Most appreciated PoppaJo! Thankyou so much!

QANTAS and Virgin aren't really my targets. I actually live in Thailand right now as my wife is Thai. The ideal goal would be for me to end up with an airline over here and suspected it would take at least a 5-10 year stint in Australia to get to that point. In the meantime to be honest I'm not really thrilled about the idea of instructing although would consider it if it was a means to an end (probably doesn't make a great instructor though).

Do you know (or others reading) aside from instructing are there alternatives?
e.g. tourism, mining fifo, fishing, agriculture, island transport.

I used to fly to the Darwin to Tiwi Islands and Arnhem Land a lot for work in the communities. I wonder if the smaller operators like this are an option for the early years? I suspect many of these positions aren't full time though. If so, not a big problem as long as I can reach the 1500hr/ATPL within a reasonable time frame I'm cool with it.

Again, really appreciate you taking the time to help me out!

The smaller operators such as the ones you encountered in Darwin are exactly the type of operators you should be targeting.

Not sure what the deal is with Thai nationality when you are married to a female national, I know some countries only allow nationality to transfer husband to wife but not vice-versa, but there are quite a large number of airline cadetships for thai nationals. If you have the citizenship and flying for a Thai based airline then give those a crack first.

Hello! I am new to PPRuNe.

I come from Hong Kong and currently studying in Adelaide. I would like to pursue a pilot career after returning to Hong Kong (probably CX cadet program). As the application is always competitive, I think it is better and good to gain some flying experience in advance (I have NO experience and knowledge at this moment).

I have contacted FTA and its AFTC has a basic familiarisation training course with 10 flying hours. Anyone tried this program before? How's it? Should I acquire some aviation knowledge (BAK) before taking the basic flying training? Or just go directly with no background knowledge?
Thanks!

Hello everyone,

Sorry about the long post but I am really in need of some personal advice.

I am 19, last year I completed Year 12, including Math Methods and Physics. My life long goal has been to be a pilot and have spent a number of hours in the air with RA pilots over the years. This year I aimed to work in order to save up some funds in order to start training (I live in a country town with no flight school so this would involved moving away) however things did not workout, work has been almost imposable to get as the town largest employer closed leaving me unable to do any real saving.

This means I am unable to fund my own training, meaning I either have to look at cadetships (REX) or Fee Help programs.

My first preference is cadet program, I understand the concerns many people have with it and it was not my first choice however right now it appears like the best opportunity to achieve what I want to achieve in life. But i am concerned that without any employment history or real flight time I will not look very attractive to them.

My second option is partial fee-help. My concern this way - like self-funding is employment, I would consider fee help up to CPL and funding my own instructor rating but what are the chances of getting an instructor job in Australia right now?

Anyway Ultimately what i am looking for is some advice - are my options the correct ones considering my current circumstances and are my concerns genuine?

Thanks so very much for you time, I just wanted to get some options for those out there in the industry :)

G'day logansi,

Your concerns are genuine and you identify some legitimate challenges that you will need to overcome. However, they are not insurmountable and I reckon that you will feel a lot better once you decide on a course of action and start making tangible steps towards the goal...

All options have their pluses and minuses, however my input is that in my opinion it is best to steer away from fee help schemes. In the long run, they will cost you a heap more for your qualification as the "sausage factories" that rely on this source of income have many ways of parting you from money that you will have to repay down the track, and not necessarily with your professional development in mind. In short, your choice of training provider should not be based on whether they engage in the fee help scheme or not. Rather, you should research widely, seek mentoring and go with a training provider who you feel confident will provide you good quality training and not rip you off in doing so. The smaller schools, although more expensive at first glance, might give you better value in the big scheme of things and quite possibly prepare you better for industry. Don't be taken by the "airline academy" marketing - most likely your first few jobs / years in industry will be in GA flying piston engine aircraft in remote Australia - maybe posture your training to prepare for that and worry about "airline stuff" when you get some time up and are more attractive to real airlines...

Given your comments regarding employment in your home town, all this may mean moving away to seek work and take your flying lessons as you can afford them - unless you can secure finance from another means. Bloody hard and requires courage, I'm sure - but you earn credibility for doing this and credibility counts in this industry!

A cadetship is another way - but make sure you are aware of the likely outcomes at the end. From what I have heard / read, there are nightmare tales regarding employment from the Jetstar scheme and other schemes apparently ask more of you personally than you might feel appropriate... I've never been involved in such things - so only can offer what I learn through hearsay.

Regardless of my position on the matter, I cannot emphasise enough the value of wide research and finding a person(s) in the industry who you trust and are comfortable taking advice from.

I hope you find a way forward!

GAINING PPL IN SYDNEY
 

Hi,

I've decided to start working towards my PPL, I live in the eastern suburbs of Sydney. I'm only doing this for interest, I'm never going to do it as a career.

I've read this entire thread, from what I've read all the schools seem OK, and I should just call on them and see what I think. Is Bankstown the best place to look? Should I consider wollongong?

I've read somewhere that I should apply for PPL AND CPL, due to tax reasons, is this correct?

I can definitely see myself completing instrument ratings etc anyway.

thanks in advance for any advise

Hi all,

Recently I've been lucky enough to be scheduled for a number of damn early departures. I'll get the schedule a week in advance and get everything planned as soon as possible. Everything except wind velocity and therefore headings, endurance, fuel, and time en route ect.
My question is, does anyone on here have any tips on calculating wind velocity to a usable degree of accuracy without the days forecast winds a day or two ahead of departure? Obviously getting the recent ARFOR before departure to cross check everything but having it done already would save plenty of time and stress. Only thing I can think of is the synoptic chart but and would love to hear how anyone else does it.

Cheers,

Tom

Spider01, there is no way of predicting this, the only way to solve your issue is through practice, practice, practice. Just get fast and accurate with calculating everything. It's really not difficult but does take plenty of repetition to get fast and accurate. If you're doing PPL nav's then you won't have too many legs to worry about either.

My suggestion is if you know what your route is a week in advance, simply print out a bunch of templates with the route and every day get the area forecast and do the calcs, you'll find after a few navs and doing a couple of dozen mock flight and fuel plans you'll become quite quick at the whole thing.

Job Ideas NZ/AUS/PI low hour pilot
 

Hey guys i'm coming to my CPL and was wondering what other people's experience was with getting that elusive first job, will come out with a CPL and MEIR (no instructors rating) 230 hours ish, in NZ and looking to AUS, any experience/ advice (Paying for ICUS, ratings ect) would be greatly appreciated

Need some more hours..don't worry about multi or instrument or anything just find something you can do to get hours..parachutes or towing something..after 500 hours try and get some multi..

..are you sure you can't get your instructors rating somehow?

It is a potential option later on but just looking outside the box and getting ideas on how others did it without, i know it makes it tough!

learn the difference between allusive and elusive

Yes because the plane will crash if you don't know the difference. You knew what what meant and therefore communication was successful.

Check out http://gaready.com.au

Flying Schools in Brisbane
 

I have looked at a couple of threads from this forum about Flying Schools in Brisbane, however most of them are from 2009/10.

I am looking to do PPL, CPL, MEAIR and ATPL.

Just wondering if anyone can give their advice, experience or wisdom about this.

Cheer,

Josh.

Sly bit of personal advertising for gaready...

G'day j3,
Probably been called many things in my time but sly is a new one! (I think/hope!) 😜 You make a good point though, sorry to mods et al if not appropriate. Just offering an option for flyingrat96 to consider.

I reckon that anyone who's prepared to put their own financial risks for a useful GA endeavour, such as this one should be commended.

Best wishes to pilotette! :)

Cheers Gerry, there's a gap that needs bridging. It's not the student/fresh CPLs fault but the operator shouldn't have to foot all the expenses, especially when loyalty can be fickle in the GA job game.

A flight school named "learn to fly"
 

Hi guys,


I have just seen a flight school named "learn to fly" which is located at moorabbin airport on facebook. However there were only very few reviews on that.I wonder if any of you guys have tried any course in that school or have any thoughts on it?


Much Thanks!

Well, I commend them on a good choice of name! Better than 'Reach for the Stars Aviation Academy' or some such...