Cost of flying in Australia
 

Roughly what is the cost to get dual in Cessna 172? Solo in a Cessna 172?

It varies a bit - as does the quality of planes and the 'service'. Try googling around but some places won't even advertise their prices. It's become much more expensive here in recent years with fuel price increases and more 'user overpays' policies - especially at capital city GA airports which are becoming very expensive now. One wonders how they stay in business as their returns disappear as their prices go up and more and more folks walk away. Nice quiet places fly these days though :-)

Here's one to get you started, probably near the top of the pile as they go..

Aircraft Hire - Cessna, Piper, Beechcraft, Pitts and more - Sydney, Australia

Rough average seems to be around 350 Dual, 270 Solo

We are cheaper than that by a fair whack. And an S model to boot! PM me if you are planning on Victoria :ok:

Those figures are about right if you are flying at a busier airport like Bankstown when you include landing costs. If i was you and live in NSW i would be looking at the less busy airports like Moruya and Camden, they also have some very old and very experienced instructors who have been instructors for decades. I know at Moruya it is definitely cheaper too (especially dual hours).

OMG it's out of control! Not to sure how any youngster can afford those $$$
I note with ref to that particular website that the cost for a 172 with either 160hp or 180 hp is the same for a couple of them, odd.
Any wonder that kids off the street are few & far between at those prices.

There's roughly $85-90 diff between solo & dual (C172), I wonder how much of that goes into the pocket of the instructor. Say $60 of that x 30hrs...not bad coin for just sitting there dreaming of that big shinny jet flying overhead:)

My local Aero club charges I think $160 solo for an older C172 so unless ya can't get to a local airfield then the major dromes are very expensive.

Wmk2

Wally the hourly rate of a PA28 or a 172 back when I was a teenager in the 90's was also so prohibitively expensive I nor my parents could afford it. Not much has changed really.

Got my start in gliders instead :ok:

Hi Adam, and to all in Canada,

From the March 2013 price list of The Royal Aero Club of WA (RACWA).....
(Situated in Perth, Western Australia)

C-172... Non-Member $272.80, Member Training $247.50, Member Private Hire $233.40,

Plus Instructor Fees $120/hr for instruction

Plus Jandakot Airport Landing fees, Full stop $30.20, T&G $4.10

A 3 hour 'Promo Pack' = $1,174.20. Includes all landings, Nav Manual & Notes ....and presumably the instructor.

$1 CAD = $0.966 AUD

Cheers:ok:

'king' when I started using drugs (flying) in 1979 ( I think) it was expensive also ( well I thought it was at the time anyway) but I did work 3 jobs to pay for my 'habit' (house/mortgage, wife kids etc) as I was determined but these days one would have to work a LOT more to pay for just one hr!
I bought along with 6 other guys a C150 (had to borrow the money for that to!) & most of us learnt to fly with I think only a couple of us continued on to make a career out of it ( we where the dumb ones!:)).

It just seams pretty much out of reach these days to Mr average off the street. Me takes me hat off to those that crawl their way up thru the ranks which I believe is a dying art.


Wmk2

Are you saying they not only charge just short of $400/hr for a 172, they also charge for notes and handouts?

30 frigging dollars a landing at Jandycott??

Out of control..........

The actual cost inc GST for a C172 is about $25.75. The rest is the RACWA mark-up.

Looks like they are sticking around 20% on to touch and gos as well.

Whoa.

So how does the 'mark up on landing fees' work? Whatever the rates (pretty steep for me, having flown fixed wing or rotary in the USA and even there, for cheeeep), they should invoice the actual rates payable to airport authority/owner/whatever.
Without people flying their aircraft, there'd be no landing fees to pay, so it should be an inherent part of customer service.
I read that many GA pilots aren't too happy with RAC.

I'm heading to Perth in two months, do some gliding and rotary theory/conversion, but at those rates in Australia, I better stick to getting multi commercial instrument and FI in the USA and do quick conversion somewhere at smaller airport away from Jandakot, even if I end up flying helicopters in there.

I saw one of the Eastern side of Australia's school with 250/hr dual rates, which is what I can pay for old twin middle of nowhere in USA.. :-) Not that useful to have too much time in Geronimo Apache, as most schools seem to ask for 10hrs PIC on Seminole or Duchess for the META.

The way the training prices are (and I don't blame schools, really), it's almost comparable to UK prices with the high VAT (akin GST, but also for comm training).

Bunbury Aero Club = $216/hr for the 172. That's for members. Non members pay a $50 surcharge. No landing fees, no congestion and all the free airspace you can eat :).

Don't know the dual rates, sorry.

re landing fee "Mark up"

So who pays for auditing whether the landings, T&Gs at various locations (invoiced separately by JAH, Air Services, Avdata etc.) match the book entries and whether they were correctly charged to the hirer?

Not really outrageous at all.

As an aircraft owner I know how much time it takes.

Re " As an aircraft owner I know how much time it takes. "

Me too Mr 'F',

Then try and argue with JAH over the number of T&G's....

Student / Hirer says 5, JAH says 7......who do ya think wins..??

And I operate only two aircraft.....

And for MartinCh,

Even the 20% or so is fairly 'transparent' to the client, But, for those organisations who do charge this little bit, they do have to cover the accountant's wages somehow....even I can understand that bit....

Over the year it all helps. If its of interest to you, I don't recoup this at all.
I just pay the invoice and pass it on - as is....

Cheers:}

Ullo Nik,

I'm not 'saying' anything...I simply copied the rates from a brochure....

Don't shoot the messenger.....

Cheers:ok:

With the right kind of software and an instructor paying attention there needn't be hours of checking. A bit of a mark up is fair enough, some charge more than others, each to their own. Overheads at the former GAAP airports are much more than they used to be and ever increasing. We are all getting squeezed by property developers who want to bleed us dry then boot us out. Unfortunately that has to be passed on to the customers one way or another.

No such thing as cheap flying.

I do wonder how much of the $120 an hour(ground and flight time) the RACWA instructors get? (Hypothetical, please don't answer here!)

Ex FG et al.,

The 250/hr dual rate wasn't for 172, obviously. Last time I flew couple hours in 150/152, I paid about 80 USD/hr dual rate, but that's another country/story. Haven't flown one in the US. Or some 60 USD for J3. In the US, C172 dual would be from 140 to 200/hr, depending on area, school, model/engine. I know, can't compare with Australia nowadays etc, but strong AUD doesn't help the initial shock.

Anything else I should find out about pricing/costs of airplane flying in Jandakot or Australia in general? I saw Bunbury advertising for senior-ish instructors on AFAP, but for an hour here and there, if at all, not sure worth going over. For some complex/RG flying for CPL conversion or more substantial training, probably worth it.

Clare Prop, for comparison, US FIs normally get 30-50% of the 30-45 USD/hr rate charged by school to students, unless they are independent/self-employed. Some expensive areas and advanced training may see 70-80 USD/hr for FI, but again, school's cut is considerable, too. Something nothing out of ordinary outside Europe and possibly Australia. Just get aircraft, instructor and airport to take off/land, likely without any landing fees, either.

Before everyone spends alot of time and effort trying to advise on this post you should look at his nic (ID) which declares "pittss2b" and Harv's Air. Undeclared interest?