Renewal @ Darwin FS
 

My ifr was due for renewal days ago and the fact that I'm base in darwin, a renewal done at the darwin flying school would be a wise move(workwise). I went to the office, introduced myself and booked a flight(Be58/ILS,NDB,etc). I was a bit surprised when I found out what the hourly rate for the Baron was. I told the chief instructor (phil something) to cut it short. Basically, just the minimun requirement, nothing extra and asked for a quote. :confused: $1400! :* @#%$SHT.As I couldn't get any time off work, so might as well pay the price and do it there.
Anyway, I did it and at the end of a terrible and uncomfortable flight, sitting next to a psycho, I got what I went there for. First and last time. I ended up paying $1600 for a renewal. That was my 4th one and the previous 3 were costing me an average of $550. So the question is: Why is the darwin flying school charging twice (or more) the price(hourly rate for their A/C) you'd normally pay anywhere else in australia (S.A)?
DFS Shouldnt be a place for incompetent instructor.(Oh cant get a job as instructor down south, so why not darwin!!)
Anyway, for those of you thinking of renewing any sort of licences whasoever, think twice. It might be cheaper (including the airfare) doing it somewhere else.

TPB

I don't think Hardy would have chosen a 'psycho' as their C & T pilot. He did remind me a lot of Einstein though, when i first met him.
Anyway no say! Don't really know the guy. seems to be lunatic......
:sad:

$1400:\

Probably trying to recover all the money that the 'LARGE' former CFI pissed up against the wall!!

It sounds like Phil (or Phil's boss) knows that options are limited for guys in your situation to renew their ratings in Darwin so they just gouge your wallet for every last cent when the chance presents itself.

How many hours did you fly to get the rating renewed? Be curious to figure out the hourly rate of a "renewal" hire versus standard charter rates.

A gouge mate, that's all it is, a mean spirited gouge for your cash. Just file it away and get the money scabbing little grub back when the opportunity presents itself one day soon.

cheers

It was a 2 hrs flight /ILS, NDB, etc.
2.4 in total/ Engine on - Engine off. What really pissed me off.....that figure (2.4 - that what I paid for) was picked out of the blue. probably an extra cash for the end of month company's BBQ and piss up.

Devilishly evil wicked hourly rate for a Baron

$666.666666 an hour :}

What BBQ?!! What about those new a/c s' in the northern G.A. Wonder where they get the money from...... :zzz:

:hmm: what the hell did you find to do to fill in 2.4 hours?

Also, if it was two hours - start to stop - on the engines, why is he charging 2.4. You should have been up front, coldly looked him in his beady eyes and said, "Phil - what's with the extra 24 minutes, where did you get them from and am I paying for them ?"

That would have led to an episode of stuttering and mustache tugging while he flipped through the CARS's for some vague handscribbled paragraph on adding .4 to renewals.

If a paver came to my place to pave exactly 50 square metres and then billed me more to pave an extra twenty square metres that didn't even exist, he would be getting nothing from my cheque book until he showed me the location of the invisible extra bit.

You shouldn't have paid the idiot at all. Made him go through hell and chase you through the small claims court for six months. That would have taught him a lesson for being a rip off idiot.

I told him what i though. Then he started going on about : I know all the chief pilot around the place blablabla; i dont really give a **** about that coz i'm an employed pilot, but then again, seeing how tiny the industry can be, you walk on **** in darwin and some dudes in perth get the smell of it the next day....not really worth it.
Oops, might be to late now but, is this guy computer literate!!!!(pprune freak?)
hope not...........who cares anyway............

TPB

Holy snapping duck ****e!! 2.5 hrs for a renewell?
Wasn't the ILS in Darwin werkin, had to go to Townsville?

Suckered
 

Try $98 -00 an hour just for the privilige of sitting next to Mr X with !!! our own aircraft at a recent BFR!!.
Pretty unjust me thinks.
Multi:E

Passingbay,

Amazing isn't it. You burr up about the cost of paying top dollar for second rate help and he starts dropping hints about how he "knows impotant people" on the airport. What a gold plated, certified, card carrying tugger of his own willy.

As I get older and grumpier, I lay awake at night dreaming about having some shonk say that to me. BRING IT ON stupid. Do your worst and see where it gets you. Clearly, this guy is living in a world devoid of reality and has no grasp of the sad situation that he has actually dug himself into in life. Does he think he's Tony Soprano? Is he going to have you thrown into the Darwin harbour in concrete shoes if you mention his inferior service and inflated prices.

You can sleep well tonight knowing that when you are jetting around the globe in few years time, he'll still be drowning in a puddle of Darwin build-up sweat, trying to start some clapped out old Baron engine by jumping the battery with jump leads running through the fence to the motor of his 1974 Datsun 120Y.

Makes me wild this sort of stuff.............

Good ole Phil F

Ex CP at NAC,

Sad to think he's working for Hardy, a hard man, a no nonsense arse**** if ever there was one.

If anyone is on the way to Darwin I can give you the good oil on Phil, John H, and our good friend at the police airwing Greg I****.
Ex Hardy CP.

Good to see Im not the only one who was p@#sed off with DFS prices.

Private hire in clapped out 172 $180 p.h + $19 landing fee + $89 per hour to be checked out by their grade 3. Oh and I nearly forgot GST on top of all that.

$350 odd for a 1.1 hr checkflight????? Give me a break.

And funny how most check outs only take .3 - .5 whereas DFS insist on doing the whole 1 hr plus.

Frequent flyer miles to Sydney return $0

Cost of refamil flight on aircraft I had only done a couple of hours in years previous, plus IFR full renewal - $1200 and that was over 5 hours flying all up... the renewal part cost somewhere in the vicinity of $500ish. Oh yeah and $60 in accomodation.

Passingbay,

Maybe you are seeking advice from the wrong quarters. Perhaps a nicely worded letter to the operations team in the CASA regional office in Darwin would be a better place to seek some clarity on this situation. Although casa won't give a hoot about what rates they charge at this school, wording to the tune of

"and upon receipt of my training invoice, I noticed significant discrepancies between the actual and recorded flight times. When I questioned this with Mr ****, he responded by telling that he knew a lot of chief pilots on this airport, a statement which I took to be thinly veiled threat to my future employment prospects and wellbeing.... can you advise me what actions I should take to ensure that my employment is not compromised in this fashion.... etc etc "

Just may trigger some action in the form of a little talk to your resident idiot IFR tutor. This is after all how (you say) he responded. Expose him for the nasty little grub he is I reckon.

TBP I agree you got well and truly ripped off but I'm just wondering why if you're employed is not your employer paying for your renewel. I thought under NT legislation all pilots had to be paid the award and be employed under award conditions. This should mean your employer foots the bill.

Rate1

ThePassingBoy
 

I guess one consolation is that its tax deductable! Total Rip Off though.

rate 1,
only apply if you're a full timer......
In a way, glad I'm not. The total income for a someone being employed as casual is usually more than that of a FT.(Hrs for Hrs)
The FT would, in most companies, be the CP, CEO, ops manager, etc. These guys would usually spend more time in the office than the 'casua'l pilot flying.
Again! That make sense if the company is paying the award. Different for some companies.......