Orlando Flight Training -CABAIR

[mech500]

Hi everyone, im looking to complete 100pic hrs, Night rating and JAA CPL(ME) at OFT (CABAIR). Can anyone suggest how long this will realistically take and the weather during march.

Can people also comment on the quality of training, availability of a/c etc. I am hoping to do a lot of night flying, is this difficult in the states for a low hours pilot with only a night rating (i.e. no IR)? Also is the OFT aerodrome open 24hrs?

many thanks.

[Capt Loop]

100 hrs around 3 to 4 weeks
CPL 2 to 3 Weeks (probably a LOT more at OFT)

All depends on the availability of the aircraft and if they are not being repaired !!!!!!!!!!

You only have to read the comments about OFT. There are LOADS of negative (and rightly so after using them just for hour building) and a few good comments (Somewhere, I am sure) on PPRUNE.

Weather is usually pretty good in March, so you wont lose much days doing no flying.

Kissimmee is open 24 hours, Tower closes around 19.30 ish and then goes to a unicom frequency. However OFT wont be open 24 hours to put the airplane away and close the flight etc. !!!!!!

Flying at night in the USA is good fun..... when you cant see the airport click 3 times on the unicom frequency and the airfield lights up. Also the air is super stable at night in Florida. You wouldnt have any problem flying at night other than a lot of airfield facilitys might be closed if you were going to land away other than flying to just burn holes in the sky.

Personally, I would look at Ormand Beach Aviation for the Hour building and CPL. I have used them and found them a far better organisation as long as your motivated to fly and not waste time by not flying. I did 100hrs IMC and Multi in 4 weeks back in 1995 at OBA.

PM me if your want any more advice

Regards
Capt Loop

[Daultonio]

Hi i have jsut come back from my 100 hrs out there at OFT i did my 100 hours in about 5 weeks but if u really get down to it u will be fine any other questions i will be happy to help

[mech500]

Many thanks for the advise chaps. Just one more point, would you recommend investing in a GPS unit to aid nav etc whilst im out there? is this normal for most pilots out there?

Also, I am currently doing my ATPL's with CABAIR in the UK. The idea was to do the hours building and CPL at OFT(cabair) and then the IR back in the UK (agan with CABAIR). Hence keeping a ''consistant'' flight school and therefore qualifying for CABAIR's ''career support'' and possible airline interview recommendation (allegedly).

However given the vast amounts of negative feedback for OFT i think i will definately consider say ormand beach instead for my hours building.

However, do people think it is worth going to OFT for my CPL i.e. a 'poor flying school' (on many accounts) for the sake of keeping a ''consistant'' flying school? Will this really help me land an interview?

How man people have gained interviews thro' CABAIR's recommendations? i know this is a little bit off topic... but any comments/experiences will be helpful.

[Capt Loop]

At the end of the day a CPL / (ATPL) is a licence. If you do it all through the modular route it makes no difference who did your training.

If you did an intergrated course that "might" make a difference on your CV, because of the low hours

An airline will employ on your Flying Hours, type of Flying Experience and your ability to fit in with with them and NOT whether you did your training with Oxford Aviation, Cabair or your local flying school that does CPL training.

I can see what you are saying about having a single provider for all your training. However, most people will tell you that OFT is nothing like CABAIR in the UK.........

Just an idea, why not get an FAA - IR and then do a 10hr CPL course in UK and a FAA-JAA IR conversion....:)

[luke10689]

i disagree with other comments i went out to oft in january for 2 and half months and came back with ppl, 150hours including over 100PIC and night rating. Fair enough, they wer not the best flight school that it would b possible to go to but they were good. If you are at the JAA side then that is a lot better ran than the other side. The aircraft are known to go into maintainence quite regualrly but as long as you get booked in in advance you should be fine. The night flying in the states is amazing. so much more freedom that in the UK. you can go anywhere and do anything within reason. OFT close around 730pm in march but we wer known to be flying until 2/3am as long as you clear it first you are fine. As waspreviously said, the tower closes bout 8/9pm but the UNICOM is fine. Its a good airport to fly out of as there is a variety of traffic. we saw everything from 152s to Citations, Mustangs to 737s, so the experience you get is good. Im not sure on the CPL side, i kno they have 2 duchesses i think, maybe seminoles not too sure.

hope that helps and makes sense

message me if you wana know anything else

luke

[Ste88]

taking FAA IR and after do the conversion is more expansive than take IR direcly in UK, isn'it?

[T's & P's]

Did the same kinda thing not too long ago, 45 hour PPL to 200hr ME/CPL in about 10-12 weeks with OFT. For the hour building i doubt it matters too much as to which school you go to, the only thing i suspect that will differ is the $/hr and aircraft availability. Last time i checked (over a year ago!) OFT was expecting quite a large throughput of students so i don't know how easy it is to grab a plane and go nowadays.

March i think is the best time of year to go, weather is absolutely gorgeous up until about mid may when the brush fires start and things go a bit murky, as long as your committed to the cause i cant see any issues with weather.

As far as the CPL goes i was quite lucky to have an english JAA instructor who was absolutely brilliant, however i think they have an american instructor certified to teach the JAA CPL...i hear she's not bad though. if the weather hadn't delayed us by a week the CPL would have taken 3 weeks, which is fairly quick.

night flying is easy enough out there, however i'm not too sure what OFT's rules and regs are. The airfield certainly isn't 24hr, closes at 2000. Nice place to fly from however, really central, not too far away from the northern airfields (Cecil, Jacksonville) and not too far from the keys either.

One last thing, be careful with your money; i used to think this applied to OFT only, however i've learned that many schools over in the states are the same - keep a close eye on your school account for "extra charges", most of the time they are genuinely an error, but its always nice to know where your moneys going ;)

[Kyriakos]

Hey guys, im moving to Kissimmee next month and im looking for roomates to share a house OR roomates who currently live in a house with an extra bedroom...

Ideal attributes:

1) DO NOT possess that characteristic of arrogance that most pilots possess. :* :ugh:

2) Respect others’ privacy and space. :ok:

[eikido]

OFT seems to have a JAA course that will give you a frozen ATPL for $40'000 (incl some additional costs printed at the end). Thats cheap! Whats the catch? Anybody knows? I know they state minimum time, but how much more can the extra hours be?

private pilot, learn to fly with Orlando Flight Training (http://www.flyoft.com/pro_pilot_course.php)

[Kyriakos]

it might climb up to $52000 including housing but excluding the IR conversion with cabair which will cost u approximatelly UKP 8000.

[eikido]

Darn, i thought it was included in the price.
The IR conversion.

[Flightless Falcon]

why not go to moncton in canada..

Doesnt cabair modular still go there for hour building (if you want to keep the cabair name.... (doesnt really matter in hour building where you go...

try and get in around some busy classes of airspace.. thats the main thing for hour building... not who you did it with...

[Ste88]

Hi!I'm thinking to do the PPL(JAA) at OFT. Some advices?On the site i have read 21 days. How long is the training?

[punk666]

"taking FAA IR and after do the conversion is more expensive than take IR direcly in UK, isn'it?"

im doing the conversion now MEP aswell only been at cranfield for about 2weeks and already coming to an end and havent even spent 5k yet
its actually alot cheaper and you gain 2 licences so you can hour build IR in the states aswell..theres alot of snobby people around saying FAA training is worth jack in the UK dont do it ...well this is what i have to say to them your wrong as instruments do not change only airspace, comms, and regualations thats it!! the technique of doing a DME arc wont change or how to do an ILS wont change depending on where you did your training. It depends on the person! i have ovewr 72 hours of IR experience i come to the uk and and pretty much did the conversion in the MINIUM hours required to convert it to a JAR MEP IR..so heres the point im making
do the FAA IR them convert it to JAA your saving money and gain another rating which you can use when hour building in a non jaa state !