Right flight school in SA for a Nigerian

[2gud2btrue]

Hi,
Please does anyone know about babcock central flying academy in midrand sa?
I am trying to make a choice of the right flight school to go in SA. Will appreciate a factual and unbiaised recommendationn especially from nigerians who went to sa..

[Dry Thunder]

In terms if training, keep your options open. Look at other airports such as Lanseria, Rand or Wonderboom.
These airports are closer to the near by training area as well as also have instrument approaches for your IFR training. It will save you the cost of having to fly dead legs arround just to complete the required flt exercise.
It may be costly, but a good idea to visit all the flight schools in person and inspect their setup before you part with your green backs.
It's personal preferance at the end of the day.
Good luck!!

[dynamicd]

Avoid training in SA if u can been training down here for the last 11 months n ive seen it all.suggest u try the aussies or the states if u can get a visa.if Sa is ure only option peel your eyes and read.

1.Take whatever you see on a flight schools website with a pinch of salt they are usually full of lies.
2.do not work on quotes given by the school as basis for your budget. u are more than likely to exceed this as quotes are based on legal minimums.take extra cash some students need double or tripple quoted figures.
3.do not i say again do not transfer any money to the schools account.come down to SA OPEN N ACCOUNT n put your funds you pay as you go do otherwise and you will regret it.
4.bear in mind that sa flight schools are are out to make money and you will be trained by inept instructors who are in the business cos they cant find a better job and to build hours.you must do a lot of self study to help yourself and you must speak up if you feel an instructor may be playing politics with you.
5.SA is still a very racist coutry and flight training schools are 100% owned by whites.there are only a handful of black instructors.this may work against u if you find yourself in a racist set up they will tolorate you for your money and frustrate your efforts.
6.Even whilst enroled in a school in sa you can legally change to another school you just make sure that you change your permit at home affairs
7.budget to stay in sa longer than the average which is a year and make sure your study permit remains valid for more than a year.

Anyway dont get me wrong there are some nice instructors and if you are wise you can train successfully here just be on your toes always.PM me if you need more info.

[foreigner]

If I can clarify a few things that "SA Hater" dynamicd has said, as most of his information is incorrect. I am not a flight instructor so promoting Flying schools is not on my agenda, however I think a couple of comments need to be made.

sa flight schools are are out to make money

ALL flight schools are out to make money, it is a business after all.


you will be trained by inept instructors who are in the business cos they cant find a better job


This must be the no.1 stupid comment from dynamicd. There are plenty of high hour instructors out there who are passionate about instructing. If you are not sure, ask them what experience they have.


SA is still a very racist coutry and flight training schools are 100% owned by whites


Again - wrong. There are flight schools who are "black" owned, there are many black students learning to fly. I have yet to see a flight school that has a race problem.


Take whatever you see on a flight schools website with a pinch of salt they are usually full of lies


Why don't you give us an example?


budget to stay in sa longer than the average which is a year


Why? are you doing a comm or a ppl. Give us your reasons for saying this.

2gud2btrue - best of luck whatever you choose, lets hope some constructive comments start appearing

[GgW]

dynamicd hva made a fwe valid points but just to add on to what he said/she.....

1.Take whatever you see on a flight schools website with a pinch of salt they are usually full of lies.


That is true, so do your home work.


2.do not work on quotes given by the school as basis for your budget. u are more than likely to exceed this as quotes are based on legal minimums.take extra cash some students need double or tripple quoted figures.




Also true but some people hack it and when solo in good times others take up to 30 + hours . That is the determining factor if you will stay in budget. If you struggle everthing snowballs from there on.


3.do not i say again do not transfer any money to the schools account.come down to SA OPEN N ACCOUNT n put your funds you pay as you go do otherwise and you will regret it


Do not pay up front to anyschool in the world. Europe etc.


4.bear in mind that sa flight schools are are out to make money and you will be trained by inept instructors who are in the business cos they cant find a better job and to build hours.you must do a lot of self study to help yourself and you must speak up if you feel an instructor may be playing politics with you.



All schools in the world does that, flight school's are not charities.


5.SA is still a very racist coutry and flight training schools are 100% owned by whites.there are only a handful of black instructors.this may work against u if you find yourself in a racist set up they will tolorate you for your money and frustrate your efforts.


Most black graduates do not need to became instructors, they get usually work straight out of the flight school, in SA affirmative action is a on going process.

Many of the schools in the Eastern Cape of the South Africa is flooded with people from the rest of Africa, a google search and you will find al of them. So I would not even think of going to Austalia or the States , because many countries up in Africa recognise the South African licenses.

PM me and I will give you a few good schools than you can decide for yourself.

cheers
GgW

[DawnTreader]

Avoid training in SA if u can been training down here for the last 11 months n ive seen it all.suggest u try the aussies or the states if u can get a visa.if Sa is ure only option peel your eyes and read.

Depends on what license you want to get. The USA license is more orientated towards practical flying. The SA one is more similar to the British/Euro ones where you need to pack a lot of facts into your brain as well as learn to fly well.

1.Take whatever you see on a flight schools website with a pinch of salt they are usually full of lies.

Not totally. They do 'dress up' what is on offer'. Also advertising standards and regulation in RSA are lower and businesses get away with a lot.

2.do not work on quotes given by the school as basis for your budget. u are more than likely to exceed this as quotes are based on legal minimums.take extra cash some students need double or tripple quoted figures.

I've noticed that local schools have a far closer eye on on their bank balance than those abroad. They seem to put profit before service. There is a misconception about what foreigners expect from a school. Is it OK to serve bad food, have a chaotic booking system or have an instructor that doesn't pitch up. Schools reflect the country they are in. South Africans are quite laid back and have a lax attitute when it comes to organisation. A school that is prestigous in RSA would be run-of-the-mill in the UK for example.

3.do not i say again do not transfer any money to the schools account.come down to SA OPEN N ACCOUNT n put your funds you pay as you go do otherwise and you will regret it.

Oh yes! Take care when it comes to parting with cash. Keep receipts and get regular statements of account. Get a clear idea what will happen to your deposit. Pay-as-you-go is recommended.

4.bear in mind that sa flight schools are are out to make money and you will be trained by inept instructors who are in the business cos they cant find a better job and to build hours.you must do a lot of self study to help yourself and you must speak up if you feel an instructor may be playing politics with you.

Very much a business mentality here. NO, in my experience the instructors have been 99% competent. I'll even go on to say that there is often little difference between one from an excellent school and one from a small club. Occasionally you get one who imposes his/her own ideas but this is down to personalities rather than competence. The bigger schools have programs to try and keep instructors on the same track in the training syllabus.

5.SA is still a very racist coutry and flight training schools are 100% owned by whites.there are only a handful of black instructors.this may work against u if you find yourself in a racist set up they will tolorate you for your money and frustrate your efforts.

There aren't many black instructors because few have chosen to stay at the schools, choosing instead to take the salaries offered by the airlines (only hiring blacks or women). If you fly well and pitch up on time and don't mess around you will be treated the same as anyone else. There are a lot of Afrikaaners people working in aviation. In the past, they didn't have a high regard for black people, so naturally you won't eliminate totally the remnants of racist thinking until at least another generation. Afrikaaners do try harder and even over-compensate at times. Just don't be an upstart and everything will be fine.

6.Even whilst enroled in a school in sa you can legally change to another school you just make sure that you change your permit at home affairs

Cannot comment. Maybe a bigger school will have a more informed, experienced person to deal with immigration?

7.budget to stay in sa longer than the average which is a year and make sure your study permit remains valid for more than a year.

Agreed. The weather is superb but often changeable. Also your progress depends on your abilities.

Anyway dont get me wrong there are some nice instructors and if you are wise you can train successfully here just be on your toes always.PM me if you need more info.

Yes. But there are some sneaky instructors who might try and make you fly a bit longer than you need to. Be on your guard for them.:=

[Mark J B]

I can recommend Avstar flight school in Pietermaritzburg. It is not in the Johannesburg area but is in quiet airspace and they will NOT rip you off. www.avstar.co.za

[airsupremacy]

Hello,
i understand your concerns, i'm also facing same challenge, frankly my advice to you is to think "globally" b4 you think "locally", south africa is a good place to train no doubt about that, but lately the training fees has skyrocketed due to the fact that more Nigerians and other africans are going there to train...you know the monopoly is healthy for them...no thanks to the difficulties experienced by Nigerians in getting visas to train in america (which offers the cheapest flight training in the world), this has become even harder after 9/11.
I spoke to a pilot recently and was adviced to consider training in canada, visa is comparatively easier to get, the schools are not too expensive, i saw a friend of mine off to the airport in june, he was all smiles that day, where was he going? babcock central flight academy! so you can imagine my shock when i got a mail from him a few weeks later complaining about the school, not the instruction but the fees! it was far higher than what he saw on their website,and he was already broke! he said something about the school having ways of getting money out of you,frankly he advised me not to make the mistake of coming over to the school, he's moved to another flight school (Lanseria).
Whatever choice you eventually make let it an informed one, take time out and compare schools, you may consider training in canada or elsewhere but it's ok if you are brain storming like mad on this...it's worth it...you know, for the best job in the world. all the best!:ok:

[GgW]

airsupremacy
lately the training fees has skyrocketed due to the fact that more Nigerians are going there to train...you know the monopoly is healthy for them...no thanks


.....and off course the rising avgas prices got nothing to do with it.

airsupremacy if you look around "globally" you might have notice that recently there was a huge avgas shortage ( due to upgrades to the factories), and the on going Middle East nonsense, is not doing the crude oil price any favours.

[Leezyjet]

Try Algoa flying club at PE.

Is is a club rather than a school, and this year celebrates its 50th anniversary, so that must say something about them. They are a not for profit organisation, and all the funds go back into the running of the club rather than someones back pocket.

They offer a full course from PPL right through to CPL/IR and ME.

When I was there, there was a black guy from Kenya who was doing his com's and a couple of Indians too, and there was no racism towards any of them at all.

Also you can pay as you go. They do not hassle you for upfront payment, all they ask is that your account is topped up occasionally to keep it in the black, and the flight administrator will let you know when funds are running low and you need a top up.

http://www.algoafc.co.za/

The website is a little out of date now though, just about all the a/c have just been fully refurbished since the pic on the front page was taken.

If you email them, they usually respond within 24 hours and will send you an up to date price list too.

You also have the advantage of training at a proper airport rather than an airfield that gets you mixing with the big boys from day 1.

:ok:

[Stayinalive]

Dynamcd...... after 11 months here u have not had enough?
Go back to where u came from and stop wasting our air.....loser:D

[6-String]

Brakpan/Benoni Flying Club was always a fantastic place to learn to fly (if it is still there) and there was never a shortage of post-flight debriefing and refreshements! Come to think of it, the same applies to the East Rand Flying Club in Springs! :ok:

[airsupremacy]

.....and off course the rising avgas prices got nothing to do with it.

airsupremacy if you look around "globally" you might have notice that recently there was a huge avgas shortage ( due to upgrades to the factories), and the on going Middle East nonsense, is not doing the crude oil price any favours.

i understand you

[Chopper101]

Hi. You should think of trying Springbok Aviation. It is a flight school in Mossel bay on the Garden Route in Western Cape. There is only one instructor who is the Founder of Springbok Aviation his name is Andre Middel who is well known and has +-18000hrs which are most for giving instruction. He has also taught about 100-200 people from there first flight untill there CPL. He uses his own plane to train which is in immaculate condition.

The school operates out of Mossel Bay airfield which is a small quite airfield inside of Moseel Bay general flying area where you will do most of your training, so there is not a lot of time spending on the ground taxying or flying dead legs to a general flying area. And once you are ready to start your IF training George Airport is just a 5 min flight away.

There are also many B&Bs and Back packers which cater for the pilots training at Springbok Aviation.

Andre Middel only takes a certain amount of students at one time to ensure that he has enough time to spend with each student every day.

You can contact him on +27825512364