Inverness Flying Training

[XV255]

Hi All,

With Highland Flying School now gone, I see that the Aero Club has announced Leading Edge as its new training provider. They have emailed info to members but there are no costs posted to us non members.

Anybody know what the costs will be?

Will there need to be membership of HAC & Leading Edge?

Will being a member allow hire at membership rates at all the other LE facilities?

XV

[flystrathclyde]

ACS Aviation and Leading Edge are combining their experience to provide PPL training and aircraft hire at Inverness Airport.

This will be facilitated from Highland Aero Club who have been based on the airfield for several years.

Each base (Inverness, Perth, Cumbernauld) have their own 'clubs' and as such members sould join their local club:-

Inverness- Highland Aero Club
Perth - Scottish Aero Club
Cumbernauld - Leading Edge Flying Club.

Members flying from one base to another will be welcomed as a visitor.

Further information will be available soon.

Allan

[XV255]

Any idea on costs?


Cheers
XV

[Stratus Fractus]

Hi Allan,
I am looking forward the arrival of LE, the skies seem very quiet since the demise of HFS, although the recent weather may have something to do with that.
Will it be possible to hire from LE without being a member of HAC? I am only interested in hiring an aircraft, not participating in the other club activities.
Cheers
SF.

[Mike744]

Stratus Fractus,
ACS/Leading Edge are now the FTP operating from and with the Highland Aero Club.
The facilities and training provision at HAC are now excellent, much recent money and effort has made it so. The club is clean and warm with good briefing and social spaces. It has a modern kitchen plus an clear view of the active runways from the north apron.
How can this accomodation be provided for free when so many other training organisations are going to the wall? You may choose not take part in the social activities but club users must all share the cost of the facilities.

[Stratus Fractus]

Hi Mike,
Thats nice, I agree someone will have to pay for the facilities. I am not asking for them to be provided for free. I was a member of HAC for several years so have probably paid for a fair amount of it myself. However I personally would be quite happy not having the use of the facilities. I just want to fly an aircraft sometimes. I find the best view of the runways is from the cockpit anyway?
Anyway it is just a question, I am not trying to start another fight about HAC!
Cheers
SF

[Dan the weegie]

Hi Stratus, as Allan has mentioned in order to hire aircraft you will indeed need to be a member of Highland Aero Club :). Joining is easy and can be done by paypal from the HAC website.

Part of the reason that training/aircraft hire is possible in Inverness is that the Aero Club makes it affordable to rent aircraft, you can trust me when I tell you that it would be significantly more expensive if it wasn't for the use of the HAC building, this proven at least in part by the fairly rapid demise of the predecessor when they moved to other facilities. So while you may indeed be quite happy to turn up to rent the aircraft you perhaps would not be so happy to pay the additional costs if the club weren't there :).

Join and use the facilities or choose not to but the realistic price you can expect to pay is a direct result of those facilities :) not just the tea, coffee and telly :) and you can be safe in the knowledge that if you fly about 4 hours a year, the club fee will have paid for itself :)

Danny

[Squawk7143]

...the Aero Club makes it affordable to rent aircraft, you can trust me when I tell you that it would be significantly more expensive if it wasn't for the use of the HAC building...
Dan,

As I understand it HAC have no aircraft of their own. They are using aircraft owned by Leading Edge/ ACS .... right? So Leading Edge/ACS set the rental rates as the aircraft provider right?

HAC, as I was once told by a prominent committee member, are a social club.

It might be helpful if HAC published the aircraft rental rates on their public website so that prospective members can see how cheap it is to fly in Inverness. Or does the lack of visibility on the HAC public website mean it will actually be rather expensive?

Squawk

[Mike744]

Squawk,

Why??? In all the years that the Highland Flying School were HAC's training provider Aircraft rental rates were never available anywhere on the HAC website public or private, so nothing has changed!!

In the days of HFS if you wanted to know the charges you went to the HFS website. Now it's ACS/LE.....well work it out for yourself!

It appears to me that you are just stirring the pot! I for one am fed up with slurs against HAC and their committee members in general. Perhaps you would now name the 'prominent committee member' who said that HAC 'are a social club'.

As you may or may not know HAC now provides AB INITIO tuition with a CFI in residence in addition to other member flying requirements. There are adequate and comfortable briefing and study spaces alongwith the social areas as I've already said, and yes for those who wish just social involvement that is also provided for. In short, prospective members can now see for themselves the comprehensive package they will get with HAC membership.

[Squawk7143]

Mike744,

I have seen the LE/ACS package thanks.... I was trying to work out what the HAC membership had to do with the rates per Weegie's comments....

Part of the reason that training/aircraft hire is possible in Inverness is that the Aero Club makes it affordable to rent aircraftNow I see they have nothing to do with the rates as I thought since they are just LE/ACS's standard rates...thanks for clarifying that!

As for a slur , what a load of tosh, get down off of your high horse! I have the email in response to a direct question I asked during the "divorce" as it happens, so it's an official answer and I am quite sure it would not be denied even today. In fact as you have pointed out already the flying operation is still quite separate.

In the days of HFS if you wanted to know the charges you went to the HFS website. Now it's ACS/LE.....well work it out for yourself!

[Mike744]

In fact as you have pointed out already the flying operation is still quite separate Exactly as it was with HFS, their business was never registered at HAC.

HAC, as I was once told by a prominent committee member, are a social club Ahh it's on an email. As its "official" and one we haven't seen surely you can quote text and author here to affirm your statement.

[Tamarind]

Mike744 Don't waste your time with squawk, he/she's got no point to make and nothing to say.
Highland Aero Club have very sensibly replaced an insolvent flight training provider with a time proven and successful one.
It's early days yet so I wish Highland Aero Club every success for the future.

[Squawk7143]

Mike744,

For the tone of your response I can only assume that you are rather young and inexperienced. I don't propose to discuss the contents of an email to me in public. Just go and ask your committee.

In terms of official, any communication in response to a formal inquiry at such a time where the response is on behalf of "the club" is most certainly official. That's why clubs have office bearers; to respond on behalf of the club to questions about the operation of the club.

I note that neither you nor anyone else has responded to the questions about costs on this thread. However you have inadvertently answered those questions for myself and others.

BTW the questions on this thread were about costs, not about revisiting history.

[Squawk7143]

Tamarind....Probationary PPruner ....what more need be said?

[Mike744]

For the tone of your response I can only assume that you are rather young and inexperienced. Which just goes to prove just how little you know.

I note that neither you nor anyone else has responded to the questions about costs on this thread. However you have inadvertently answered those questions for myself and others.

We don't all live like you in a trenchcoat with the collar turned up, there's nothing covert about the costs, all you need do is ring up and ask :)

[Dan the weegie]

Hi Folks,

As already mentioned details have not been finalised. Once they have been finalised I'm pretty sure that LE/ACS will make them available to everyone. :) HAC are not the training provider, they are the club and therefor don't have alot to do with the commercials :).

As for costs, without wanting to get in to a lengthy discussion I'd like to point out that the cost of running a flying school isn't just the cost of the aircraft and in fact margin is so poor per flying hour that you need to fly an awful lot to cover the fixed costs.

Squawk, if you would like to know more, please pop in to HAC a week tomorrow and I'll be able to give you a rough breakdown of what those numbers look like. ;)

Danny ;)

[tuscan]

How many and what type of aircraft will be available?

[HF1]

The training/hiring side of things at the Aeroclub is only just beginning again and there are a lot of half finished students with only a few instructors. We are looking for more instructors so if anybody knows of free ones please get them to contact the Aeroclub or Leading Edge.

There is one PA38 Tomahawk with the potential of a further one and a four seater.

Training\hiring cost are to be kept as low as possible. As things have only just changed thing need to stabilise, but I suspect hire with be ~£110/hr with an instructor at £25/hr. for the Tomahawk. This may change.

The members already have a building, and its membership subsidise the fixed cost of facility.
Anyone is free to join the aeroclub but if you wish to fly the aircraft you will need to be a member of the club as this is what will keep the hiring costs so low.

Please bear with things over the next few months as it settles. There is a general meeting today at 14.00 to answer worries and queries at the Aeroclub.

pms welcome

James

[tropicalfridge]

It looks like the undercurrent of the argument above is the question as to whether the cost of training will increase under the new management. And the answer is of course it will, and there is nothing wrong with this. The costs under the previous training organisation were considerably less than every other flying school in the country but ultimately unsustainable, which I expect is one of the reasons it ended.

So costs won't be a low as before, but Inverness should look forward to a good period of flying training over the coming years now than ACS are involved.