New to Aviation

[1a-tej]

Hello fellow Aviators,

I am very new to your industry and am eager to undertake a CPL to fullfill a childhood addiction of flying, as I'm sure some of you can relate with! I require as much information as possible to assist in obtaining my CPL. Any help, hints, suggestions etc, on a professional basis would be very much appreciated!

Thankyou

Shaun

P.S. Thanks Red Snail.

[1a-tej]

Are there any "pilots" in this forum that can provide a helping hand with "relevant" support or information?

Thanks

Shaun

[trolleydriver]

i aint no me gramar to well, but it's never stopped me flying! come to think of it, its never made a rats ar#e of difference to my life. :ugh:

My advice would be to get the theory out of the way as early as possible, do a bit of flying, say upto GFPT, then hit the books and get the commercial theory passed. Then you can get on with the fun stuff. :ok:

[plucka]

First get your class1 medical out of the way. No point sitting all your exams and spending a small fortune on flying to then find you cant pass a medical.
Once that is out of the way, you want to get into the theroy. I would suggest you go to a school for this. Dont worry about your PPL subjects, go straight to your CPL subjects, they will cover PPL anyway.

At the risk of starting an arguement, my advice would be to find yourself an experienced pilot for your instructor, one with grey hair will be able to teach you alot more than an instructor that was on the course before yours. Unfortunately these are a little hard to come by.

I wish you all the best, the industry is looking at some interesting times ahead, all of which I think will be to the pilots advantage.

P.S. if there is anything wrong with my spelling or grammer FTDK I really dont give a :mad:.

[glenb]

Take care with doing to much of the theory too early. There are basically two different CPLs in Australia. One of them totalling a minimum of 150 hours and the other requires 200 hours. Your local flying school will be able to explain the difference.

One of the requirements of the 150 hour integrated syllabus is that you commence navigation training prior to sitting the PPL written examination. If you belt into the theory and complete the PPL exam prior to commencing the navigation training you wont be eligible for the 150 hour syllabus which could potentially cost you an extra $8,000 to $10,000, by forcing you onto the 200 hour CPL.

Go into at least three flying schools in your area and have a chat to them. You will get a good feel of what they have to offer. No matter how good the first school seems, dont make a decision until you have looked at the competitors.

Pay as you go. Dont go making substantial payments up front. That way if you are not satisfied you have more flexibility to transfer to a more suitable school.

You are joining a wonderful industry with a great group of people involved in it, and very bright career prospects provided you study hard, display professionalism and dont shaft anyone.

It would be great to get an experienced instructor but there are also a lot of brilliant more junior instructors out there. Ask your school to explain the differences in the different grades of instructor, and try to meet a few of them.If not satisfied with your instructor talk to the Chief Flying Instructor of your school, he will be able to allocate you to a more compatible instructor.

All schools will be paying virtually the same price for their instructors, fuel, aircraft parking, landing fees etc. Therefore prices should be fairly similar. If a school seems far cheaper than the others then further investigation is warranted.

Try to talk to existing students from the schools and chat to them for an honest appraisal of their school.

Whatever you decide, all the best with it.

[1a-tej]

Thanks for your advice!

This was the sought of information/assistance I was looking for.

Shaun :ok: