best schools in south Africa
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best schools in south Africa
hi
could some one supply me with information about the BEST schools in South africa or any other country in africa. am hoping to start flyin in the next 6 months.
thanx
could some one supply me with information about the BEST schools in South africa or any other country in africa. am hoping to start flyin in the next 6 months.
thanx
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Best Schools in SA
Never know do you?!
Come by many names,I guess......seems to me that the "Flying" Schools in SA have been written about many,many times in these forums......just search.
Come by many names,I guess......seems to me that the "Flying" Schools in SA have been written about many,many times in these forums......just search.
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It is basically a luck of the draw because it really depends greatly on the individual flight instructor that is allocated to you. Whenever I had the choice, I would first check out and meet a couple of flight instructors and then choose the school accordingly. If you just go to a school, the chances are 50% that the instructor allocated to you, is not a person you would have personally preferred or chosen - so just remember two things: you are paying for the course, so get the best value for your money and secondly all instructors at any same institution will have the same rate per hour (cost), but their teaching methods, skills, experience and character are widely different.
Join Date: May 2005
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43 very expensive for non corporate client. There are so many schools you are spoiled for choice. My advice would be to decide where you want to base yourself while you are here, this will narrow it down to at least a city. Every city has its pro’s and cons.
Join Date: Jan 2006
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Best schools in Africa
Tricky one this - a can of worms !
Firstly - if you wishing to fly as a career on the world stage - South Africa does not teach any JAR / JAA syllabus ( at the moment ) which for you could be a big negative.
You would be working towards a SA PPL and / or SA commercial licence only.
Flight schools ? - as has been mentioned here - it all comes down to the instructors and their attitude / experience and theirin lies a potential problem. Attitude !! In SA there are some young instructors who have just achieved their SA com licence after a few months study and are starting to instruct because thats all thats on offer, but some instructors think its beneath them and want / think they deserve to be in the right hand seat of a shiny jet ! Entitlement.
Look out for a solid flight school with decent references from SA and overseas students, training SOP,s in print , then visit and meet instructors.
Locations ? - Cape Town - Stellenbosch - lots of experience here with some senior club members who you could persue for instruction.
Cape Town airport - not the greatest training environment with long taxi and then fitting in with airline traffic.
Johannesburg / Pretoria - ideal training location has to be Wonderboom. Dont know the flying schools here.
I suggest look at Port Elizabeth on the coast. Progress Flight Training - have their own airfield plus a modern fleet. Have trained overseas students including for airlines. Training area nearby plus a variety of cross country destinations.
I have no allegiance here , but heard good thing s about this operation.
Also - if you wish to look outside of SA - then look at Kalahari Flying School in Gaberone and Maun in Botswana. Great country .
All best with it all
Firstly - if you wishing to fly as a career on the world stage - South Africa does not teach any JAR / JAA syllabus ( at the moment ) which for you could be a big negative.
You would be working towards a SA PPL and / or SA commercial licence only.
Flight schools ? - as has been mentioned here - it all comes down to the instructors and their attitude / experience and theirin lies a potential problem. Attitude !! In SA there are some young instructors who have just achieved their SA com licence after a few months study and are starting to instruct because thats all thats on offer, but some instructors think its beneath them and want / think they deserve to be in the right hand seat of a shiny jet ! Entitlement.
Look out for a solid flight school with decent references from SA and overseas students, training SOP,s in print , then visit and meet instructors.
Locations ? - Cape Town - Stellenbosch - lots of experience here with some senior club members who you could persue for instruction.
Cape Town airport - not the greatest training environment with long taxi and then fitting in with airline traffic.
Johannesburg / Pretoria - ideal training location has to be Wonderboom. Dont know the flying schools here.
I suggest look at Port Elizabeth on the coast. Progress Flight Training - have their own airfield plus a modern fleet. Have trained overseas students including for airlines. Training area nearby plus a variety of cross country destinations.
I have no allegiance here , but heard good thing s about this operation.
Also - if you wish to look outside of SA - then look at Kalahari Flying School in Gaberone and Maun in Botswana. Great country .
All best with it all
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If I may use Proppilots answer as a guide to why 43 Airschool is often recommended:
The course at 43 is very clearly defined and presented quite consistently by the instructors. I would equate something like that to being ISO certified in an industrial setting, ie using a consistent, documented method to ensure the quality of the final product meeting certain defined standards. This therefore minimises (but does not remove entirely of course) the individual variations between instructors, whereas with other schools the quality of the course is almost entirely defined by whatever instructor you happen to get. Generalities, but still...
That said, the advice given here is quite correct - a good instructor at another school, combined with the proper amount of homework will get you to the same point for a lot less money. I disagree on the comments of 'attitude' here. Young/junior instructors would have to be literally retarded to believe that, in the SA job market, they are entitled to a 'right hand seat in a shiny jet'. Their individual qualities as an instructor will vary of course - instruction is one of those jobs which should be described as a 'calling'. You have to want to instruct to make the best of it, and not all instructors actually want to do it - they simply needed a start, or first job with which to begin getting paid to fly. Which of course still doesn't mean that they're 'bad' instructors, just that they're probably looking for a way our/forward (one can hardly blame them after all)
I did instruction for a reasonable amount of time, and it was a very satisfying job, but there's only so much you want to do before you'd like to move on. I feel qualified to comment here since I worked at both 43 Airschool and other flight schools as an instructor before moving on to contract work and I've seen the differences between schools. I'm not going to recommend a school however - it'll be up to individual situation/preferences.
The course at 43 is very clearly defined and presented quite consistently by the instructors. I would equate something like that to being ISO certified in an industrial setting, ie using a consistent, documented method to ensure the quality of the final product meeting certain defined standards. This therefore minimises (but does not remove entirely of course) the individual variations between instructors, whereas with other schools the quality of the course is almost entirely defined by whatever instructor you happen to get. Generalities, but still...
That said, the advice given here is quite correct - a good instructor at another school, combined with the proper amount of homework will get you to the same point for a lot less money. I disagree on the comments of 'attitude' here. Young/junior instructors would have to be literally retarded to believe that, in the SA job market, they are entitled to a 'right hand seat in a shiny jet'. Their individual qualities as an instructor will vary of course - instruction is one of those jobs which should be described as a 'calling'. You have to want to instruct to make the best of it, and not all instructors actually want to do it - they simply needed a start, or first job with which to begin getting paid to fly. Which of course still doesn't mean that they're 'bad' instructors, just that they're probably looking for a way our/forward (one can hardly blame them after all)
I did instruction for a reasonable amount of time, and it was a very satisfying job, but there's only so much you want to do before you'd like to move on. I feel qualified to comment here since I worked at both 43 Airschool and other flight schools as an instructor before moving on to contract work and I've seen the differences between schools. I'm not going to recommend a school however - it'll be up to individual situation/preferences.
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agree 100% with suitcaseman
the only people who believe 43 training is that good, is 43 instructors and people who has paid them their 'prima' dollars and is now too embarrassed to say it wasn't worth it
you'll get much more elsewhere...and you might actually learn how to go somewhere in a plane without having to ask controllers for directions at every turn
the only people who believe 43 training is that good, is 43 instructors and people who has paid them their 'prima' dollars and is now too embarrassed to say it wasn't worth it
you'll get much more elsewhere...and you might actually learn how to go somewhere in a plane without having to ask controllers for directions at every turn
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I am currently doing all my flying at Skyhawk. There is an instructor there named Renisha Naidoo. She is a very good instructor, passionate, knowledgable, SAFE (VERY SAFE) and makes the whole experience of parting with exhorbitant amounts of money much more palatable 
BTW, Skyhawk operates out of Lanseria.
BTW, Skyhawk operates out of Lanseria.
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I recently visited South Africa to complete a validation.
I flew at Foster Aero also based at Lanseria, found them to be VERY professional. The whole package was brilliant, competitive prices, very good service and brilliant instructors.
All their instructors are experienced in other aspects of aviation ie charters/airline/corporate so the training was brilliant and they not very busy so plenty of well maintained aircraft available for bookings.
Im not associated with them but I was blown away at the professional service I received, im recommending them to anyone!!
www.fosteraero.co.za speak to Phillip or Shaun ([email protected])
I flew at Foster Aero also based at Lanseria, found them to be VERY professional. The whole package was brilliant, competitive prices, very good service and brilliant instructors.
All their instructors are experienced in other aspects of aviation ie charters/airline/corporate so the training was brilliant and they not very busy so plenty of well maintained aircraft available for bookings.
Im not associated with them but I was blown away at the professional service I received, im recommending them to anyone!!
www.fosteraero.co.za speak to Phillip or Shaun ([email protected])
