Airborne Aviation flight training
 

Has anybody used Airborne Aviation at Camden for their flight training? I'm looking at doing a CPL 150hr course from scratch, as I had 12 hours up 10 years ago at Fogatys at Maroochy and want to start flying again and do it as my career.

Apparently Airborne Aviation are the only Cessna Pilot Centre in Australia. Does this actually mean something? Their prices are definately not the cheapest, but will I be paying more for a superior product?

Have a visit at other flying schools in Camden and cessna training centers doesn't mean anything.
Try Gostner aviation pretty reasonable prices and good instructors.
Good luck

haha - whatever you do dont go to Gostner.....
Airborne are generally a good operation, like all operators at camden (including the great Curtis and one J Drinnan) they have their lovers and haters

Thanks for the responses. I'm 99% certain I'll start my training at Camden. Wollongong is closer, but has heard bad things about the flying school there....

Does anybody else have any comments about airborne aviation?

Did a lot of flying through airborne. Mostly private hiring. They have a large fleet that is well maintained so never any worries getting the aircraft i wanted, even though they were a few bucks more than other places. But with the amount we spend a few dollars here or there is much of a muchness Not sure about the current instructor situation, the main thing you want is continuity, so have a chat with them about this. Go and see the other guys at camden though and go with whoever you feel most comfortable with. Though i'm sure you'll be looked after at airborne. Good place to train though, just don't talk over the beeper on the CTAF or Jim will be on to you in no time.

Good luck, ENJOY

ah yeah..
 

"just don't talk over the beeper on the CTAF or Jim will be on to you in no time"

...hehehe so true!!!

"keep the control column back!!, tighten your circuts.." good days! (believe it or not)

I've done a bit of flying at Airborne and they've been just fine. I like the idea that their C172's are all current generation. They also have some newer G1000 equiped ones as well.

My only criticism is it can be really hard to get time slots for training, especially on the weekends. The place gets booked solid .

Well they must be doing something right then.

G'day Mate,

I have done a lot of flying at both Curtis Aviation in Camden and at NSW Air in Wollongong and IMHO they are both good. Have you done any flight training yet? Why not go in to a few flying schools and talk to them, see what you think and then make a decision based on your own opinion.

In my opinion the good points of the two are:

Curtis - Tailwheel, dirt strip and aerobatic training is excellent. Good admin staff and instructors. Newer aircraft (mostly) and a good sim.

NSW Air - Quiet training area and circut, very good twin training aircraft and a good sim. Friendly instructors and a very, very experienced CFI. Also the potential to get free hours on completion of CPL (beach patrols).

I enjoyed flying with both, but for different reasons. Each school had their strengths and weaknesses.

TIFs... In my opinion
 

I know it sounds like a lot of $$ early on, but why not do a TIF with both the above mentioned schools if Camden is your chosen location? It's a rare treat to have choice in this wide-spread country, and when you're planning to spending $30K to $40K (at least in the good ol' days), not a bad idea to spend a couple of hundred bucks to compare schools, and get some piece of mind. TIF's can be some of the most (edit: stress free flying) fun you can ever have.

I can't speak for Airborne, but I've done some flying with Curtis (FIR & ME-CIR), and when the flying school I flew for closed down, I recommended Curtis to my students.

In many cases, the specific instructor you get (irrespective of school) can make or break your experience, but with a CPL (as opposed to PPL and/or RA-Aus), having experienced career instructors who push you out of your comfort zone (as much as I hated it) can be a positive.

Hope this helps mate... and all the best!

Nads.

Haven't flown in camden for a year or so, but now that class D is in force, has Camden become a towered aerodrome all week? or just on weekends as per GAAP days?

Mate take it from me all these replys you got to go to Airborne are from airborne staff!!! If you do decide to go with them be very carefull and never ever ever ever pay up front. If you want more info PM me...

I am currently undergoing a PPL at Airborne, doing a couple of hours on weekends. I did a bit of research before I started and only negative for Airborne I could find is the prices are not as cheap as could be. Otherwise they have a good well maintained fleet available for training (I'm in a C172 of which there are 5, others available are C152 X 1, Citabria X 1 I think, C182 X 4, Piper Tomahawk PA38 plus other various twins e.t.c.) and they tailor training to your requirements (see below).

My instructor is a young airline bound pilot, but, he is very professional, has all the time in the world for my (sometimes pretty stupid) mistakes and my endless barrage of questions, taking the time to answer them in detail. He challenges me enough so I'm not too overwhelmed but enough to not let me get to complacent and progress in my training. He never makes me feel small for not knowing something or making mistakes, most of the time reassuring me that other people make the same mistake or he in-fact used to make the same mistake when he was learning. If there is one particular mistake I make often he will address it and work with me to resolve it (although my mistakes seem to be very random and all over the place). He understands that although for him flying is about as common as driving a car is to the rest of us, he never forgets that I am in a completely new environment.

At the start of my training, we would do an hour of theory then an hour practicing what I had just learned. It quickly became obvious that because I didn't have time to digest the theory before putting it into practice I wasn't really getting much out of it, so we decided to do the theory for the next lesson at the end of a flight, I was then able to take it home and study it and be ready for the next flight.

Yes it's true they get full on weekends and you need to book lessons about a month in advance, having said that if a lesson is canceled due to weather (which has been happening alot lately) they will usually go out of their way to find extra time for me the following weekend.

Obviously I cannot praise them enough (except for price).

:ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh::ugh:

I haven't actually flown with Curtis but they've always had a good reputation.

Have flown with Airborne (mostly private hiring) for several years and have always found them efficient and friendly. If you want to fly Cessnas they certainly have a good fleet.

Every bit as good for tailwheel as the 'tailwheel experts' accross the way.

All the Curtis people very friendly. Never tried anyone else in Syd to be honest. Seen enough disgraces in the industry in my time to know decent people when I see em...

Might have to go and do a mystery shopper TIF in the cool painted citabria to see what all the fuss is about! ;)

If your referring to Airborne's Citabria, those "cool" (interesting choice of words) stickers have been stripped.

Have been training at Airborne for about a year (work always intrudes hence the length of time) and have always found them to be prefessional, helpful and great to train with. As others have said it can be hard to get slots on the weekends (much easier during the week) but the training aircraft range from fairly new to brand new and seem well maintained.

Camden is a great place to learn.

And no, I don't work for them.