Which country is cheaper....

[Murray_NN]

...to build some hours?

OZ
or
The US of A?

[Luke SkyToddler]

They're similar ... it really depends on what the exchange rates are like at the time you're going, and how hard you can screw your prospective school for a discount.

The smart wannabe is taking their money to South Africa - the way the exchange rates have gone, SA is the cheapest place in the world right now.

[A and C]

The price is much the same but the standards of flying training and aircraft maintenance is much better in OZ.

I am sure that a number of you can point out very good places in the USA I know of one or two myself , but on average its better down under.

Now will someone please pass the bunderburg overproof !.

[P.O.M]

If it helps as any indication, I have had a few new pilots either starting or inquiring in the last month or two at our flying school in Western Australia.

Two from Florida, one of which is now here, one from the UK and another from SA due here in May.

All indicating the two main reasons for flying here being the comparatively lower costs and the fantastic weather we have here.

[redsnail]

I got a mate out here in Oz (Sydney). The price is right but what has been a big shock to him is the standard required for VFR navigation. He trained in Florida something like 9 months ago and got his PPL. Since then he's been doing the ATPL theory. . .What has caught out my mate is that there was a long break between flights and thus his nav standards had fallen. He found that navigating around Sydney (with no GPS) to be a lot harder than he expected with CTA's and other such things to worry about. (+ a lack of VOR's compared to Florida). .So he's happy in that the time he's put in has been doing some challenging navigational exercises and he feels it will stand him in good stead for the CPL training in the UK. Only thing he's a bit disappointed with is he didn't get as many hours as he thought he'd get.

[152]

Marray_NN,

I think if you weigh up the difference between the air fares, i.e. £500 then it would be wiser to go to Florida.

That is unless you can get discounted travel, even so - its 10% of the FULL economy fare so you'll still be saving.

I have been looking around and flights to Florida are around the £200 mark, compare that to a flight to Sydney about £700. Thats another 10hrs of flying in the difference of air fare.. .There are some good schools in Florida just need to search for them.

Hope this helps.

[Gunner B12]

I'm biased. I live in Perth but the weather is great, there are clean beaches, we drive on the same side of the road. Other things come into it like if you are clever you would book a course of some kind. Now whilst this would cost you money it could entitle you to a student visa. This allows you to work for 25 hours a week and this can greatly extend your cash and hence your flying time. Check this out with a flying school as they may even be able to arrange the visa.

Cars in WA don't have to have a MOT so there are a lot of cheap run abouts available, just be careful when buying. However Jandakot even has Chalet accomodation available to rent on the airport grounds but you would have to check out how cost effective it is.

The one thing to watch out for is that you don't fall in love with the place. Did I mention that Airline Pilot is one of the high points scorers in the migration process! Oh and 700 quid sounds a bit steep for a flight to OZ.

Hope you enjoy whatever you decide on.

[P.O.M]

Like gunner, I also live in Perth and I work at Jandakot Airport.. .If you want information on doing flying here e-mail me, as indicated in my earlier post we get quite a few international students learning/flying with us.

[Murray_NN]

P O M,

What is your e mail?

Mine is [email protected]

Can you send me all the details of the place I need to know please.

It sounds excellent!. .Just what I need

[ 22 January 2002: Message edited by: Murray_NN ]</p>

[152]

Ok, you got me, it does sound good.

gunner b12, Flights ARE around £700, cannot find cheaper, yet.

P.O.M Whats your email address?

. . <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

[P.O.M]

You can contact me on . [email protected]

I will take your e-mail address to work Murry and contact you from there.

Anyone feel free to contact me at any time.

Cheers <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

[Gunner B12]

Ok

Not sure yet about flight costs but Britannia used to do special flights which were cheap. Royal Brunei have always been cheaper but if you are planning this for later in the year ie the start of our next summer then watch out for start up specials from Emirates who have just announced new services to Perth.

I have a call in to a travel agent to see what a realistic figure is.

More background info from last weeks paper a furnished room in a suburb called Manning which isn't that far from the airport A$60.00-A$80.00 per week. or an unfurnished 3 bedroomed house in South Lake which is right next to the airport is only A$170.00 p/w so if a few of you get together you could negotiate a good deal for house and plane use. One thing though the unfunished house option is usually a six month let with about 8 weeks up front 4 of which are held as a bond. Some agents will however negotiate a shorter lease. there are plenty of second hand shops to pick up the essentials.

If you really want to keep costs down then get into barbequeing as many of the parks around Perth have free to use barbeques you just press a button and they get hot. Chuck a steak or some burgers on and away you go you would be amazed at the variety of food that can be barbequed.

However the best piece of advise is to get a big fridge lots of people over here even have seperate bar fridges, nothing better than a coldie after a long day or a short one for that matter. I must admit that the first thing that amazed me when I arrived in OZ was the fact that you can buy booze without even getting out of your car (drive through bottle shops). I don't know if you have got these yet in the UK.

Anyway enough for now If you want any more info just E-mail me and I'll try to help.

[farrenfour]

I have flown in both US,Eire, UK and OZ, I'd pip for OZ primarily for these reasons:

1. More interesting A/C to rent (ie complex and/or tailwheels) and easier to do so.. . 2. Take a look at the FX rate!!!!. . 3. Cheaper food (not kidding). . 4. Cheaper Rent (stay away from the cities). . 5. Less Congested airspace. . 6. Easier transport to municipial/local airfields

7. Some outstanding people to fly with.

8. No Id required to buy a slab of stubbies <img src="smile.gif" border="0"> <img src="smile.gif" border="0">

9. Gunners' right, you will need a BIG fridge.

On the downside

1. Aussie ATC, are not hugely student friendly, as for example the US ATC are in FL to lowtimers.. . 2. Weather, yes weather can be unpredictable on the east coast, and s-westerlies can kick up a bit over mountains/ridges. Just watch those lovely significant low pressures roll down the coast and hit land north of Brissie. mind you same goes for FL 14:00 thunderstorms on the dot every day.

3. It can get very very very very HOT! (not kidding)

4. rural country, you *have* to use SARtime on anything but the shortest routes.

. .F4

"oops , its never done that before ??? "

[ 23 January 2002: Message edited by: farrenfour ]</p>

[Dude~]

For what its worth, this is what I've got to say. I went hour building at Air Desert Pacific last Easter in California, using an Arrow II at 50quid an hour. It was great fun and the flight dead cheap with BA. However, the aircraft was really a bit tattier than I would have liked. The accomadation was expensive adn eating out pricey due to crap exchange rate.

Now I am spending some time in Bondi, Sydney. The food is dirt cheap, you dont even need a car to get around (a big prob in the states - you have to hire a car) the beer is cheap and bars are friendly and frequent. Then you've got the endless beaches, surf, the fantastic weather, views, well maintained aircraft etc... the list goes on. If time is not crucial, do Oz, it rocks!

[no sponsor]

Don't be fooled by the great sounding Oz weather. I was in Sydney from mid-Nov to early Dec and the weather was utter cr*p. I had hoped to do some flying, but there was no way - high winds, club base at 1000 ft agl, and heavy rain, for a good portion of the time I was there.

The flight is a bit of a killer - 22 hrs, plus stopover time. Unfortunately, this time of year is the most expensive time to go to OZ, with deals up over £1000 for economy (and that's not full fare).

Oz is cheaper sounding at the moment since the £ is quite good against the Aus$.

Time for your money must be South Africa. 5 star hotels for £30 a night and car rentals for about £10 for a weekend in Cape Town. The time difference is the same as for mainland Europe, and flights are much cheaper than for the US or QZ - but you've got to watch yourself.

[P.O.M]

Fair go sponser, the weather in Sydney may have been crap, but Oz is a big country so if you want flying time you go to where you get good weather......Western Australia.

We get close to perfect flying wx here (if there is such a thing) and lots of open airspace to do the flying, thats why Singapore Airlines, Singapore Airforce and China Southern do their training here.

A flight to Perth is cheaper than a flight to Sydney if I'm not mistaken, and its shorter/quicker.

As far as accomodation and transport go it depends on what you want to do here.. .If you want to build hours you hire a plane and go on a trip around WA, accomodation is pretty cheap although mostly not even close to 5 star but then thats all part of experiencing the WA outback.

We currently hire out a C-172 at AU$123.00 per hour wet(which I think works out to about 44-45 pounds)and we can put together a block rate for extended trips.

<img src="smile.gif" border="0">

[Dude~]

Sponsor, who wants sun all day long. Everybody knows marginal wx is good practise once in a while, with an instructor. Thaat two week period you were here was apparently a freak storm period, and is not at all the norm. Usually it is just the odd aftrenoon thunderstorm but nothing like Florida.

[redsnail]

Best time of year for Oz is September. If you are up north, humidity is still low, no threat of cyclones and weather still stable. If you are down south, westerlies (Sydney) should have gone, warmer temps than winter, relatively little rain. That is why the 2000 Olympics were held in Sept.. .As others have said, Oz is a big place. If the wx is crappy in one place, chances are it is beaut in another. If you have bought your ticket wisely you should have a couple of internal transfers you can use.

[G-LOST]

I'm back in NZ for a month, taking a break from the cold English winter. Also working on a scheme with a local training school here, that may be of interest to you hour-builders. Yes, the weather can be unpredictable, but NZ may offer some of the best and certainly the cheapest flying available anywhere.

This research is going to take me a lot of time and effort, so before I go much further, is there much interest out there? If so, watch this space...

LOST

[TALUFTEN]

G-LOST,. .I'm interested in learning more about New Zealand flight schools and their general aviation scene. Is, by any chance, the FOB at which you're going to be doing your flying called Canterbury Aero Club in Queenstown? As you said, the wx might be a bit unpredictable but you can't beat those Kiwi currency exchange rates.. .Keep the info flowing.