Cheap Plane Hire - Florida, USA

[Mark_ms]

Hi all,

Please could anyone doing hour building at the moment or who has recently done some hour building help me out.

I have got approx 100 hours to fly, and would like

A) Info on where the cheapest plane hire is in Florida ?
B) Opinions on weather to pick a school just on lowest plane hire price ?
C) What are the hidden costs ?
D) Opinions of people who have just done there hour building/recently ?
E) Does anybody know how to speed up the temporary FAA airmen license ?
D)Lastly, does not having a UK RT license yet affect my FAA license privalidges ?

I also have another thread running asking about the October Visa changes, and how this effects me doing hour building would appreciate reponses on this to

Thanks very Much

[piper pervert]

Mark_ms,
I spent a month at Blue Sky Aviation in Venice on the gulf coast of florida this year.I found it to be the cheapest for what i wanted which was to purely build hours.They only have 3 C-152s and 1 Warrior but a/c availability is never a problem.Accomodation is nearby and staff are v friendly.Check their w/site for prices or pm me for more info!

Cheers
PP

[Dog Driver]

Some ideas

I was a cfi in Florida a few years back and we just went straight to the faa office and got the faa certificate (based on your certicicate) right off. This was for vfr ppl only. We generally discouraged ifr flight for the new, overseas pilots. We tried to fix them up with a saftey pilot that was a local hour builder too if they wanted ifr... just our experience with language problems, local geography etc.

If you go to florida, the FAA is in Tampa, Orlando, Jacksonville, Miami and others.

I did all this pre-911 so some of the rules I expect are a little strickter now.

I might be talking with my FAA guy in the next few days and will ask him. Also, ASK the FBO/School you plan to go to. I am sure they will take care of you and tell you any of thier own rental rules. (The school I worked at is gone now ... 911)

I have not been to any of these schools in years but you can check into

Clearwater FLorida, We have Clearwater executive (phone [phone])
St Petersburg international has several schools, here are two 727 538 2088, 727 531 3545.
St Petersburg/Albert Whitted. Bayair 727 822 4216 (Ask for Misa..good friend)

About 80 km north (a bit in the country for non-flying activities) Crystal River airport. They also have gliders.

In the tampa area ... Vandenburg airport, Peter O'Knight airport, Zepherhills.

I am trying to give you local places that are not the BIG schools. If you have questions ... let me know as I live here. Again, I have not done any GA stuf in years (airline now) and the rules are a little different now.

We don\'t require a rt certicicate for domestic flying here.

[pipergirl]

A) Info on where the cheapest plane hire is in Florida ?

this is pretty easy enough to find out...buy pilot or flyer magazine and have a mooch around

B) Opinions on weather to pick a school just on lowest plane hire price ?
mmm...really depends on yourself...i went to a school to hour build who advertise themselves as being one of the cheapest around and in my opinion, this was reflected in their a/c and their customer service
Then i decided to go to another school, which wasn't the cheapest, but a friend of mine had good dealings with them in the past, so i gave them a go..they were fantastic....

C) What are the hidden costs ?
you have to make sure you look into everything and budget for it, don't get caught out-....transport from airport/car hire/accomodation etc...then add 10-20% on top of what you estimate, just to be safe...

D) Opinions of people who have just done there hour building/recently ?
I did hour building pre/post 911...it was great in the past, no hassles, but now it is a pain in the @r5e if you have a foreign licence, so you are better off just getting a FAA licence issued against ur JAA licence....i love flying in the states generally
I have been to a few different schools in Florida and the most recent one I went to was Britannia flight school in Lakeland.
The airport is controlled and they had a great set up there generally...i personally would recommend them

E) Does anybody know how to speed up the temporary FAA airmen license ?
I have just done the first stage of the process-
You have to get a form from the FAA, fill it out and send it over to them. Then you must do another form for the CAA giving them permission to release information to the FAA about ur licence(this will cost £16)...
Once they have both confirmed all the details, you will receive a letter from the FAA. On ur application, u have to nominate a FDSO office (there's one in Orlando) tht you will visit for the issue of your FAA licence...You have to present yourself and your letter at the office and they will give you a licence...Be careful though!-the letter is only valid for 6months...

this link is a pretty good one and includes links to the FAA and CAA forms-

http://www.britflight.com/conversion.htm

D)Lastly, does not having a UK RT license yet affect my FAA license privalidges ?[/I]
No, not that i know of..

Whatever you do, I hope it all goes well for you, best of luck and happy flying

[B2N2]

Cheap, cheaper cheapest....

Wings and wheels Winterhaven Florida are rock bottom prices, charge tach-time too...don't know about the state of their planes though.
Britflight Lakeland......cheapo also.
Air Orlando....