Go Back  PPRuNe Forums > PPRuNe Worldwide > The Pacific: General Aviation & Questions
Reload this Page >

Newbie & Flying Training Advice (Merged)

The Pacific: General Aviation & Questions The place for students, instructors and charter guys in Oz, NZ and the rest of Oceania.

Newbie & Flying Training Advice (Merged)

Old 24th Sep 2006, 23:29
  #1 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The World
Posts: 136
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Question Newbie & Flying Training Advice (Merged)

G'day All,

I am about to start flying training and am wondering if anyone has any positive or negative thoughts about any of the flight schools at Essendon. Which one would be the best to go through, or are they all fairly similar.
I have decided on Essendon because I live 5 minutes from there so I am not looking at Moorabbin or a country strip.
Initially I will only be going as far as a PPL and will see about going further.

Another question I have is, can you add an Instrument Rating to a PPL or can it only be added to a CPL.

Thanks in advance.

West ATC (soon to be east PPL hopefully)
west atc is offline  
Old 25th Sep 2006, 02:43
  #2 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2006
Location: QRH
Posts: 546
Received 5 Likes on 2 Posts
You can add a private or command instrument rating to a PPL.
Led Zep is offline  
Old 25th Sep 2006, 03:30
  #3 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Oct 2005
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Consider looking at one of the "country" strips as you put it.

You practically can't do circuits at Essendon any more - you have to fly over to Point Cook or somewhere else which will add atleast .4 hours to most lessons. Realistically, if you worked out the total cost, you'd be better off to pay Citylink and drive to Moorabbin in the long run, or better still just drive to Point Cook or a country strip like Melton if you are only going to get a PPL. You can always come back to Essendon for your Commercial if you wanted to. You won't save any cash by living close.
FL_RoofTop is offline  
Old 25th Sep 2006, 07:48
  #4 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The World
Posts: 136
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Thanks for the answers so far.

FL Roof Top - What is the school at Melton like?

Obviously Essendon is more expensive than I had realised, what schools at Moorabbin are worth looking at?
west atc is offline  
Old 25th Sep 2006, 11:32
  #5 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2001
Location: Oz
Posts: 250
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Is Wallan still alive?Close,good training area etc.
PBAFT at Moorabbin,although most of the guys from my era have moved on.
yowie is offline  
Old 25th Sep 2006, 13:14
  #6 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 3,857
Received 161 Likes on 92 Posts
Recommend you take a drive out to Melton, Point Cook and or Wallan (possibly Sunbury too). All of them aren't that far away from you and it might save you lots of dollars long term.
Squawk7700 is online now  
Old 25th Sep 2006, 13:56
  #7 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jun 2003
Location: Melbourne, Australia
Posts: 279
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Come down to the crisper in aisle 2 and ask there. A few licences there and Mr Spodman of these pages has done some research on the "locals" around the area prior to starting his ppl in the last 12 months.
Roger Standby is offline  
Old 26th Sep 2006, 00:05
  #8 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: May 2003
Location: The White House
Posts: 91
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Don't p!ss about wasting your time and MONEY on the schools in Vic. It is (and has been) well publicised that the best value for money, and the best for everything.. is Johnstones at Port Macquarie...

.. but then again, if you want to throw away your money, go right ahead and learn to fly in overrated and overpriced Victoria.. get taught by guys who will tell you there are hundreds of jobs out there (so why aren't they flying regionals or jets)

my 2cents plus GST worth.....
Dubya is offline  
Old 26th Sep 2006, 00:47
  #9 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Feb 2004
Location: Melbourne, China
Posts: 324
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
I've flown at the Melton Flying school before and currently flying at Essendon and there's a big difference in the costs. If I remember correctly, it was less than $100 to hire a 152 solo at Melton.
Here's their website for further details.
The CFI there is also the LAME and fuel is available at the field. It's also not too far from Avalon so if you're wanting to do IFR training you won't have far to fly to get to the navaids.
As for schools at Essendon, there are three to choose from in the main terminal building; the one in the middle of terminal building charges fuel at an hourly rate on top of the normal hire rate of the aircraft which I thought was quite odd (although I stand to be corrected on this, but I think that's how it was explained to me).
mingalababya is offline  
Old 26th Sep 2006, 04:40
  #10 (permalink)  
Thread Starter
 
Join Date: Dec 2005
Location: The World
Posts: 136
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
mingalababya, thanks for that, I might look more into the school at Melton, still doing research. Thanks for the link, their website is very good.

Dubya, I am an ATC so I will be learning to enjoy flying not for a job! Please don't waste my time posting here again. And anyway, Port Macquarie is a little far from home!
west atc is offline  
Old 26th Sep 2006, 04:50
  #11 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Apr 2005
Location: Keeping The Enema Bandit in line
Posts: 323
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Gosh. Anyone would think that Dubya has a vested interest in Johnstone's.
Enema Bandit's Dad is offline  
Old 13th Jul 2009, 23:07
  #12 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Melbourne
Age: 37
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
What School For Me? (Melbourne)

Hi,

Im a first time poster on these forums that my mate put me onto to try and get some background and advice on some of the flying schools around Melbourne.

Im looking to start flight training and do my PPL i live in Melbourne in the North Eastern suburbs the 3 closest airports are Essendon, Lilydale and Coldstream.

Im looking for a school where i can fly atleast once per week sometime twice, with good instructors and nice aircraft. i have most the of funds saved but im told paying up-front is a nono.

Just looking for as much information as i can for schools at any of these airports? does any one here train? hire? with them and can give me any information about instructor, aircraft quallity of school?

I have some information on Lilydale as that is where my mate trains, the school seemed nice and friendly but the aircraft were well raged? (correct me if im wrong).

I'de be happy to receive info here or in a pm.

THANKS!!,
CMFS
cmfs is offline  
Old 13th Jul 2009, 23:49
  #13 (permalink)  
D-J
 
Join Date: May 2009
Location: In a caravan
Posts: 179
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Welcome CMFS,

Have a look through a few of these previous threads, they may point you in the right direction (there's a few more in the pages try the search function to find them )

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-a...australia.html

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-a...-training.html

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-a...moorabbin.html

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-a...south-mft.html
D-J is offline  
Old 14th Jul 2009, 00:07
  #14 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Melbourne
Age: 37
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
D-J,

Thanks for the links i've had a browse, but MB is a little to far for me to travel around 1hr if traffic is good .
cmfs is offline  
Old 14th Jul 2009, 04:10
  #15 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Aug 2003
Location: Melbourne
Posts: 478
Likes: 0
Received 22 Likes on 9 Posts
How about the school in Managalore with links to bendigo ?
John Citizen is online now  
Old 14th Jul 2009, 04:36
  #16 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Mar 2001
Posts: 21
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
The lilydale school is ( in my opinion ) quite nice and would be the best of the 3 you mentioned. Reasonably new Archer III with GPS and older other units. Close enough to CTA and satellite strips. Interesting terrain nearby. 10% weekday discount I think. quick taxi..

EN just too expensive and looong taxi times eat your $, you'll get plenty CTA experience going into EN and MB from elsewhere. I've sat lined up on 17 for > 5 mins twice - it kills!!

Can't comment on coldstream, is that a satellite field of RVAC? It's a solid 20 mins drive further than lilydale.

My 2c!!
dantanna is offline  
Old 14th Jul 2009, 12:19
  #17 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Sep 2000
Location: Brisbane
Posts: 235
Received 6 Likes on 1 Post
Lilydale's not a bad spot. Warriors are a bit clapped out, but I've seen worse. They have new Jabirus so they will prob start you out in those first off. If you fly during the week you get a discount and there are no landing fees. It's also close to Essenden and Moorabbin which is great for when you start Navs into CTA. The strip/s there are grass so they can get a bit boggy in the winter but are rarely closed. Being in a valley, it can get fogged in till late morning during winter. Nice training area though and a good mix of aircraft.

I thought GA training at Coldstream had stopped, however I could be wrong?Been a while since I left the area.

Essenden isn't the best place to learn. As well as the long taxi times, the training area is at point cook so you waste valuable time transiting to the training area. Also landing fees add to the $$$
maverick22 is offline  
Old 14th Jul 2009, 16:20
  #18 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Dec 2000
Location: On the equator
Posts: 1,291
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
If you're only going to be flying once a week, then the drive to Moorabbin probably won't hurt that much. Essendon is becoming quite expensive to fly from with higher landing fees (about 3 times higher than Morrabbin) .. and when you do circuits at Point Cook, you pay for landing fees there as well as Essendon, not to mention the long taxi to the runways and transit time to the training area.
training wheels is offline  
Old 15th Jul 2009, 01:08
  #19 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jul 2009
Location: Melbourne
Age: 37
Posts: 5
Likes: 0
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
WOW! thanks for the fast reply's guys!
sounds like Essendon may be a no-go since its sounding like alot more $$$
cmfs is offline  
Old 15th Jul 2009, 01:47
  #20 (permalink)  
 
Join Date: Jan 2008
Location: YLIL
Posts: 250
Received 0 Likes on 0 Posts
Lilydale's definately worth a look - starting out on the Jabs makes early training cheaper before you migrate to the Warriors etc. Good instructors and friendly school.

Great being able to take off straight after runups, without having to hold - so more actual time in the air. No landing fees, and briefing time is free.

As Maverick said, runways are a little soggy this time of year, but that's a good excuse to practise your soft field takeoffs . Fog is occasionally an issue, especially early winter mornings.
triton140 is offline  

Thread Tools
Search this Thread

Contact Us - Archive - Advertising - Cookie Policy - Privacy Statement - Terms of Service

Copyright © 2024 MH Sub I, LLC dba Internet Brands. All rights reserved. Use of this site indicates your consent to the Terms of Use.