British Airways Flying Club

[night hawk 150]

Hi

Can anyone give me some information on BAFC like the maintenance of aircraft and availability.

Are the instructors nice and any more information would be great.

Thanks
Craig

[stevfire2]

hi craig,
BAFC is a very good set up.6 piper warriors, with another on line soon. plus a chipmunk and a piper dakota. very busy at week ends, mid week obviously less frantic. aircraft can be booked up to 3 weeks ahead. instructors are very good, a mix of full and part time,some from an in
structing only background, others are, or were,full time airline guys.
maintainence is absolutely first class, chief engineer is an ex raf "halton brat" who wont cut corners. dont forget, small though the aircraft are, they carry the BA name. condition of them is nigh on perfect.
plus, if you fly from booker, you learn in a VERY busy enviroment with an opposite direction glider circuit, helicopter traffic, strict noise abatement, and full ATC. after booker, going anywhere else should be a piece of cake!
give lorraine a call on 01494 529261/2 or get back to me if you want to know more, or if ive missed anything.
steve

[Human Factor]

They're the best maintained flying club aircraft I've ever seen (and I've seen a fair few). The only drawback with the place is if you want to book for a Saturday or a Sunday slot, it's very busy and the "3 weeks in advance" rule is strictly enforced. If you haven't phoned by 10am on the appropriate day three weeks before, it's unlikely you'll get a slot. Weekday slots are pretty easy to come by.

Also, none of the instructors are hours builders. Some are full-time, some are part-time and some of us are taking a break from the day job. ;)

[wsmempson]

I did my ppl there over the summers of 2003/4 and can back up what is said about the aircraft; old-ish warriors, but beautifully maintained. The instruction is terrific, no bored hour-builders. Mostly career instructors and an alarming number of ex-concorde pilots - who must find the change of pace quite dizzying.

The planes do get booked up in advance but once you have your ppl you can usually organise something at reasonably short notice. If I had a criticism, there isn't the same social scene that you perhaps get somewhere like White Waltham, but given that I live in central London, not sure how much of the social scene I'd see anyhow.

Dick Thurbin would be my instructor of choice - gave me confidence to do something I never thought possible.

Good luck!

[A and C]

The only thing I would add to the comments above is if look very carefully at the pricing policy, you will find that unlike a lot of places the scale of charges is very open.

You will find no Home base landing fees, instructor time add on's, or VAT added to the quoted price unlike the practice at some other clubs in the London area so what at BAFC might seem like an expensive way to get a PPL will turn out to be a very wise move.

I think that they offer a discount if you pay a £1000 up front and normaly I would not advise this as a wise course of action but the BAFC is the ONLY club in the UK that I would trust to hold on to some of my money.

In short "What they say is what you pay"

[smarthawke]

And despite being one of (if not the) busiest GA airfields in the country you can even walk around sans Hi-Viz jacket! Wonderful place, wonderful people.

[Wycombe]

Don't forget there are 2 very good Clubs at Wycombe :ok:

Ok, the other one doesn't have any ex-Concorde drivers that I'm aware of (does have at least one ex-Vulcan driver though), but does have some newer aeroplanes and excellent engineering in-house etc.

Yes, I am a member at WAC (albeit on a "break" from flying at the moment)

You do pay for all of this, but you do usually get what you pay for in this World.

[Aussie Andy]

I too would thoroughly recommend BAFC at Wycombe - excellent standards of instruction and maintenance, as has been said above. Excellent facilities as well.

I did my PPL there in 2000/2001. I also did my IMC rating there last year with CFI John Harthill, who anyone will tell you is a bit of legend as far as IMC training goes (PM me for more!). Even though I now also fly some other aircraft over at Benson, I think I will always maintain membership at BAFC as well, primarily for renting the Dakota, as well as for occasional refresher training (e.g. did a couple of hrs flying with Raf W. for an IMC refresher a couple of months ago) as well as renewals etc. There is also a resident AME, Ken M. so everything you need is there.

All the instructors are top-rate, and in addition to Dick see if you can get some time with Bob Cook - one of the most relaxed blokes around, and you can learn a lot from one of BA's original 747 pilots!

Seriously, its a top-rate non-nonsense club with a professional approach which I believe helps to turn out safer pilots. Social activities exist as well, but to me that's secondary. As someone else has said above, do give Lorraine (or whoever picks up the phone!) a call on 01494 773705.

Andy :ok:

[Brooklands]

I'd like to echo Wycombe's sentiments - if you're thinking of flying from Booker then do have a look at the Air Centre as well. I've been flying with them since I started (back in 1992 :eek: ), and am happy to hand over chunks of money to them from time to time (the frequecny depeding on how often I fly :) , or not :{ ).
One thing to bear in mid is that if your goal is commercial flying, then I don't think that the BA club have any complex singles or twins which are needed for the CPL/IR training
Brooklands

[Aussie Andy]

if your goal is commercial flying, then I don't think that the BA club have any complex singles or twins which are needed for the CPL/IR trainingWell BAFC has a "slightly complex" single (albeit not retractable) in G-ODAK, the PA28-236 Dakota which has a CS prop anyway, and I think there is still a twin Aztec G-BFBB, but overall I would tend to agree that WAC has more twin activity, and I am sure they too would be a good choice so you should absolutely check out both clubs (I am sure most people would).

Andy :ok:

[Human Factor]

There's an unwritten agreement that if you want commercial training at Booker, you go to WAC. If you want to do a PPL, go to BAFC. It ensures the business is shared around reasonably fairly (although you can do a PPL at WAC as well).

[night hawk 150]

Hey guys the information Provided is just great and is just what im looking for maybe you can tell me what the area is like for flying for instance weather and where they do their X country landings at.

thanks
craig:p :ok:

[Aussie Andy]

maybe you can tell me what the area is like for flying for instance weather and where they do their X country landings atWeather is the same as the rest of S.E. England! :) Being up on the Chiltern Hills at 520' amsl sometimes gives us slightly different weather to the surrounding area, but that can be slightly better or slightly worse... no worse than anywhere else here abouts on average, and in my experience is typically less badly affected than e.g. Benson as far as winter radiation fog is concerned.

When I did the qualifying cross-country from BAFC the land-aways were (presumably still are?) at Goodwood/Chichester and Bournemouth. For the earlier cross-countries it was Blackbushe as well. WAC probably do something different?

Andy :ok:

[eyeinthesky]

"There's an unwritten agreement that if you want commercial training at Booker, you go to WAC. If you want to do a PPL, go to BAFC. "

That would surprise me very much, and I suspect that the owners and management of WAC would not thank you for suggesting it! Certainly WAC also has a healthy crop of PPL students.

With regards to your last question, Ipswich:

Weather: Wycombe does have its own weather traits. Situated 500 ft up on the top of the Chilterns, it can have weather which precludes flying when White Waltham down the road is busy. In particular, a moist NE airflow often results in cloud forming on the Chilterns as the air rises off the Aylesbury plain, and the cloudbase can stay at 300ft or less all day. Conversely, when the Aylesbury plain is fogged out, Wycombe can be in glorious sunshine, and the trip to the edge of the Chilterns to look down on the fog is beautiful. (Not a great idea to fly over it single engined, however..!). A good rule of thumb is to look at the TAF and METAR for Luton (EGGW), which is also 500ft up on top of a hill. What they have is either about to arrive at WAP or has just come from there!

Flying Area: I don't think you could want for a better place. There is controlled airspace nearby to practice avoiding and crossing, MATZ and Class D control zones within 10-15 minutes flying time, and a very varied navigation area ranging from the Aylesbury plain to the hills and valleys of Wiltshire. The circuit can get very busy, and requires precise navigation skills to avoid being fingered by the noise protestors who live around it. In addition, you need to learn at a very early stage the technique for spotting other aircraft as it is a very popular area, compounded by the traffic routing around the edge of the Heathrow Zone.

Common places for X-Country landings are: Leicester, Nottingham, Cambridge, Gloucester, Cranfield (expensive and more usual for the advanced training than PPL) .

Hope this helps. Why not pop along to WAC or BAFC and go for a trial lesson to see what you think?

[night hawk 150]

thanks

hi this is brill guys i shall pop down for the day and have a look around and post back once i have an opinion.

regards
craig

[FormationFlyer]

Well BAFC has a "complex" single (albeit not retractable) in G-ODAK, the PA28-236 Dakota which has a CS prop anyway, and I think there is still a twin Aztec G-BFBB, but overall I would tend to agree that WAC has more twin activity, and I am sure they too would be a good choice so you should absolutely check out both clubs (I am sure most people would).
Andy :ok:

Just a quick note. 'Complex' for the purposes of CPL means VP Prop & retractable - i.e. Arrow or similar. VP prop alone is not enough.

[Aussie Andy]

... that's why I put "complex" in "" -- sheesh! :) Have amended to say "slightly complex" ;)

[A and C]

I think that the most important thing that most have only hinted at but I will say very clearly is that with both the BAFC and WAC you will get value for money, not the cheapest in terms of headline prices but at the end of the day you will get very good training as a fair price from both clubs.

As I have said above there are clubs not so far away that have all sorts of ways of parting you from your money in small additional fees that over the course of a PPL will add up to a large sum. . . . you will find none of this nonsence at either the BAFC of WAC.

You can also see from the above post a good deal of customer satisfaction from both camps, I wonder if the same holds true be for for other clubs in the London area? (for the WLAC the answer will be a resounding yes!)

[FormationFlyer]

... that's why I put "complex" in "" -- sheesh! :) Have amended to say "slightly complex" ;)

soz m8 - too subtle for me. 'I am not worthy';)

[B Fraser]

I'll add my tuppenceworth in that if you will quickly learn how to park a Warrior with only a foot clear on either wingtip. The airspace gets very busy with 3 different circuits in simultaneous operation (fixed, rotary and glider) which means you have to learn absolute discipline from day 1 which is no bad thing. Everywhere else should be a doddle after that :ok:

The ATC girls and boys are pin sharp however they won't jump down your throat when you get your calls muddled. They are very tolerant of students but ensure that standards are adhered to by qualified pilots.

I won't tell you who my instructor is otherwise they will get even more bookings !

[Dan Dare]

And don't forget the cross runway ops when 17/35 is in use and WAC want to fly their Duchesses through the heli/fixed wing/glider circuits:eek: