FLIGHT TRAINING ADVICE

[manchesterlad]

I'm 38yrs old and wish to commence flight training.(ATPL)
My gaol is to fly commercially in the JAA.
Can anyone provide information on named flight schools in New Zealand.
I have heard of Ardmore at Auckland and IFT at Christchurch.I am after positive and negative eg Great social scene but rubbish training/facilities.
If anyone can recommend other institutions I would be very grateful.
I am leaning to New Zealand due to their reputation for good training(I have been told)but if anyone has any other comments please feel free.

[liquidhockey]

alrite mate
Sorry i cant answer your question i came here to ask you a question. (sorry)
im also from manchester i was wonderinf if you had ever been to barton airfield? ifso whats it like?
where about you from?
Cheers
Dave

[Borg32]

LIQUID -

Barton aerodrome is 15 mins from me...I'ts quite small what exactly would you like to know about it?

32

[FLYINGCHICK]

Manchesterlad, Well i'm from New Zealand myself and have done all my training here i would recomend the Nelson Aviation College it's located at the top of the south island.
I'm not to sure whether you are starting from scratch or are you wanting to just do your ATPL's here. If you let me know i could possibly suggest more places to fit in with what you are wanting specifically to do. :)

[YanYan]

Hi all Manchester Pilots,
Whilst I live 30 miles north of Manchester I find myself working in the city.
I have thought about Barton before as it is on my way home (whilst stuck in the traffic on the M602) but I have decided to use MSF Aviation at Manchester Airport. I feel flying here will help me someway in my future career.
To Manchesterlad - Why New Zealand ?

[Pandora]

Barton - hurray, what a lovely place.

Don't let the extremely short runways put you off, and the bumps and mud aren't too much to worry about. ;) They have a wider range of aircraft than most flying schools (when I was there they had an assortment of Grob115s, C150/152s, Warriors, an Archer and a Citabria). The airfield is a busy little place right beneath the Manchester TMA and the only way south is through the notorious low level route. Manchester ATC (a friendly bunch) are very happy to let you get your RT practice in provided they aren't too busy. The instructors are a mix of career instructors who have 1000's of hours of instructional time, and airline wannabes who will happily discuss with you the best way to proceed with your ambition. (By the way, there are none of the wannabes there now that were there when I did my PPL - they all work for the airlines now, so they muist have done something right). The runways are a little bit short but what great practice for getting down on the numbers.

Sorry, Manchesterlad for hijacking your thread, but I spent many happy hours flying out of Barton before I joined BA, and contrary to popular belief, flying out of a grass strip club environment will not hinder you at all in your search for an airline career. Just think of all the money not spent sitting at the hold waiting for the commercial traffic to land before you can take off.

Any other ex-Bartonites out there?

[This message has been edited by Pandora (edited 14 April 2001).]

[Airbus_319]

Barton aerodrome
Great place to learn flying. Couldn't agree with you more pandora. Runways short, grob 115 excellent a/c for initial ppl training and friendly atmosphere. As with all grass strips, you do tend to get the problem of water logging during the rainy months. As a result it might mean having cancellations, and therefore lack of continuity for a few weeks, but apart from that i would strongly recommend it.

[hughfalkus]

Yes ManchesterLad, I am wondering along the same lines so please all you other contributers stay on task! :) Please look to the start of this thread, and if anyone has any experience/ideas send them in.

Thankyou.

[YanYan]

Are there any MSF Aviation Pilots out-there ?

[Speed Racer]

Some nice wee places around NZ there is, Nelson Aviation College is very good, along with IFT in Christchurch, Southland (Invercargill) i think also has a good one, and Ardmore is also one of the top outfits in the country. If your going from scratch to ATPL then you might want to look at Massey University's BAv, which gives you 220hrs CPL, IR, frozen ATPL and im sure more. I've been told that it is cheaper all up (NZ$59k) than doing it with a flight training school, plus you graduate with a degree.
I guess it all depends which part of the country you want to work in. Quite chilly in the south in winter.. snow and all that carry on, while mostly humid and relatively warm in the north. Great summers everywhere though :) .
Hope this helps

SPEED!