training in the us

[birdlady]

Hi all

Just wondering if any of you had any recommendations for places in the us to do hour building.

Thanks
Birdlady

[Sensible]

Need a bit more to go on first:

Do you want cheap or do you want nice?
Do you want Florida or do you want California or somewhere else?

If it's cheap then Britannia or Debonair in Florida or Air Desert Pacific in California.:ok:

[birdlady]

Hi Sensible

Sorry I will be a bit more specific. I need a place where the weather is good (pretty much all year round) and the flying is cheap but good. Preferably JAA. I would like a place with decent instructors who know what they are doing. Or is this all asking too much.... two very bad experiences already.

Birdlady

[Charlie Zulu]

Hi Birdlady,

If all you are going to be doing is hour building, do you want the school to be JAA approved? You'll be severly limiting yourself in the choice of school.

There is *no* requirement for you to do any of your hour building at an approved JAA school, indeed some people buy their own plane to hour build.

Just because an instructor has a JAA Flight Instructor rating doesn't make him or her better than an FAA CFI. Indeed there are good and bad from both licence systems.

Indeed my FAA CPL/IR instrcutor was, in my opinion, excellent and a lot better than some instructors over on JAA land (UK).

Also the instructor will only be doing a quick checkout and maybe an FAA BFR (Bi-annual Flight Review to make you legal) anyway, that'll only take a couple of hours maximum.

Anyway if you do want a JAA approved school to rent an aeroplane from then I'd recommend Naples Air Center in Florida. They aren't the cheapest nor the most expensive but a good school, good instructors, not bad aeroplanes (their Arrow has a Garmin 430 and they also have a 1999 Cessna 172 etc).

If you want cheap then Air Desert Pacific in L.A., California. Rented there in 2000 and 2001, both on their Archers and an Arrow III. Very good prices and the instructors/staff are all pleasant and friendly. Nothing bad to say about them at all. They aren't JAA approved though.

Best wishes,

Charlie Zulu.

[Sensible]

Hi, Naples Air Centre is a great place, first class set up, good aircraft, won't steal your money and they know all about training but you won't get cheap hourbuilding there. Depending on your experience level, Florida is pretty good weather except the heat is a bit much in the summer and mind the thunderstorms from July through to October. The downside is that it is very flat so not very challenging. California is right next to lots of amazing places but the downside is the marine layer which can give problems with haze and fog. The cheap options are as in my previous post and I would be very surprised if you had a bad experience with any of the FBO's I have mentioned.

Good luck!

[OneIn60rule]

Some schools out there will try to sell you hour's building so that two people may go up in one plane and one of you logs hours "under the hood". This is something that you should look out for because in the JAA world it is NOT accepted that both of you may log PIC time when one of you is on INSTRUMENTS and the other is acting as SAFETY PILOT.

I mention this because it's a practice in the U.S.A. and people in the FAA world can get away with it while JAA will suffer.

I'd like to mention that there's also the chance of hour's building with DCA Academy. Naples air center though just from hear say it seems like a good viable place.

Luck to you.

[birdlady]

Just wanted to know if anybody has had any experience with debonair in florida? They seem to be one of the cheapest. Just wondering also if any one knows what you have to do to convert a JAA PPL into an FAA PPL. Do you have to do a flight test and the written exams?
Thanks
:ok: :ok: :ok: :ok:

[onehunga]

You don't have to convert your JAA PPL to an FAA model unless you really want to. Instead you can exercise the priviledges of your JAA licence in the US. There are many detailed threads that list all the rules and regs of doing this. Think the private flying forum is your best bet for that.

I flew 100 hours in and around Florida and did another 50 in LA. I preferred LA and found it more of a challenge getting in and around the basin (haze, density altitudes etc). The nightlife and being in a big city also appealed to me plus the ability to visit places like Arizona, Grand Canyon (subject to the exclusion zones), Vegas etc. I just found Florida a bit flat and boring although Key West was fun - but pricey!

Enjoy.

[willbav8r]

If you are thinking of Northern California: PM me.

[Sensible]

Here is an excellent link, just make sure you have the FAA airmans (or womans) certificate before you commit to flights and rentals etc!

http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?s=&threadid=118084&highlight=FAA+licence

[FlyingForFun]

Hi Birdlady,

First of all, why the US specifically? There are a few very good JAR-approved schools in the US where you can do your CPL, so if you want US flying (and I highly recommend it) then the CPL is the ideal time. For hours-building, I would go somewhere else, just so that when you go to the US for the CPL it's somewhere new and different, and you have as much variety of different flying environments as possible.

I think, from your profile and past posts, that you've already done lots of flying South Africa, yes? In which case why not try Europe, or Canada, or Australia for hour-building? As CZ says, you do not need a JAR-approved school, so you can go just about anywhere you like.

If you still decide to go to the US, then I recommend Chandler Air Service (www.aerobatics.com, although their website seems to be down at the moment - I hope that's only a temporary thing and doesn't mean that the school has closed down or anything?) in Phoenix, Arizona. This is where I did my hour-building (contrary to my own advice!) Some very good instructors, a wide range of aircraft, some fabulous scenery, and lots of interesting places within flying distance (Grand Canyon, Tucson, Sedona, Las Vegas, Los Angeles, San Fransisco.....) Also, you'll find that Arizona is a very different place to Florida (where many of the JAA schools are), so if you do your CPL in Florida you'll still get many of the benefits of the varied flying experiences.

FFF
---------------

[captmav]

You can't beat Debenair in Florida for hour building deals. Spoken to lots of people and they all agreed it was the place to go if you want to burn holes in the sky at a very reasonable rate, planes are not bad either.

Lots of Brits there, also quite a few from Africa......( South Africa, Namibia, Zimbabwe and Nigeria ) i believe.....!!!

Good luck,
Captmav

[carbonfibre]

Birdlady

I have rented a few times in FL, try Voyager aviation now at Merrit island used to be at titusville with Debenair, let me use a lovely little cherokee all to myself for 10 days, no hassles or rip offs

I think its been said, not very challenging in terms of terrain or navigation, but for long cross countries its a good one, just make sure you go end to end and maybe out of state if the renter allows, much more fun.

Good luck

:ok: