Flight training at Archerfield (YBAF)
 

Hi,

I will be commencing my flight training at the beginning of next year and have 2 flight schools to choose from in Airline Academy of Australia and Basair. I'm currently doing my Bachelor of Aviation at Griffith and these are the schools they currently offer for the practical part of flight training. I was fairly set on going to AAA but for no specific reason apart from they have the most contact with the uni. They both offer the same course structure and I will come out with MECIR and roughly 200hrs which ever school I choose. It seems that with Basair, the structure is slightly more rigorous and tightly packed which isn't really an issue for me. The other difference seems to be the aircraft they use with AAA using c172 and Basair the Piper Warrior/Archer for PPL which you then move onto the c206 with Basair and not entirely sure with AAA (they've said they have a 206 but it comes at an extra cost) when completing CPL. After that, for multi-engine rating, Basair uses Duchess (which you can pay extra for the Baron – roughly $3000-$3500) and AAA uses a twin engine Tecnam (which I don't particularly like).

I'm aiming to become an airline pilot, which will probably entail me doing some regional charter work to begin with, getting hours up, moving onto turbo prop then eventually onto jets.

Basically, I want to know if anyone has used either of these schools or heard anything about them that might help me make my decision. Also, whether or not you think the aircraft they use will have an effect on my first job chances (I know alot of the time it comes down to attitude, but anything for a competitive advantage is helpful). I'm beginning to lean towards Basair now as they seem to have newer facilities and more relevant aircraft.

Any information will be very much appreciated.

Cheers

There's Australia specific forum (general av) where you'd get more feedback, all sorts of stuff, not just wannabe/newbie. Most people reading subsection have no idea, it's often US or UK and in between.

I'd only go to either of these two asking for FI job. I've done couple hours (so far) at Southern Skies at YBAF but if you need big school at premium, to milk the VET FEE Help, so be it. Or thinking you'd have guaranteed red carpet to A320 straight away..