Flying license (PPL)

[Michelderijk]

hi there,

Anybody ever tried to get their PPL in or near Singapore?

[carteki]

Easy answer - DON'T waste your time or your money.

The Singapore Flying Club offers theory lessons, but you cannot do any practical flying in Singapore airspace which means that you will have to go to Australia, Thailand or Malaysia to get your flying time. The JB flying club used to be an option, but last time I checked they no longer offered PPL training. This is not the reason for saying don't bother. (a simple web search would've pulled up this information which is how I found it).

Once you have your licence you will need / want to keep up your flying time. You cannot do this in any easy manner while living in Singapore. There is no General Flying area in which to practice skills and the nature of the weather means that you will really need an instrument rating in order to be safe (the weather can change very quickly as you may have noticed and there are not a great deal of landing fields dotted around. The next question is how will you use your licence? Tioman and Aur are over the sea and ideally you should have 2 engines (as well as IFR). Indonesia requires a 2 week notice period before you enter their airspace, so there goes your "last minute weekend jaunt to Bintan". None of the pilots I know here fly - its just not worth it.

[taxico]

you can fly in singapore but it's only within a (tiny) corridor in the northern'ish part of singapore - very boring.

i got my fixed-wing PPL in JB malaysia (DCA) many many years ago, and all my other ratings were obtained elsewhere.

but carteki's right - there's little use of getting a PPL in singapore unless you plan carefully in advance on how/where you're gonna use your rental ...

also i would think wet hours are probably quite high these days due to avgas prices.

you CANNOT complete your PPL in singapore (seletar flying club or singapore flying club), and it's cheaper to do it in senai. there is also no rotary option locally so... airplane only! head north and save a little.

BUT having said that... if the flying bug bites you, you should just go for at least a trial lesson first. it's awesome to be up there.

it will cost about S$15k-$17k to get your fixed wing PPL. triple that amount for rotary wing PPL on a (i think) robinson.

google for ELITE FLYING CLUB or FLY RIGHT and start from there...

[sundaymorningstaple]

Or do it the way I did. (Rotary Wing that is) Enlist and let the US military teach me! Course the real test was making it through 12-18 months of combat without a C&B! Or if you did have a C&B, were able to walk away from it. Of course, burnout is high. I flew about half a dozen times after my release from active duty and didn't even bother to convert my military rating to a civilian one after my release as the joy was gone.

[Michelderijk]

thanks for the update guys, because i currently don't live in SIN yet (relocate in Sept), i was not aware of of the difficulties in the region, here in Europe it's a lot easier.

i will google some bit but probably decide to postpone it till the next location i will live

thanks
M