in work.

I'm really looking forward to it (fingers x'd for the weather) I think we have a 1:4 instuctor to pupil ratio and we are there all day, they say about 6 hours flying time in total, split between each member of your group.

thanks

[debrooker]

Are you going to have a crack at the "A"?

really would have liked to gone to this (although my Raptor got stuffed today), it'll be a great experience i'm sure

[raptormark]

i did a day there and came away no better that was at his old feild i remember that when a light aircraft came in he shot off to refuel it.i think it is better to do one on one as there was 2 of us my boy is now having lessons one on one local to us but good luck

[Farmer Giles]

Are you going to have a crack at the "A"?

Not planning to TBH, even if my flying was up to it (which I doubt) I have not boned up on the BMFA hand book so I doubt I'd get many of the questions right.. and although I do fly safely IMO I don't know if I strictly follow the BMFA way when in the pits and taking off / landing etc...

Still I might sling the Raptor in the back of the car just in case even if I don't fly it it's there for me.

[trillian]

I went out there, I guess it was in early 2008. I had previously been flying mainly on a sim (RealFlight G3.5) and needing a bit of help making the leap into real flying and wanting to know how much of my sim skill would translate to the real world.

I spent a few hours there and flew a Raptor 30 and 50 on a buddy box and it was a very good experience. It gave me lots of confidence as well as a good 'reality check' on the differences from sim flying.

So for me it was very worthwhile. They have a very nice setup out there with a good field and little building for tea and stuff while waiting to fly or whatever.

[Rctintin]

I went there in January and it was -3 all day!

I felt that I did benefit from my time there, but it was 1 on 1, and I had 3 hrs continuous flying, until I could no longer feel a thing and starting to shake with cold! I will be going back again, as that is where I will do my A and B tests.

Hope you enjoy it, and let us know on here your experiences.

[woody5248]

PH flying school

I went last month and had a day 1 to 1, it was very worth while, i got 6 hours flying, the guy teaching me was very patient and explained things well. Lots of tea and lunch. I would not pay the day rate if i was one of four as you only get a quarter of the flying time. Are you paying by the hour? If so you should only pay for hands on time. It was worth doing for me.

R

Mike

[rexxy]

I did a 3 hour session there and felt it wasnt the best value for money.

However it did improve my confidence a bit ahead of maidening my first heli.

When you're spending £40 an hour you begrudge the instructor disappearing off on a golf-cart for a dump for 15mins!

[Mikej]

I've had quite a few lessons with Paul and always found them very useful - it was 1:1 however. I could only do 2 hours at a time, then my brain would explode - would probably be easier now that I am a bit better

[Adrian]

I did a 3 hour session there and felt it wasnt the best value for money.

However it did improve my confidence a bit ahead of maidening my first heli.

When you're spending £40 an hour you begrudge the instructor disappearing off on a golf-cart for a dump for 15mins!

Jesus £40 an hour! and you had to pay his time when hes not there.....%%*% that for a game, dont think my customers would like me dissappering off then charging them for it

[Farmer Giles]

The secratary of my club has arranged it all and we are paying £60 for the day including lunch etc.. so not too bad IMO considering it's normally £40 per hour.

[coptermanic]

I'll see you there Martin, with my 600, just in case I fancy a crack at the A.

[Adrian]

The secratary of my club has arranged it all and we are paying £60 for the day including lunch etc.. so not too bad IMO considering it's normally £40 per hour.

Ahh thats not so bad ,a day for £60 cant be bad

[trillian]

Ahh thats not so bad ,a day for £60 cant be bad

No that's not bad at all.

My lessons there were one on one so it was quite a bit more, especially after travel costs, but well worth it for me at the time.

[coptermanic]

I did a 3 hour session there and felt it wasnt the best value for money.

However it did improve my confidence a bit ahead of maidening my first heli.

When you're spending £40 an hour you begrudge the instructor disappearing off on a golf-cart for a dump for 15mins!

Maybe in our course critique/suggestions, we might add that there be a "facility" a bit closer!!!!!!!