Wakatipu aero club mountain flying
 

Hi, is this any good?

I'm considering whether to get this training for more experience as I think it could benefit me by keeping me and my passengers alive with future flying.

Has anybody ever done this before? if so, have you ever used this training in your career?

Any info is appreciated thanks!

Wakatipu Aero Club: Mountain flying

I flew with them during my CPL training for a while but due to there lack of commitment to there students and there attitude that everyone who wants to work in Q twn has to come to them I left. I would turn up and the aircraft would have to go on a last minute charter so no flying or the instructor was late with no real excuse as to why. At the time I was getting near to my flight test and these guys just did not take it as seriously as I the customer would have liked.

As for the mountain flying its good and yes my help you out with
employment or just general safe flying and I would recommend you do it somewhere otherwise allot of NZ is a bit scary and very dangerous at times.

I did here that there was a big change in management at Wakatipu a while ago so go and judge for yourself before making a decision about flying with these guys. Hopefully they have lost the attitude and gained some customer care skills as a company. They had a couple of very good experienced mountain pilots but one of them although having allot of experience was dreadful at passing it on ( bad instructor).

That may have all changed so keep an open mind.

So do what you feel is right for you and never be afraid to walk away from a flying school who do not perform. The best school I found in NZ and I went through a few was Southern Wings down in Inver's, great guys running it with allot of experience and also do the Mountain flying course, they are further from the mountains but have a great attitude and that counts for a great deal.

Good luck

I did some dual mountain flying with them back in June (with Roydon Wells). All I can say, not having done an actual full licence course with them, is that it was a great experience and he was extremely easy to get along with and explained things well.

I did my PPL/CPL there plus the mountain flying course in 2001/2202. Back then Carlton Campbell was in charge and I don't think the place could be beaten for preparing you (as much is possible) for runs into Milford, the South Island and PNG (I did say as much as possible!). I haven't been back for a visit for a few years but I tend to agree with Bla Bla Bla that things may have changed with a change of mangement and staff etc. Having said that I can not think of anywhere better for a mountain flying course in NZ.

Mountain flying will be part of AC61 before too long.

Now what I want to know is if "mountain flying" is going to become part of the ppl requirements, who is going to teach it ?

What, the run of the mil local sausage factory instructor with all their previous mountain flying experience :confused:

What happened the last time one of these experienced instructors from Auckland went to teach the student some mountain flying techniques near Mt Cook :eek: ?? I think it was in a Robin R2120... :=

And what exactly is going to be taught ?

I just hope that the formal mountain flying training received say in Auckland for arguments sake, doesn't give the New PPL the idea that he/she is armed with the skills to go flying in amongst some of our very unforgiving mountains.

IMHO mountain flying is made up of three different elements. 10% theory, 40% local knowledge and 50% previous experience (and it's almost impossible to get 100%)

You can teach the theory all right but there is a bit more to it than that...


I'm definitely not against the idea of the new rule, however I can see it may have it's problems too

Carlton Campbell wrote that 61 addition and i beleive will be rating the A cats. he was also down in QN 2 weeks ago with a 182T fitted with around 7 cameras doing a mountain flying training video.

The training provided at WAC in dealing with weather conditions in the mountains is the best you will get in NZ without fail, far less chance of ending up like that robbin with the experiance you will get.

So does that mean he the A cats will "rate" the Bs in mountain flying and then they will rate the students ?

Will it end up being like an official licence endorsement where by you have to be rated to go mountain flying ? And who will teach and test ? Obviously instructors will. Have to test and rate those who have been operating amongst the mountains their whole careers. Gosh I hope it doesn't turn into that but it wouldn't surprise me if it did :ugh:

past the A cat side, i have no clue, its of no concern to me so i havent paid any attention to it, that would be a question to ask the CAA or your local flight schools A-CAT.

Did you ask them about this?

http://www.caa.govt.nz/Accidents_and..._05Dec2003.pdf

Well aware considering he was one of my first instructors.

Mountain flying!He don't a mountain from a sand dune. That's why he works for CAA.

I can assure you Sir that he possibly knows more about mountain flying in NZ than anyone else in the country. If I was you I would check my facts before replying on this forum and then work on my command of the English language.

I would find that VERY hard to believe. :E

Mountain flying at Wakatipu is definitely worth doing, not only because of what you learn but because of the sheer pleasure of flying in such an outstanding environment.

And yes in recent years there have been some changes at the club which I think make it more user-friendly than it might have been in the past.

Carlton has spent over 20 years in queenstown mountain flying, if that's not experience i don't know what is. CAA hired him because of that experience.

Does anyone know what their rates are like for hire / instruction?

I requested some idea of pricing and what not to complete zero - CPL there but I never received a response.

$205 to $215 for a 172 solo, had $50 or so for an instructor.

Pricing is on the website I do believe. $400/hr for a 206... ouch. Guess they don't come much cheaper than that though.

Hi, I spent a week down in QN learning some mountain flying skills about 2 years ago as a PPL, before starting my CPL training. I had an absolutely fantastic time - learnt HEAPS, and the scenery was spectacular. Yep, the pricing is a little on the high side, but you get what you pay for I reckon. The people down there are all friendly and welcoming and the instructors I flew with had been trained by Carlton Campbell.
The only regret I have is that I wasn't down there longer. If I didn't have other committments I would have seriously considered doing my CPL down there.