British Airways Flying Club

[Speedbird744]

Can anyone tell me if BAFC at Wycombe Air Park is a good flying school for getting a PPL?

[A and C]

Yes.....one of the best most of the instructors are airline pilots or ex-airline pilots and instruct because they want to and not to build hours.

The quoted flying rates are "what you pay" and not subject to surprize add on,s like VAT , base landing fees , extra instructor time ETC.

They have a good maintenance set up so the fleet has a good servicabilty rate and snags get fixed quickly.

[alexb757]

Yes it is (or @ least was). I did a PPL w/them in the 70s & an AFIC in the 80s. Excellent staff, good aircraft, reasonable prices. Without them (& my own hard peserverance), I would not have flown B737s and now B757s for various airlines. Go for it, I say! :)

[Jepp]

Oh yes
They do have (probably) the most expensive PA 38 Poxyhawks available to rent in the entire country. But then again you do have a fancy BA paint job on the side, just to impress the locals when you pop out for the cross country stuff . :)

[HoldAlpha]

I am currently in the process of completing my PPL course with them and I must say that right from the trial lesson up until XC-3 (my last flight) they have been absolutley wonderful. The aircraft are in great shape (+ have the BA paint :D ) and the instructors are extremely knowledgable. They have a quite good BAFC magazine that's published once in while as well.

My only problem is with Jon Hartill the CFI ..... but that's another story :rolleyes: ..... and nothing to stop you going to BAFC for your training. ;)

[Quelch]

BAFC used to have a socil life but it seems to have died. Does anybody know the current situation?

[HoldAlpha]

They do have social events now and then ...... :cool:

[A and C]

Most of the social stuff is in the summer when the WX is good for air rallys , week ends away BBQs and that sort of thing.

[QUERY]

So how much is their PPL course or what are their quoted rates, with no extras?

[Muppetfly!]

I considered converting my UAS hours into a PPL at BAFC, but was much more impressed with Wycombe Air Centre who are also at Booker.

In the end I didn't go with either, but WAC seemed a much friendler atmosphere with much more of a cameraderie. BAFC have nicer painted planes(!) and look slightly more professional, however their CFI barely gave me time of day. And given these hard times in aviation I reckon you need all the friends you can get...

By no means an expert opinion, but just my pennys worth.

[Pilot Paul]

Did all my training from PPL right through to CPL/IR with Wycombe Air Centre - can't speak highly enough of them. Very friendly, very professional...

All I need now is an airline that's hiring...oh well, "do you want fries with that?"!

Pilot Paul

[HoldAlpha]

Hi Query ,

Assuming JAA minimum (35d+10s) :

In a warrior :

£ 4750 dual
£ 1100 solo

Those are very rough figures......

[152]

Do you know what guys? I thought it was just me!
I went to BAFC to do a trial lesson, the instructor was the CFI, after the lesson I really wasnt sure about continuing training there. I took my first lesson there anyway, just to give them the benefit of the doubt, it was with the CFI again, guess what, I didnt finish my training there! What a cold man! Anyway thats my story, sorry if I bored you.


152 ;)

[QUERY]

Seems expensive and, HoldAlpha, are those figures a PPL course package (inc Exams, landing fees, books, headset etc.) or just for the hours?
Why is it that, whenever someone asks for facts about a school, most of the postings are usually personal attacks or plugging a competitor?

[A and C]

The BAFC rates may at first glance seem expencive but just like maggi thatcher once said "there is no such thing as a free lunch" and when you look at what you will spend for your PPL training i dont think that you will find much diferance between BAFC and the other reputable clubs in the area ,If you realy whant to find out about expencive then look no further than a large group of clubs in the south who offer all sorts of packages with so meny strings atatched that you soon fall out of "discount" and pay a very hefty rate.

BAFC are very honest about the cost of flying in the south of the UK others may claim to be cheaper and then nickel and dime you out of a fortune.

[QUERY]

Incredibly interesting, yawn, but answer please:
How much is their PPL course and what does the price include?

[A and C]

the answer to the question is £6470 this includes 45 hrs PA38 ,medical , books maps computor etc ,away landing fees ,exams and CAA licence issue fee.

A discount of 3% is made for a deposit of £1000 or more in advance.

[El Desperado]

How much ??!!

Grab a copy of Flyer or Pilot, search through the ads and find those schools (West of the English border !) that offer PPLs for a fraction of that cost, including accomodation.

Obviously, taking a month or two off work is not an option for many people, but if you have to fly in the South on a day-by-day basis, there surely are schools that work out cheaper, even with the additional costs of landaways, equipment etc.

Six and a half grand for a PPL is, sorry, ludicrous, and unless you have money to burn on an expensive hobby I'd advise looking elsewhere, no matter how good the instruction/social life etc.

[A and C]

Around the M25 doubt that you will find a better deal , yes the price may sound high but it covers everything from the medical to the maps.

Yes you can fly cheaper but it,s all a case of what you consider to be value for money the next time you go into the hangar ask the engineers why they buy snap-on tools at about four times the price of the same item from halfords ,its all about quality and duribility at the end of the the day it makes financhal sense to buy the quality item.

If you look at all the quality local flying clubs you will not find much differance in price this is because london is expencive place to live i,v no doubt that if you go to the welsh hills you can get a good quality of instruction from a number of reputable clubs but how much is it going to cost you to drive to them each weekend ? .Take a look at the real cost per mile of your car and you may find that "cheap is not so cheap".

[basil fawlty]

Had my first ever flying lesson with BAFC, way back in 1990, was an apprentice BA engineer at the time. Things inevitably change over time but my memories of the experience are;
1. Miserable instructor
2. Miserable instructor who turned up 10 minutes late without apology.
3. Miserable instructor who turned up wearing shorts and trainers and a T shirt with stains on it.
4. Admin staff with an attitude of complete indifference.
5. Paying £45 for a 30 minute "trial" lesson, not at all cheap....and it certainly was a trial.....
Never went back. Went to the States instead where I received friendly, professional flight instruction!!

[HoldAlpha]

All instructors wear shirt and tie and are very professional both in appearance and teaching quality.

[kfw]

BAFC has many advantages , there are at least 3 retired BA captains instructing there . BA has in the past used BAFC to train BA F/O's up to FI ( R ) and many then instruct part time whilst flying full time for BA .
The competition over the road tend to be wannabee airline pilots ( in the main ) as opposed to those who are there because they like flying and instrcting . The majority if not all of these F/O's are now Training Captains on A320's 777 757 767 or 747400 .

The downside is that the office staff ( not Rachel ) are very clicky you are either in or out and you will know which you are very quickly . As a customer you can fly with whoever you want to so if like me you would not want to fly with the CFI then don't you are paying remember !

a&c although possibly a little biased is correct in the main if you are taught properly in the first place then even if the flying initially costs you more money ( and I don't know if BAFC are more expensive ) you will save in the end . As an example if you are not taught straight and level properly on ex 6 then you will find difficulty on a navex by which time the cause of your difficulty will be masked by all sorts of other errors .

My advice is trawl the deals around find an instructor or two that you like who are there for the fun not a set of epaulettes and do your homework before you get airborne .

[Dale Harris]

Lessee, 6470 pounds sterling is about 18,000 aus dollars. Jeesus, flying is cheap here! Figure about 7-8500 for a ppl here. 40 - 50 hrs 152 and 172, or Warrior if you prefer. Yes I know all about JAR vs AUS vs FAA. But really, buy an airline ticket (cheap at the moment) and have a holiday as well. You'll still have enough left over to convert, and have another holiday and do more training too.

[A and C]

29351 you make a good point all the flying training i have had in aus has been to a very high standard but i trauled the training establishments and did not pick the cheapest.

The high cost of flying in europe is due to the flying that we dont do ! ,due to the WX it is not uncommon not to be able to fly for two weeks at a time during the winter when this happens as soon as the WX is even half good enough to teach then the pressure is on at some clubs to start flying you will not find this attitude at the more reputable clubs.
A few lessons in the wrong conditions when you dont learn much will soon knock a hole in your budget ,ever wonderd why it takes the average student in the UK 60-70 hours to get the PPL issued ?.

If you have 4 weeks then a trip down under to learn to fly is a much better bet than the USA , unfortunatly not a lot of people can get the time to do it.

[ 25 November 2001: Message edited by: A and C ]