Sherburn Aero Club / Multiflight

[quant]

Morning all, I'm wondering if someone can share their exeperinces with regards to the above schools? Before anybody jumps on me and says do a search i already have done and all i turn up is gossip and other non relevant rubbish. What i am looking for is recent genuine experience regarding training for a ppl.

Sherburn is much cheaper than multiflight and the AT3 aircraft look great but does going cheaper mean losing quality? What's the instructor / aicraft availability like? etc

My aim is to start training in May.

thx ;)

[Pilotdom]

Hi Quant,

I am a recent PPL from Sherburn. The instructors and club itself are great. The AT-3's are cracking aircraft for PPL training, whilst the PA-28's are long in the tooth, they are still in quite good condition, and will serve you well for training. There is a club mebership fee of £130-140 a year which covers all home landing fees etc etc, and my PPL all in cost me around £6000. There is a tarmac runway, so no worries about water logging etc, and a nice club house for you to fill-up before/after flying. Regular event days/evenings are held which all helps to make a good club atmosphere.

I can't comment on Multiflight as I have never been there for instruction.

If you want a look around Sherburn and the club itself, let me know and I will meet you there for a cuppa and show you around.

Any more questions/info you require PM me or e-mail: dominicpriestley at dominicpriestley dot plus dot com

[liam548]

I too am using Sherburn for my PPL. It has a good atmosphere and I have not had a problem with booking lessons when I want, although I do take them during the week.

Instructors are great too.

I visited Multiflight prior and went on their open evening. Again they appear to have a very good set up although I cannot comment any further than this really.

Sherburn is probably a bit less "formal"..

Liam

[Shunter]

I wouldn't particularly describe Multiflight as formal, but it's definitely a school as opposed to a club. I passed my PPL and IMC in minimum hours with them a few years ago. At the time I chose MF over Sherburn, purely because they were on my doorstep and the convenience and lack of travelling time far outweighed any slight difference in price.

If I lived/worked on the other side of Leeds I expect I would have chosen Sherburn. I don't think one is really any better than the other for PPL training, although the social scene is obviously a bit more active at a club.

Plenty of pprune trolls like to moan about crosswinds and the odd cancelled lesson at Leeds due to the 32/14 runway orientation, but I found it taught me well; I'm quite happy shoehorning the Cardinal in and out of there with a 30kt crosswind component which I dare say would have left me quivering in the clubhouse had I learnt somewhere less challenging.

[-GQ-]

I would agree with all the positive comments about Sherburn. Can't comment on Multiflight, as I haven't used them.

Good luck, wherever you decide to fly.:ok:

[tyl3r]

At the risk of getting a lynching, but for the sake of balance, I'd like to say that Sherburn has never done it for me.

I live only 10-15 minutes away from Sherburn and so it was always the natural choice for me. However, after visiting a number of times prior to starting my PPL and each time being generally ignored or made to feel like an inconvenience to the people on the "flight desk", I contacted Multiflight (an hour's drive away). I was invited up, taken for a tour of the aircraft (fixed wing and rotary) and the simulator, given a drink, had lots of things explained to me – pros / cons, options, prices, etc.etc. and at the end of it felt under no pressure to hand over any money.

Perhaps I was on the receiving-end of a very conscientious Multiflight employee (I don't think everyone gets that treatment routinely) or perhaps they somehow could spot that I'd spend a small fortune with them over the next 6 years on training and SFH.

Last Sunday I went to Sherburn again to get up-to-date rates for a friend who wants to learn. Once again, I was ignored. After half an hour of reading all the 'for sale' notices, committee minutes and open letters I managed to trouble someone for a photocopied sheet of prices and come away with another unsatisfactory experience.

Sherburn is a club run by and for its members. It needs to offer the best value for money whilst maintaining its commercial viability according to the rules and regulations of the club as amended from time to time by the members.

Multiflight is a school/business whose primary aim is to make money for the owner whilst being based at an International Airport. Its prices are, unsurprisingly, higher. It needs to offer good customer service to keep its customers whilst charging these inflated rates.

I have no doubt that both outfits will offer good to excellent instruction (depending upon the instructor) in properly maintained machines and will get you flying competently in the right number of hours. I would suggest visiting both (and other schools) and maybe have a couple of trial lessons and see which "feels right" to you. So much of learning to fly is fitting all the different tasks into your available workload and feeling comfortable about your choice of instructor, machine and airfield is worth more in the long run than £s/h.

[ozbeck]

I have experience of learning at both Sherburn and Multiflight since I have spread my lessons out over several years and am now in the latter stages of training at Multiflight.

Sherburn is very much a club environment and Multiflight a professional organisation. I find the people at Multiflight just as friendly as Sherburn and, despite it being obvious that I will not be going on to become a professional pilot, there is no feeling of being treated differently to the fast track guys doing it for a career. I have not experienced any of the clubby 'yuk did you see that landing' type gossip at Multiflight either.

I switched from Sherburn mainly since I experienced a high turnover of instructors (2 - 3 years ago) which led to a degree of inconsistancy in the tuition. This did cause me some uncertainty and probably wasted some money. Also, if you intend to learn during weekdays be aware that Sherburn does not curently open on Mondays which restricts flying availability.

I had fewer sessions cancelled due to weather at Sherburn since LBA is more effected by low cloud due to it's height above sea level and it's single 32/14 runway which does not suit the prevailing wind. In wet weather, however, Sherburn's advantage of 2 additional grass runways is not so great because a lot of the time the grass strips were waterlogged leaving just the tarmac 29/11.

One major advantage of learning at Multiflight is the disipline of operating from a Cat D contolled international airport. I think the RT disipline this instills is invaluable and whilst possibly more scary at first soon becomes second nature and (all other things being equal) must make you a better pilot. It also means that the major airports you will fly to during your land away part of the test will not seem any different to what you are used to. Multiflight host a very good RT course which takes place in 2 separate days and culminates in your RT licence. My experience says it is a good idea to do this as early as possible in your training since I remember that trying to say the correct things over the radio used the mental capacity I should have been saving to actually fly the plane! You could take advantage of this RT course whether or not you ended up training with Multiflight for the rest of the ppl.

I agree with the fact that the main thing is to find an instructor who suits your personality and stick with them. The headline cost of lessons is a red herring since there are so many other factors which will effect the number of hours and, therefore, final cost of of qualifying.

If I were starting again I would learn with Multiflight but be quite happy to join Sherburn as a ppl if I was seeking a flying/social experience.

Hope it helps and good luck.

[Donny Matt]

Im only 6 hours in to training at sherburn but have had no issues at all yet, freindly instructors - i'm training in the At-3 and have found so far it to be one of two instructors instructing me. Whilst it would be prefererable to have the same instructor all the time i have had no problems and they always seem well briefed on what i did the previous lesson.
:ok:

[Pilotdom]

No need to worry about a risk of lynching, not every club will work for everyone. I agree with the points abpve about R/T discipline learning at a field in ClassD etc etc. I often think Sherburn can be a 'daunting' if thats the right word place if you don't know who is who and what is what. Doesn't take long to get into it though. Equally, Multiflights setup seems very good and friendly on the face of it. As others have said....Have a good look and chat around both places and choose what suits you best.

One word of advice though....NEVER,NEVER,NEVER PAY UPFRONT FOR TRAINING!

[honda cbx]

Donny Matt, i was taught at sherburn, don't be afraid to ask to stick with just one instructor if you feel more at ease etc.

[Donny Matt]

Good point honda - to be honest i feel at ease with either instructor so its not really an issue - if i was being passed around 3, 4 or 5 different instructors it would certainly be an issue.

[honda cbx]

Donny Matt, glad to hear that, i'm sure you'll do fine as i'ts a good place to learn, one piece of advice, try to make sure you enroll for the night school as it's very good value and explains a lot thats in the text books that for me at the time, just wouldn't sink in !! Good luck