Hello Richard.
Your confusion is easily dispelled. The law requires no licence, ceritificate of airworthiness, wing registration or training of a pilot of a Self Propelled Hang Glider (which is what the Civil Aviation Authority call paramotors).
If you train with a BHPA registered school you will be expected to become a member of the BHPA and abide by its codes of conduct, pass its exam(s) and obtain a BHPA rating. The ratings they issue for paramotoring are "Club Pilot" who is insured (as part of the membership) to fly within 2km of a take off site agreed with their instructor. This insurance is a third party liability cover to 5 million GBP and covers the landowner of your take off site as well as you in the event of being sued for damage or injury that you may cause in the course of your flight.
The Club pilot as been taught how to take off, fly and land, how to assess suitable flying sites and suitable weather, how to prepare equipment for flight, maintain it, inspect it and some principles of theory of flight to help inform decision making. And also will have passed an exam.
The BHPA pilot has undertaken further training and instruction in more advanced flying skills, air law and navigation and has passed a comprehensive theory exam and demonstrated competence by planning an out and return cross country flight. The Pilot rating insures you to fly wherever you wish within the air law.
When you are comparing rates you need to know exactly what you are comparing. If all you want is to learn how to get into the air there are those who will teach you this in a very short time. Some people are satisfied with this and learn the rest by trial and error or private study. Others prefer to be guided through it by an instructor who has been licensed by a national association and who is insured and through whose training all the necessary skills and knowledge to safely and legally fly in the UK and elsewhere can be learned.
TP Insurance is also available from AXA.
There is also another emergent association called APPI to which some instructors now affilliate.
Another is the PMC (paramotor club) which some instructors are affilliated to.
Still other instructors have no affiliation to any association.
There is no legal requirement or restriction preventing anyone from setting up as an instructor in this sport regardless of experience, training or status.
Some new pilots spend a lot of time researching these matters and compare "like for like", others take pot luck, many go on the recommendation of someone they trust who has had a good experience. Others, still, successfully teach themselves and others unsuccessfully.
Training is offered either by the day rate or by the course. The cost is widely variable as is the content and depth of training. I think the cheapest I have seen is about £500 and the most expensive £1800. The cheapest gets you into the air in a few days the most expensive gets you a BHPA pilot rating and may take several weeks.
I hope I have got these facts right but I will stand corrected I am sure.
Good luck.
Statistics: Posted by francis — Fri 27 Dec, 2013 9:34 am