CPL at Wycombe Air Centre, any recents?

[XX621]

Hi all,

Keen to hear about recent experiences of CPL/IR training at Wycombe Air Centre (now CabAir I believe). Search not returning much in recent times (probably a good sign?).

Thanks in advance.

[Genghis the Engineer]

I don't have direct experience of their CPL training, but I have flown with WAC a few times for discrete bits of training I needed, and professionally spent a lot of time looking at them and meeting the staff before placing a large training contract.

They are majority owned by Cabair, but largely run separately (indeed, for the contract renewal, they were bid against by Cabair).

My experience is entirely favourable - the aeroplanes are well looked after, the instructors very dedicated and experienced, and the facilities excellent. Wycombe is not the cheapest place in Britain to fly, but they do a good job of keeping their own charges down. Personally I'd have no problem recommending them at-all for a CPL course on the basis of the knowledge that I do have.

[XX621]

Thanks very much indeed - very reassuring!

[stevedud]

I tried to set up a post asking about the situation at Wycombe air park yesterday which was promptly removed after 120view as it was deemed 'already asked and answered' with a snotty comment telling me to look harder. So on a mildly related post can anyone help me.

I've just completed my PPL in my gap year and loved it and am looking to continue. I live in the London area and went up to visit the airfield and was a bit confused about who was running what as I went into one building which seemed to have stuff going on in it but was directed over the apron to the airways flying club. Has the air centre gone now? Is there still advanced training being offered on the airfield, if so does anyone have any reviews, they all seemed friendly but nice to get some insider information and a better idea of what's going?

[Matt7504]

Hey Stevedud, I started my PPL with WAC whilst at Bucks in 2011, so I was there when Cabair crashed etc. Basically, it is now one entity I believe, the Airways building deals with GA and PPLs etc, whilst the building that was originally branded with Wycombe Air Park (The long building which does not have the tower connected to it) is now for the purpose of advanced training such as CPL, IR, ATPLs etc. I hope that cleared things up for you :)

[smarthawke]

To narrow things down a bit....

WAC were basically taken down a year ago by the collapse of Cabair.

WAC merged with the airfield operator (and parent company of Airways Flying Club) Airways Aero Associations Ltd to form one entity - to be entitled 'Booker Aviation' encompassing everything from PPL upwards.

All PPL and advanced training is operated out of the main airfield building (under the tower) - that is the place to go for info on flying training or aircraft hire.

The former WAC building is partly home to an independent ground school company and still houses the sims for Booker Aviation but that is all.

The fleet consists of C152, 172, PA28 and DA42.

[stevedud]

Cool thanks for the information guys is the new company called Booker Aviation ? i was getting noise of that as a flying school as well but all sound good. I was just making sure one flying school wasnt going to go bust and tumble into the other

Thanks again everyone :)

[smarthawke]

It has been decided to encompass all flying training under the trading name of 'Booker Aviation', rather than try and split PPL flying under the Airways Flying Club name and advanced training under the Wycombe Air Centre tag.

Whenever you say 'Wycombe Air Park' everyone always says 'you mean Booker?' anyway!

Arora Family Trust (hoteliers mainly) are the parent company of Airways Aero Associations Ltd (the airfield operator) and Booker Aircraft Operations Ltd (flying/engineering).

Shout if you want a look around engineering or an introduction to the ops side....

[hippo123]

Finished my CPL at Wycombe in September. They were excellent.

[GolfTangoFoxtrot]

Completed my first solo at Wycombe this year, even though it was for an Air League Scholarship and indicated that I did not want to continue with further lessons afterwards they treated me like a full paying customer and were 100% professional and accommodating at all times. Most importantly I found that the instructors I flew with were all consistently good.