Originally Posted by
junior.VH-LFA
The ADF BFTS course was 60 hours - it isn't even close to a CPL standard. It's not ab-initio but they're definitely not winged qualified pilots. When it comes to things live navigation a PPL standard was substantially higher than what students had leaving BFTS. For this reason compleition of BFTS but not 2FTS did not entitle students to a PPL, let alone a CPL.
But it’s hardly “ab initio” (from the beginning). Students are sent solo, and are trained to a standard (
stats show a rough 20% failure rate at BFTS) in things like aerobatics, IF, VFR Nav and night flying. To a point the CASA and the AAT are satisfied the student pilots in question were too advanced to be considered “ab initio” (which would’ve been training up to RPL standard or GFPT as it was known in the day).