Flight Standards GA Ready Course
 

Hi all,

Whats everyones thoughts on the GA ready course offered by Flight Standards? Is it really worth the 5k price tag for 5 hours on a 210 and maybe being offered a job at the end? Or is a brand new pilot better off to save that money and do some 210 time else where?

Cheers!

Here we go... let me get my popcorn ready.

Personally haven't done this course or any similar and I don't know anyone who has.

There's definitely merit in the course if your CPL training didn't get you in a 200-series or didn't leave you feeling confident with charter realities up north.

It might show you a thing or two skills/knowledge wise... but the best thing it might get you is networking which is arguably just as valuable as experience when getting a job in GA!!

Sorry, more questions than answers but no wrong answer here. Best of luck, it's tough starting out!

Lemme see now......

$5K for 5 hours on a '210'.......that would include some 'ground time' / 'office work duties' I would imagine.....

I wonder just what I could get for my $5K if I 'looked around'........

Just sayin'.......

You'd like to think thar after completing a CPL course and license test, that you would already be ready to work in GA, like thousands of pilots have done in the past.

I'm not sure but I've heard they make no guarantee for employment afterwards.
I'm currently in Darwin now (watching the dry season kick in) if anyone wants to catch up at Shags for a drink and chat about a first flying gig (still trying to get a gig).

Not sure what the freight ICUS program costs in Sydney with Macquarie Air costs these days or if it's still running but it use be around 10K for 50 hours IFR in a C208 or Cheiftain with a job at the end of it if you make the cut.

I think that well known military term sums it up nicely - WOFTAM

Typical of CM … only he would come up with such course

The course in question:

The course is conducted full-time over 7 days (with a weekend in between) and includes the following training, presented in a commercial aviation context:
Cessna 210 Type Familiarisation – with minimum of 5 hours on type achieved during the course (plus there are no additional charges if more hours are achieved in the course!!);
Remote / Unsealed Airfield operations – including an “overnight” on a simulated charter operation;
Land & Hold Short Operations (LAHSO) training – a qualification necessary for efficient operations at Darwin International Airport and attractive to prospective employers;
Darwin airspace familiarisation training – including a visit to Darwin ATC;

General Emergency Training (formerly CAO 20.11) including Wet Drills (life jacket training); and

Customer Service Training delivered in the context of GA operations.

In addition to the specific training above, pilots on this course will also receive guidance on other useful skills such as drum refueling and how to best present for potential employers when seeking that elusive first job (how to prepare a resume, how to present for interview and likely interview topics).

Candidates are also offered opportunity to visit the local CASA office to meet with local Flight Operations Inspectors (FOIs), Airworthiness Inspectors (AWIs) and educational officers to gain better awareness of the role of the regulator in the local aviation environment.


So essentially it’s 5hrs in a C210, a few briefings and site visits. Isn’t this the operational training a charter company should being performing and paying for themselves after they’ve employed a fresh CPL grad? It looks as if they’re just transferring the cost of such training to the pilot with no guarantee of employment.

***A wild Flying_Bear appears***

You could do the same 210 work elsewhere and probably get an extra 3/4 hours in for the same cost. Likely more one on one also.

It would be wise to probably do any 200 series work as part of your hour building also. Then it’s not so much a ‘added expense’ once you have your ticket and do it afterwards. Also shows the initiative one takes during hour building.

You might get a small insight into SOPs but they vary across the industry so I don’t know if it’s worth it on that front, as above, any employer will be re briefing you on their processes regardless, not what you learnt at a GA ready course. You could do a couple hours briefing on GA Commercial ops and so on, with any experienced seasoned instructor, many who have worked in GA charter ops.

Imagine paying $ to visit your local CASA office 😝

After reading the course content, I think it’s worth doing. But 10 full days would be better. Being an effective and confident bush charter pilot is much more than taking a 210 from A to B. I’d go as far to say that some sort of meaningful internship should be part of any CPL course,

Whats the difference between a freshly minted 200 hour CPL and a 80 hour PPL? 120 hours. But nothing substantive in the ability to actually do the job.

That’s the operational training the employer should be conducting themselves. Give the new hire pilot training in the specific type you own, brief them on local knowledge and have them accompany another pilot on some charters.

Why not pay for that themselves?

In fact any employer not prepared to do a proper induction is negligent, and probably not in compliance with the fluffy exposition that they had cooked up by some consultant to hold an AOC.

I totally agree with both of you. In the perfect world, the employer should provide this level of training.

But, the reality is they’re not and in all probability never will. Which is why, on the basis of the syllabus, I think this course is worth doing. Assuming it will be delivered by someone with more than 2 weeks GA experience.

Funny as “back in my day” I don’t remember these “GA ready” courses existing? They seem to be an invention of the last few years. Operators seemed to cope without needing their pilots to do one prior to employment, as they trained them after giving them a job.

It does make the mind boggle, where I worked ‘back in the day’ we employed newbies with bare min CPL. Yes it meant a bit of aircraft washing, a bit of hanging around ops, then low and behold into the mighty 210.

Now I can’t remember how many hours we did but it was ICUS until the check pilots were happy.

What does ICUS cost an operator if it’s not a full load? Absolutely nothing.

Yeah it takes time but sometimes I think people forget where they started or how they got a start. Look at that disgraceful pay for a checkride at AF in years gone bye.

Back in the day people learned on types that weren't much of a jump to a 210. But going from a plastic aeroplane with a glass cockpit to a 210 is a big difference. Would be good if the pilot could get some of that time up before the CPL, because the CPL should mean that you ARE job ready.

What does ICUS cost an operator if it’s not a full load? Absolutely nothing.
Absolutely nothing if the pilot has agreed to work for free ... surely those days are gone?