WAAC in Perth
 

Hello,

Anyone having any experiences with WAAC?
They offer JAA Integrated Course.

Any info of what the initial exams consist of?
(verbal/numerical reasoning, COMPASS)

Thanks a lot for the help!

Regards

THanks for the info.

I'm seriously considering to go to WAAC for my JAR ATPL license. I see they're course runs in 60 weeks, isn't this a bit to short? If I calculate on 5 days a week of 8 hour inclusive practical training, that's like an average of 5 h lessons a day.

The whole package theory + practical is 1108 hours.

Now my question is: on what level are the lessons at WAAC?

I've met some of the WAAC students after they come back to the Uk for their IRs and they did well. Also saw the interviews at CATS in December for their next intake and it was impressive. The students are super keen but had it explained that the course in Oz is a long way from home and you are there to study. I think they do about 6.5 h study per day on the ground school, then knocked out their CPLs then back over here for the IR.

Hope youll get some feedback from the actual WAAC students in here as they'll know much more

yeah, that's what I had in mind, that you are there to study 7/7
Though 6,5h of lessons a day, and then study all the lessons seems a bit to much for me. And for me it'll be all in English, my first language is Dutch

Does anyone know what the application process consists of, ie. is it all conducted over one day (like OAA) or over a seperate days (like CTC). Wouls UK students have to fly over to Oz to go through it or is there an oppertunity to do it over here as I see there is a UK office?

Thanks, :ok:

Thanks, that makes life a lot easier!

Western Australia Aviation College - Employability
 

Hi, does anyone know about the employment record for WAAC ? Is this College well respected by the airlines in comparison to Oxford or Jerez ?

Any information / opinions would be very welcome.

WAAC students eployment
 

Hi there

Have read the entire thread and nobody seems to have answered anything to do with employment, and how WAAC is viewed by the UK airline companies. I know that people have said that the school is a good one, but the proof is that the students of any FTO have a good employability record. If anyone has info on this please would really like to hear from you. Seeing as the course has been running now for a couple of years there should be someone!?

Have already had a chat with WAAC on the phone and at flyer.

hey just finished my second day at WAAC doing the CASA course. I love it. I was able to interact with some of the JAR instructors, if you want to do the JAR course you wont be disappointed they are a good bunch.
The classes are well informative and i have learnt quite alot in the passed few days.

would recommend to any one so far

What's it like out there... and what were your experiences leading up to joining the school

CPL with WAAC
 

Hi I am Jiggy i am trying to start the CPL course with WAAC but i would like to know if anyone knows or have samples of the Aptitude tests, what is it like?

hello
 

Hi how was the written test like? mind to share?

hi
 

Hi, plz how is the Aptitude tests like?

Not enough has been said about employment figures, someone please elaborate rather than posting a phone number ;)

Employment figures
 

Hi All, I work for WAAC and notice that alot of people ask about employment figures. I completely understand why people want to know but it is not something we formally distribute at this time. There are a number of reasons for this, including the fact that as a reasonably recent training organisation for the JAR course (we have been running JAR courses for approx two and a half years and Australian intagrated courses for approx ten years) we have only graduated two JAR courses thus far and these have been into an industry that is short of crews. As such, the employment figures for these graduates, whilst impressive, is potentially inflated from the norm, and it would be inappropriate for us to put this forward as a promose to potential clients. Our primary aim is to offer a course of superb quality and value. Our continuous improvement policies unsure that every course is better than the last, and we are confident that as our graduates continue to enter the industry our reputation for quality over quantity will grow. The vast majority of our JAR graduates thus far are employed flying jets for major carriers. (I stress that I do not feel the sample size of graduates is sufficient for us to use these figures in marketing). The relevance of that statistic to future clients will depend on many things including the changing state of the industry and the effort that individual trainees put into the course. We are not, as yet, formally aligned with any airline.We are noticing though that our graduates are being offered positions surprisingly quickly after completing the course and in one case, prior to completing the course. Our next course is due to graduate in approx four to six weeks and there are currently two others behind it. Whilst I hope that they and future courses share similar success, the reality is that there are many factors that affect this, and potential trainees should try and verify and analise employment figures included in any schools marketing materiel. :ok:

Peto your organisation has to understand that it is competing against 3 other integrated school, all of which are happy to release their employment figures. If you don't release them then wannabes will suspect none of your graduated courses have been employed and it's not worth bothering coming to your school! :}

If they are employed then say so and pat yourselves on the back on a job well done (i personally don't get your argument of over inflation of employment figures)

Ah well :p

Thanks for the interest Heliport. I guess my main point is that all the major schools have good employment figures at the moment, the state of the industry is seeing to that. Clients looking for an organisation to do their training should look beyond the initial marketing hype (including statements on employment figures which can be manipulated by marketers) and talk to previous and current students (pprune is a reasonable forum for this). Also, consider visiting the schools first (if time and funds allow) and get a feel for the place. All schools have their strengths and weaknesses. A quick scan of pprune will reveal good and bad comments about all the majors, including us. If potential trainees are basing their decision on marketing materiel employment figures alone then they are not doing sufficient research into finding the course/organisation that is right for them. Take the time, make the effort and ask as many people as you can. Flying training courses are expensive and a huge investment in your future (arguably the most important decision of your life). Making your decision on information in glossy brochures alone is a big gamble. Good luck and I hope you find the right course for you. ;)

Entrance test
 

Hi Peto, plz how is the Aptitude tests like? what does is consist of?

Why would someone in Australia want to ring the UK office? Ring WAAC in Perth directly.

Studying at WAAC
 

Hey guys i'm looking at studying at WAAC (not the JAA course). Are there any current/former students that would be able to help me out with a little info on what its like (facilities, teaching methods, aircraft etc). Im currently living in canberra, so still weighing up my options. Thanks

RACWA (WAAC's owner) in Serious Financial Trouble
 

Dear all,

For those of you who are interested in pursuing a flying course with the Royal Aero Club of Western Australia which also owns Western Australian Aviation College, you may like to know that the Club is in serious financial difficulties. Enroll at your own risk.

Extract from RACWA's newsletter Tarmac Topics, October 2010
(http://www.royalaeroclubwa.com.au/fi...T-Nov_2010.pdf)

Hello Racwa members and staff.

This is my first report as President and it might be the most important report I ever write. I urge all members to read this carefully.

If you attended the recent AGM, or reviewed our Annual report, you will already have a sense that the club is in a position of very tight liquidity. We have substantial equity in Murrayfield, but the purchases of the remainder of Murrayfield and WAAC has resulted in net debt of over $2 million. Additionally we owe our creditors a substantial amount, and many of these debts are due (refer to Annual Report page 6). We are asset rich – but we cannot easily access the equity in our property and have been operating at a loss, so we are critically short of funds.

Your new committee has been in office for less than a month and has been working to quantify the extent of the problem. Over the last few weeks, we have become progressively more concerned by the extent of the current situation. As I promised in my acceptance speech at the AGM, I am not going to sugar-coat the truth. One of the reasons we find ourselves in this situation is that management was unwilling to admit the extent of the problem. From now on, I assure you, you will be kept informed as we battle to recover the situation.

Our first action must be to arrange funds to restore our liquidity to an appropriate level. I have just signed loan documents with our bank to access a short-term overdraft for in excess of $650,000. We have no choice but to do this now, to pay our bills. There are other potential sources of cash, such as the sale of aircraft or property, but this problem is so pressing, that we are forced to take the quickest option.

You would be quite within your rights to demand an explanation as to how our club got to this point. A number of factors have contributed. External factors outside the club’s control have had an impact – the financial downturn (GFC) that took hold in 2009 has definitely had an effect. GA training and private flying volumes have both been affected negatively. More significantly however, the anticipated income from
WAAC has not eventuated. This can be attributed to a number of causes. The GFC has caused a reduction in enrolments, and a number of mid-course cancellations.
The extremely strong Australian dollar makes our product much less competitive in an international marketplace, resulting in lost sales. These problems are largely outside our control, but there have been problems within our control as well. We have not been sufficiently thorough in the management of the WAAC business. The quality of the pastoral care has been criticised, the quality of some services has
been sub-standard and courses have consistently failed to meet deadlines – these types of problems result in cost blowouts as well as dissatisfaction, cancellations
and poor testimonials. The product could have been made more competitive by restructuring, but these corrections were never made. The club was too slow
to react to the reduced intake and consequently costs exceeded income substantially for a long period of time. We have taken steps to address the immediate liquidity
issue. In the longer term, we must ensure we only embark on profitable projects, that proper business processes are defined and followed, and that our financial tracking and oversight are bulletproof. A number of exciting future possibilities exist with development at Murrayfield, and future partnerships in flying training. These must be properly managed and monitored so that we never again lose track of where our money is going. However these projects will not raise money for the club in the very near future, and we are a long way from being out of the woods yet. We are all going to have to tighten our collective belts for a number of years to come to ensure the club is on a sustainable financial footing.

The overdraft facility we have taken came with a number of onerous conditions, but given the criticality of our cash position we had no choice but to accept them. We have mortgaged Lot 11 at Murrayfield, which was previously unencumbered and we must meet an aggressive repayment schedule, set by the bank, to pay down the overdraft. If we suffer further unanticipated expenses or poor financial performance, then without the most drastic of actions, there is the very real risk of default. The bank could then foreclose and exercise its right over the mortgaged properties. I don’t need to spell out the consequences of this.

In order to reduce the risk, the committee is urgently considering options to raise cash in the immediate future, reduce expenditure and capital to sustainable levels, improve aircraft utilisation and improve cashflow in the short to medium term.

Desperate times call for desperate measures. Nobody wants to impose any additional burden on members, but the very survival of Racwa might depend upon the generosity and loyalty of you, the members.

The committee is considering a number of alternatives for raising cash and/or improving Racwa’s net cash position. These include:
• Inviting RACWA members to take up an offer of debentures with a minimum value of say $5000 to $10,000 to be repaid with nominal interest in say three
years.
• A sale or part sale of Murrayfield. Murrayfield has always been touted as the insurance of Racwa’s future. Is it now time to make a claim against our insurance policy?
• A levy of say $150 to $250 on all financial ordinary members. With approximately 1200 members, this could raise as much as $200,000.
• Introduction of a minimum periodic contribution to aircraft hire – if not spent the balance is forfeited to the club e.g. minimum of $250 per quarter.
• A combination of an increase in membership fees together with an additional one-off levy.
• Sale of one or more of the poorly utilised vintage aircraft which could net more than $150,000.
• Requesting early payment of membership fees, or offering benefits for pre payment of multiple years of membership.

Please note that these are only ideas at this time. We anticipate a period of brainstorming, investigation and analysis, after which some hard decisions will be made. The solution might be a combination of a number of these alternatives. We need to do something quickly, because our debt needs to be reduced by the end of the year at the latest. One thing is certain - the club is going to ask for your assistance in the next few months. In the meantime the best thing we can all do to support the club is to hire aircraft and use the facilities.

Racwa is a proud club, with an extraordinary history. In times of difficulty in the past, the club has called on its members, and the members have always risen to the
occasion. Debentures have been issued and repaid in the past, so there is a precedent for this type of action. I have faith that our members will once again support their club, and I thank you in anticipation of your understanding and
support.

I am keen to hear from members with other ideas or feedback. As a committee we will do our best to maintain open lines of communication through this challenging
period. Working together, I am confident we can ride over this speed bump and prove that Racwa truly is a great club.

Andrew Eldridge, President

If you are an overseas student at RACWA your money is "safe" as the Australian Government has in place procedures to protect overseas students investment (in ANY educational establishment). In the very worst case scenario of a flying school going under and the money cannot be recoverd the Australian Governemt itself will pay for the student to complete training somewhere else. This was introduced a few years ago after a number of failures of colleges (not flying ones) led to a lot of overseas students losing large sums of money. Australia's reputation overseas was being badly damaged and this was introduced to protect it.

However, if you are an Ozzie student - you're on your own!

Stay away
 

The CEO of RACWA has just resigned... again

I've been told time and time again to stay away from WAAC so i guess I'll pass on the message

Another related link...

http://www.pprune.org/dg-p-general-a...re-warned.html

Gleavage

I am a spectator to the happenings at WAAC and Racwa. I would love to know why and how long ago were you advised to stay away.

Please pm me if you wish :)

At the rate things are going, WAAC is gonna go bust very soon. :D

Flying Monkeyz
 

:) Any update on your last post ?