Hour building in South Africa

[Mikehotel152]

:) I returned from SA two weeks ago and thought I would bore you all with my experience as there aren't many posts on this topic. Most are about Florida, Jerez etc. Whatever rants I make later in this post, may I say that I'm very glad I did some hour-building in South Africa because it's such a beautiful country; the airspace is largely uncongested; the people are friendly; and I got to experience flying regularly from a modern international airport for a £3.50 landing fee. I would recommend it to others.

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I was dragged up in Cape Town until the age of about 15 and still have countless cousins inhabiting various parts of South Africa. Oh, and my parents moved back there too. So, I am very familiar with the country and its people. I love the place, as does my English wife. I am currently doing the ATPL exams and have a PPL, so I need hours. I've looked at many options before deciding to build some hours in SA.

It's clearly not economically sensible to go half way around the world, be it Florida, New Zealand or Cape Town, to build hours unless the savings on aircraft hire outweigh the costs of getting out there. My flight to South Africa in February was about £700 on SAA. I even got an extra flight into the bargain (Heathrow – overhead Algeria – Heathrow) due to a passenger illness. Another long and sad story...Moving swifly on. Aircraft hire in SA was about £62 per hour wet for a Cessna 172. That's partly due to an excellent exchange rate at present. On the face of it it's therefore cheaper to build hours in SA provided you do about 15 or more, but this isn't the end of the story because you have to factor in the need to get your JAR PPL validated by the SA CAA.


Take what you're told by South African FTO about the process for licence validation with a pinch of salt. The SA CAA keep moving the goal-posts, so even FTOs who claim to specialise in licence validations are a bit in the dark and are understandably exasperated at the CAA's attititude. Just to explain in more detail: Step 1 is to contact the SA CAA Licensing Department in advance of your trip – say 2 months before you fly out there – and arrange for your JAR PPL to be verified by the UK CAA. You will need to fax copies of your PPL, medical, ratings etc to the SA CAA. You also need to get a silly form from the UK CAA upon which you authorise them to deal with the SA CAA. It's all because of the Data Protection Act. It takes a few weeks for this to be processed, but I encounted no problems. My contact was Ms Neo Tigele ([email protected] ([email protected])) and she was efficient, if lacking in humour.;)

I was already aware that the SA CAA would require me to pass a Skills Test with a South African FTO. This was booked in advance. You also need to pass the SA PPL Air Law exam. In the past there was a shortened exam for those just in the country for a flying holiday. Apprently it was very easy.

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The full SA PPL Air Law exam is done online and my FTO in Jo'burg sorted out the technical side of things on my behalf. However, having only had a day to study 180 odd pages of SA rules and licencing regulations. I – like the other UK guy there at the same time and many more before us – failed the exam first time round :*. Can someone please tell me why I need to know how many Glider hours count when a guy with an SA Student Licence want to apply for an SAA PPL? :mad: I'm only applying for a licence validation which is merely a recognition of my JAR PPL. It's not an SA PPL.

This absurd (new) policy is causing problems for the many companies in SA that offer flying safaris because the punters do not want a South African PPL, they simply want to fly SA registered aircraft on their current licences. In any case, I (just) passed the exam on second sitting. Officially you have to wait 3 full days to re-sit, but we cheated the online system. My advice is to get the books in advance (if you can) and study properly so you pass first time.

Another piece of advice is to do the licence validation in the Johannesburg area so you can be near to the SA CAA in Midrand. They have a lovely new building with plenty of waiting areas and lots of counters. It all seems very efficient and organised, which contrasts sharply with the oddities of the actual licencing system. I was seen immediately and told my validation would be ready in an hour. It was. However, nobody mentioned that I had to go up to the counter and ask for it. I waited another 45 minutes before a kind local noticed me and, being familiar with the system, suggested I might check to see if my licence was ready. It was.:rolleyes:

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When booking your licence validation from the UK, make sure that the FTO you are dealing with are familiar with the process and have the flying side of things prepared. My FTO in the Johannesburg area had told me it would take 2-3 days in total to get the validation completed. I wisely decided to stay in Johannesburg for a whole week just in case. In the end I had to cancel my flight down to Cape Town in order to stay an extra day because of delays caused by a lack of instructors and aircraft. I was disappointed that the FTO had made no allowances for the possibility that the one day of flying they had allocated for my validation might not be VMC. My 2-3 days turned into 8 days.

I did finally get down to Cape Town and was faced with further delays when the flying club down there had not booked me an orientation flight in advance of my arrival. Again, a lack of instructors meant I had to wait a further 5 days before I was able to build my first solo hour. In effect I lost two weeks on the validation process.

The rest of my trip was fantastic. :):):)

I flew all over the Western Cape, up and down the Cape Peninsula, past Table Mountain, out to Hermanus, and every time I flew back to Cape Town International I had the pleasure of landing on their wide asphalt...

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...usually just in front or behind an incoming longhaul A340! I lost count of the number of times I was asked to do a 'short approach' and vacate at the first intersection, only to see a landing jet flash past my tail as I crossed the hold. Great fun.

I have to admit that the fact that my wife joined me in SA and we spent a week travelling around Namibia, plus the fact that I wasn't trying to fly everyday meant that this is not a good example of how to build hours quickly. I only did 17 solo hours in the end, as opposed to the 30 hours I had planned, but that's how it panned out. If I did it again or had any advice, I would suggest doing the validation in Johannesburg, then going to Cape Town or another pretty part of the country to build the hours. Once I joined the Cape Town Flying Club as a temporary member I found that aircraft availability was good and the staff were friendly and very helpful.

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Don't forget that wherever you go for your hour-building the urge to splash out on eating out more often than usual or visiting Disneyland or a conveniently located Game Reserve will be hard to resist. Overall, therefore, unless your ideal lifestyle replaces speaking with hard beds and prayers at 4:30am, think again about how your choice of hour-building location will effect your bank balance. In my case I made savings by staying with my Dad in Cape Town. The week I spent doing my licence validation was spent in a very aviation friendly guest house near Lanseria Airport, just outside Johannesburg. It's called Sunny Glen and is run by Diana Smith. She has a website. Her whole family are pilots and she runs a very friendly house. She even fed me every night for free. Oh, and pilots may get a discount on the rooms too! :). If doing a PPL or a month of two of hour-building in SA I would consider Diana's place, somewhere similar, or even hire a cottage. But, as I say, you must factor these costs into your overall flying costs.

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[A and C]

All things considered it looks like you had a lot of fun and I know that things can't be measured in money terms alone but what was the cost per flying hour?

By this I am interested in the "real" cost including hotels,car rental, insurance, airline tickets and all the other nif-naff and trivia that seems to get forgotten by hours builders when they cost these things from the UK.

[Mikehotel152]

Hi A and C,

I know that you are a fan of hour building in the UK using Cessna 152s and that you have aircraft of your own for lease to hour-builders. That is an excellent solution for many people. :ok:

Others may wish to build hours in South Africa where a PA-38 costs £47 per hour wet in Cape Town. A C150 is £54. A C172 is £65. Landing fees at Cape Town International Airport are £3.50 for a light single. These rates cannot be matched in the UK. Apart from the £500-£800 cost of an airline ticket to get there and the £300-400 cost of a Licence Validation, all other costs such as accommodation, food and car hire are far cheaper than the UK.

Anyway, I'm not suggesting it's necessarily cheaper overall, but I am suggesting that some people might prefer flying around Cape Town or other parts of South Africa for 100 hours than, say, the airfield where they did their PPL.

[StanSayz]

I actually learnt in George, South Africa last year, and would recommend it to anyone. I never flew myself in and around Cape Town, but spent some 'down time' there and also in Simon's Town. Some of those pictures take me back - (great shots of Cape Point, Waterfront and Newlands btw). I have experience of GA and flight training in UK, Florida and SA - all have strengths and weaknesses, advantages and disadvantages over one another, but I couldnt agree more that SA is more than a viable alternative to what seem to be the pre-determined norms.

[Mikehotel152]

Some more photos in the Private Flying page :ok:

[MartinCh]

Very nice pics indeed.

Mikehotel152 is right. A and C only asked about the current 'real' cost to use it in his self-promotion for England based hour building for wannabe jet jocks.
Nothing wrong with that. Things have their pros and cons.

For exactly that reason I plan to go and do some plank flying towards PPL in Argentina in summer 2009. Rates are good, instructor rates are unbeatable, even compared to the USA. But it's about the country, environment.
Language for some as well - like me.

If I weren't that busy with studies in the UK and summer stints training in choppers and planks later, I'd be off to SA in a whip. Unfortunately, helicopter flying isn't much cheaper than UK so factoring travel and accommodation costs...

And IF I had enough time and money on my hands, I'd buy RTW ticket - UK -> USA -> Canada -> NZ -> OZ -> SA -> UK and fly my pants off in each.

Besides, SA girls ('best of both' thanks to European blood) can be as enticing as the nature :-)

Airplane flying has it easier for 'flying safaris' thanks to different running, purchase and insurance costs compared to helis.

Go on guys, join business and pleasure in the best way. Fly around the world.
Take this post as an example and not just blatant SA GA promotion :-P

[Mikehotel152]

Martin :D very good. I like your thinking. :ok:

[A and C]

I make secret of my aircraft leasing business and want people to look at the whole picture. I did some flying in the USA and enjoyed it very much however had I not been in America on business my FAA CPL/Multi & IR would not have happend and it would have all been an expensive mistake. Mikehotel152's 30 planned hours turned into 17 so these things happen!

As to the cost MH152 quotes £54/hour for a PA38 and using his numbers including the airline tickets and licence validation the cost per hour for his 17 hours on a PA38 would have been IRO £95, even if the planned 30 hours had been flown the cost runs at IRO £89/hour

He had the advantage of accomodation an probably transport so these costs would have to be taken into account.

MartinCH seems to resent my enquireys as to the "real" cost of the flying but I think that the readers of these forums should be able to see the big picture and make up these important career decisions with all the facts at hand.
A number of my customers have come to me directly from hour building trips (usualy in the USA) that have gone wrong, I won't repeat the tails of woe here save to say that if you do business with me in the words of a well known paint advert I will do exactly what is says on the tin!

[Mikehotel152]

You're absolutely right A and C. In terms of hours accumulated, the hour-building element of my trip was a disaster and I could have hired an aircraft from my FTO for the same money. If I had planned to do all 100 hours, or even only 50, over in SA the economies of scale would have made it far cheaper than the UK, especially if you compare cost of living as well.

But I wouldn't have explored a different country; nor spent time with my family; nor experienced different ATC, airspace and rules; nor overflown some whales chasing a school of fish; nor enjoyed a week in Namibia with my wife etc etc. The point I've made is that SA is an alternative to the UK, in the same way that the USA is regularly used for hour-building.

The service you're offering is an excellent one, as far as I can see, but it wasn't what I wanted. :( Once I've finished my hour-building I will have done the vast majority here in the UK. I am a big fan of our airfields. We're very lucky.

[Leezyjet]

I've also been hour building down in SA, at Port Elizabeth with Algoa. I can definately reccommend SA as an alternative for hour building.

I actually hold an SA PPL, so don't have all the hassles of getting a validation, but I took a few friends out there in Dec and one of them went through the process with relative ease - we were only there for 4 days and managed to get the paperwork sorted from the UK in advance, so in country there was only the flight test and air law to do. The 2 of us that flew managed to get around 10 hours each in 4 days.

The key is to use a well established flying club who have been around a long time and know exactly how the SA burocratic system works and have plenty of a/c and instructor availability so you are not waiting around like MikeHotel152 was.

There is also a qualified SA instructor in the UK who is also a member on here called Irv Lee, who can assisit and guide you through the process from the UK which also makes the process a little easier.

It really is a wonderful place to go fly.

:ok: