. Oh well, at least I'm getting really good at taxiing and refueling.
Reply With Quotesolmanic,
I guess you instructors have already told you, but you don't need a CPL to fly for your own business reasons. If you are just carting you and your staff around then no CPL needed. A night VFR rating may be helpful, but if you want to have some added flexibility then a (command instrument rating (CIR) is really required. In saying that, in 16 years of flying for business and pleasure I can count on both hands the number of times I have been delayed by weather. And the for the cost of a CIR you need to weigh up the costs in time and recurrent training in order to stay proficient to see if it is useful. You can do a Private IFR rating (PIFR) and although the currency requirements are less stringent you still need to be current and competent in your IFR flying.
In saying the above I also get to claim my flying on tax, which certainly helps reduce the cost.
As a bit of advice, whilst a nice new (well new to you) Baron at 195kts might look very sexy (and they fly nice) I would suggest starting off with something like a C182. They can carry your three pax plus full fuel and do everything you need. Get a few hours, a bit of experience, especially in outback flying (things like Outback VMC - you will learn what it is!) and such like then make a rather large financial decision on what you would like.
Another bit of advice, if you are going to do your CIR then look into the pro's and cons of buying your own aircraft to do it in, actually this goes for all of your training. If you can afford it, it really is the cheapest way to go. Whilst the aircraft out there may be 25-30 years old at the youngest in a lot of fleets, there is nothing wrong with these aircraft as long as they are maintained. The best part is older aircraft do not depreciate, in fact they slowly appreciate, so although you can claim depreciation on them as a paper deduction, when it comes time to sell you will at the very least get your money back, so even if you bought yourself a Warrior or C172 to do your PPL in and then used it for maybe 2 to 300 hours of flying building that experience before trading up to something else, you will get your money back. Now the flip side of the coin is the old saying, if it flies, floats or f&#%'s, RENT IT! It is for good reason, but then again, there is nothing like leaning up against the bar and saying "I just flew my aircraft in from XXX" Up to you and your accountant!
Now to the flying training part. If you can take time off in blocks to do it then I would absolutely advice that way. Even if it is a week at a time and aim to fly twice a day, ie 2 x 1 hour sorties up to GFPT and then 1 x navex a day or at least every second day. Yes people do learn at different rates, and I am sure you will quickly find if this is too much or you can do more, but flying training in blocks is the cheapest way to do it. You retain more, you don't have to go back over stuff you have already learnt and you build on the serials you did the flight before.
As for the RAAus flying, if you want to fly for recreation then by all means go the RAAus route. You sound like you need more flexibility therefore I would suggest doing all your training at a GA outfit. A full PPL, 45 odd hours at $250 per hour give or take plus medicals, AVID, ASIC, exams fees etc, will set you back around $12,000. Take your tax off that and you would be paying no more than about $7,000 depending on which tax bracket you are in. I have my RAAus licence as well as GA (although all my training was done in GA). I did the 5 hours transition to RAAus and have done some time in a Jabiru and a Lightwing and whilst they - the Lightwing in particular - was a whole heap of fun, for me, to go anywhere for business, they simply are not viable. Yes a Jab may do 120kts, but they do not handle turbulence as well plus the other restrictions (if RAAus registered) of certain airspace and airports, night, pax numbers etc. Additionally I like to turn myself (and any willing passengers!) upside down doing aerobatics and you cannot do that in RAAus. But each to their and I guess when it looks like i will no longer be able to hold a medical (hopefully a large number of years away yet!) I will take up RAAus flying just to stay in the air. But for now GA suits me.
RQAC has a fairly good reputation in the GA world. However - and this goes for all flying training organisations - you are the boss, you say who you want to fly with, what aircraft and with whom, not the other way around. Do not be scared of saying "I do not want to fly with Instructor X, I prefer Y and if you do not get joy then go somewhere else. It is not an insignificant amount of money you are spending so make sure you get value for it. There are a number of good schools around Brisvegas so don't think you have to stay with one school. Also never, ever, ever pay upfront for flying hours. Pay as you go. Some schools offer discounts if you pay upfront, but the 10% or so some offer is simply not worth the risk. I don't know whether you have seen the GA news recently but within the last two years a half dozen of the biggest flying training organisations have gone under (arguably the largest three at Bankstown just recently) and if you have $10-15,000 in their account then kiss goodbye to it for the foreseeable future. So if you only take on bit of advice from this post, please only pay as you go.
Do not be too proud to ask questions, especially of the offer from a Grade 1 instructor as offered on this thread. You will find the aviation community much like the 4WD one. Yes there are some idiots but most people are very professional, friendly and have an enthusiasm for flying that is infectious. Welcome to the wonderful world of aviation. It may be expensive but then again so are most fun things in this life.
If you would like any more info please let me know, only too happy to pass my own experience (sometimes expensive!) on to a fellow 4WDer and budding pilot. You never know, perhaps we could have a Aulro pilots meet somewhere!!!
Cheers
Dave J.
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Originally Posted by Pedro_The_Swift
Safe Travels
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