FAQ

The foundations for ‘The Flying VLOG’ took place during the early parts of my Private Pilot’s License studies. It wasn’t until 2017 however that I started ‘vlogging.’ It’s my intentions to increase skills through Guidance Materials and the CB-IR to promote General Aviation Safety as a Pilot.

Flying the world (General Aviation style), exploring its best hidden gems and educating along the way….

You can see more on a dedicated page about ‘The Flying VLOG‘

When it comes to uploading videos online, YouTube and Vimeo are the two most popular platforms in the market. YouTube is free, and as a content creator you’ll be able to upload as many videos as you like for free.

When it comes to audience size and reach, YouTube has the obvious advantage.

It is owned by Google, so it’s noticeably more visible into all their other products. Almost all Android phones in the world come with the YouTube app pre-installed.

YouTube has a community of more than 1 billion users, that’s one-third of the internet. It is also the world’s second most widely used search engine.

I usually upload on Sunday’s at 10am UK (LONDON GMT). 1000z in the winter or 0900z in the Summer. Nobody else seems to upload flying video’s at this time…

You can check my regularly updated schedule on my website.

I usually only accept requests via the Wingly Platform. However I’ve been extremely busy lately with getting my license back after a 6 month absence and boosting my skills to a higher standard before starting my EASA IR training.

Many countries and it’s airports have banned Wingly, despite it being approved by EASA. The UK CAA however is very supportive of Wingly’s activities. Flight sharing is fully legal in the European Union according to the European Regulation (EU) No 965/2012.

Some airports will ban you from using the airport. Making it difficult for me to justify the carriage of unknown passengers.

It’s probably one of the most beautiful and exciting things that anyone can do. It’s exhilarating each time you take off on a new flight. Each day brings a different adventure and steep learning curve.

You can watch more on The Flying VLOG.

I got my PPL in November 2011 after 45 hours training on the former NPPL. I converted this to an EASA PPL a few years later.

This depends on if you wish to fly “integrated” or “modular”. The modular route with a Flight Training Organisation (FTO) usually takes around 18 months to get a Frozen ATPL. A typical type rating for an airline, such as a Boeing 737 or Airbus A320 would take 6 months before you are flying passengers.

In the modular route, you complete your training at your own pace, flying when you can afford it and building your experience levels gradually. This could take you two years or five plus – it’s up to the individual.

This is what I am currently doing. Having flown over 200 hours, I’ve spent in the region of £40,000 on flying, flying equipment, flying exams and any associated fee’s such as airport fees or administration fee’s.

This will only grow to a similar figure to that of doing it via an FTO.

It depends which type of pilot you wish to be. Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot or Airline pilot? It then completely depends on which route you take, you can expect to pay between £40,000 and £120,000 to train for a commercial/airline pilot.

If you wish to get your Private Pilots License, this costs between £8,000-£10,000.

As of April 2019 I have over 200 hours experience and well over 300 landings.

I have an EASA night rating and an EASA Instrument Rating Restricted.

I currently fly a Non-Equity; Diamond Star DA40 D – G-ZANY, based at Stapleford Aerodrome, Essex, UK.

G-ZANY uses Jet-A1 fuel with a wide range of instruments making this aircraft ideal for IMC training and operations, and the cruise speed and long range tanks provide excellent touring capability.

Quite a substantial amount of time to edit. Usually 2-3 days of solid editing.

More on this soon…

I own a total of 5 GoPro’s, totally almost £2500 in value.

I have two GoPro Hero 4 black. One GoPro Hero 5 black. One Hero 6 Black and the latest GoPro Hero 7 Black. I will be slowly phasing out the older model and having all the latest models in the aircraft.

For safety reasons, I use no more than 4 cameras at once in flight.

The GoPro suction mounts and GoPro Ball joints add an additional cost of almost £300.

I edit the footage using Adobe Premiere Pro.

I have two set ways of recording ATC. One is via the older GoPro Hero 4 and as this routinely fails, I have a backup that is via the Zoom – H1 Handy Recorder.

More details will be provided about this soon, however it’s a trial and error to get the quality right. This has let down a lot of my videos in the past, and provided me with a nightmare in post edit.

Watch this space.

I plan my flights using SkyDemon. The MetOffice General Aviation website, Windy.com and various other tools.

More on this soon…