San Francisco and Las Vegas private hire

[ShineOn]

Hi,
Planning to travel to these destinations in August-September for 3 weeks. Can anyone recommend any clubs/schools to hire a light single from? In particular any experiences of West Air Aviation (Vegas) and West Valley Flying club in San Francisco would be welcome...these clubs seem perfect for some holiday flying!

Also, seeing as I'll be there for 3 weeks only, what does the license conversion involve (from a UK issued JAR-PPL)?

Cheers


Regards,
ShineOn

[ab33t]

Licence convertion is pretty straight forward. Fill in a form from UK CAA allowing them to disclose your info, oh and pay £30, to the FAA fill in a FAA form for licence convertion select a FAA office to collect from. Do this at least two months before departure. AS son as you have received your letter from the FAA phone the selected office and amke an appointment.

[joe10101]

I actually work for a flight school part-time on the weekends here at north las vegas airport (KVGT) - Pinto Aviation (First Flight). Right down the street from West Air. Though I have no experience with them, they are really nice too. I wanna say they have a few older model 172's, a newer 172, some low wings (like an archer), and a 150. There 172's are right around $100/hour wet for the older ones. We have 2 2002 172sp's, 1 da-20, 1 da-40, and an SR-22. the 172's are $132/hour wet, da-20 is $122/hour wet, the da-40 like $10-20 more an hour than the 172's(sorry, can't recall the price for it), and the SR-22 is the expensive one of the bunch. It's like over $200/hour wet. the da-40 has the g1000. the 172's and the da-20 have panel mount gps.

I'm not posting this to advertise for my flight school. West Air is great too. Though, no matter which flight school you go through, if you want to fly solo or without an instructor, you will need to schedule a checkride with an instructor. Usually will be about 1-2 hours. the Class B airspace can be a mess here if unprepared. If you want some information on some of the flight schools around here, go here: http://www.airnav.com/airport/KVGT (http://www.airnav.com/airport/KVGT)

Scroll down to the bottom where it shows ATP, First Flight Aviation, Lone Montain Aviation, etc... click on them and customer and personal reviews about 'em will be there.

[gfunc]

Hi,

I hired from West Air in Vegas around xmas time - they seem a pretty decent outfit, well run with well kept (and eye catching!) aircraft. I was pleased how they spent a reasonable amount of time going over the complex-looking-but-actually-very-simple airspace in the area.

My original intention was to self hire and tour around the Grand Canyon, but I got very sick from a dodgy chinese meal and could only muster a bit of a tourist flight along the strip with a instructor before I left the city - still great though!

Anywho a thumbs up for West Air from me!

Cheers,

Gareth.

[B Sousa]

complex-looking-but-actually-very-simple airspace in the area.



As Long as you stay out of Class B, it will be a nice flight. If you have to go into Class B, it will become work.

I do it on a daily basis.

[ShineOn]

Thanks for the comments so far guys. Anyone flown with West Valley, they seem a large club with over 70 aircraft?

Regards,
John

[ryancy]

Hello John,
I was a member with the WVFC back in 2005 and commenced PPL training.
It was a very friendly flying club back then and I could imagine that it has not changed much from then.

It seems that they have got a little bit larger with two more locations,
now adding up to four airports in the Bay Area.
The rental rates are not the cheapest but I guess
this is related to the San Francisco Bay Area.
It is an expensive place to live or to have vacation at.
If you consider using this flying club you definitely have to make sure you take accommodation into account.
A car is also advisable due to the lacking public transport system.

They have an on line scheduling system that makes it easy
to block the aircraft.
I am not sure how long the minimum membership duration is but
calling the office should resolve this question.
Maintenance never has been an issue the time I have spend over there
and the aircraft have always been in good shape.
It has been a while but if you have further question I will be happy to help out.

Best regards,

Richard