The main reason I only ever considered RQAC/AAA is that they are probably the least likely to go out of business. Someone advised me when I was starting out to never run a positive account balance at a flight school. Always pay as you go. During my training two other flight schools at Archerfield went bust. RQAC consequently kept getting bigger as it collected the scraps form the failed operations. They now have a lot of new simulators including a 737 and their C172 fleet is being streamlined as they offload the old 172Ns.Quote:
Originally Posted by Trooper63
YCAB & YRED will always be cheaper but the good thing about Archerfield is that if you can handle traffic there, you can handle traffic anywhere. Plus your in Class-D so no need to travel to get that experience somewhere else. Eastern training area also can't be beaten for scenery, plenty of whales.
YRED is going to become interesting as I believe they are in the process of privatising it and have already banned flights in & out from non-Redcliffe schools. The parallel runway at YBBN is going to make things interesting. I can't actually see how their airspace can even remain once the Class-C area is expanded. It's already pretty well sandwiched in beside & underneath.
My training at RQ was fine, but I have a mate who has had no end of trouble with them - administratively speaking. Cancelled bookings, lost records, missed paperwork. It all comes down to the individual instructor and he was passed to three different ones due to instructors moving on or being transferred from RQ to the Airline Academy. I stuck with the one instructor the whole way through and it was fine. When I finished my PPL my regular instructor was also moved over to AAA so I made sure I latched onto the next most senior instructor for all my endorsements.
