Bournemouth Flying Club's Approved IR Who'sdunnit
 

I did not know untill the other day that Bournemouth flying club were jar approved to do CPL/IR training .
I've been to see them and they seem reasonable enough , I have not committed to them but would like some info/ background knowledge / personal accounts as to how the club is run, the instructors, the A/C state, availability, friendlyness, bad points and good points .
Most grateful
Cheers
Cubby............ <img src="confused.gif" border="0"> <img src="tongue.gif" border="0"> <img src="cool.gif" border="0">

[ 21 December 2001: Message edited by: Cubby ]</p>

Background knowledge - the club is run by 3 sersoius pilots, 1 of whom is 1 of 10 of the most "qualifed FI/E" in the counrty and also flys FRA's falcons part time.

Personal accounts- the club has a "pay as you go" system which you need never pay up front, they have a few courses which you can pay up front although you wont save a lot of money in the long run,

personal account-the club is in quite a good sitution at the moment as has even started to buy a few Beech Dutchess to add to the other one they have just Bought... and its actually bought there are no loans in BFC!.

The Instructors- David, Lance, Paul, Miles are the commercial instutors they all very good and I have flown with all of them via one.

A/c - 4 c152's.... 3 Warriors.... 1 (soon 2) Beech dutchess..... 1 arrow..... erm thats all I can remember of heart, there is another one but I can't remember its name.

availability- the best FI's are always hard to get hold of but thats the same case in all schools.. as far as I know last week they where all very busy becuase of they teach all the trainee ATCO's but after christmas I am sure the availiblity will be back to normall

friendlyness- all the FI's I think have a different personallity which makes it intersting picking one! they all have good and bad points although I wont go into what they are..


Good points bad points.. okay bad... erm the name.. club doesn't sound to hot on a CV although a first time pass will.
they dont appear to take commercial flying serouisly at first but you will think different in the air!!

Good news about the club but i hear that the landing fees in Bournemouth are very very high and that's a problem if you are doing a few touch and go's in the circut....i think it's a way of squeezing the clubs out when there is an increase in the amount of large jet traffic to the airport.

Did a FI rating there last year when it was part of the Cabair group. Good fleet, good facilities (great clubhouse bar!), friendly people and excellent instruction (thanks Lance). A professional school with the benefits of a club atmosphere. Reccommended.

Ref landing fees at bmth we are talking an extortionate amount of money for what is a very under utilised airport, having said that ATC provide an excellent service (2nd to none in my opinion). The danger is BIA will price themselves out of the market and lose even more business to other airports like egte. Cheshire I suspect the missing aircraft in the bfc fleet is the 172.
and yes you are right about BFC great bunch of peopleand a good fto just a shame about the people behind the club bar (joke). <img src="tongue.gif" border="0">

After losing loads at SFT, pay as you go at BFC is the way to go.

BFC have just got me through the GFT in just over 25 hours, thanks Steve and Lance.

Highly reccomended.

Flying Farmer

Any comparison to Professional Air Training at Bournemouth?

There is no comparison! (****ty spelling again)

Cheshire cat EGHH


In which way?

PS

I can highly recommend BFC - having completed my PPL there, the organsiation is excellent, as are the instructors. Aircraft availability is good (I do not remember ever having to cancel because an a/c went u/s). Overall a really good place to fly (or learn to fly).

Rgds

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

I mean that......

BFC is the best in these kinda times the "pay as you go" method is best for all pilots in these times.

cat

is my email not working? <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0">

Fantom, you talking to me???????

Your e-mail address isn't on show.

I have flown at both BFC in the old days and did my CPL/IR at PAT. The difference between the two is getting smaller.

Both have professional instructors, the up side for PAT is that they only do CPL/IR training and it shows. At BFC you get the mix of mainly PPL students and some CPL/IR students (maybe that changed with the ending of SFT...) If you get Lance or Miles as instructor than I think you get what you want: excellent instructing. Don't know whether they use hourbuilders to instruct at BFC but with all respect that is not what you pay for.

All in all BOH is still a great place for commercial training and a full recommendation for PAT. Recommendation for BFC if you get one of the "heavies" as your instructor. Good point for both is that they have a pay as you go scheme! Accomodation at BFC is slightly better (portocabins vs WW2 buildings) but hey you want be in the Duchess (which they both operate!) anyway <img src="wink.gif" border="0">

Why on earth are you going on about the landing fee's.. BFC doesn't charge you for landing fee's.

Everything is included in the price, as many landings and approaches as you want at no extra charge.

Plus after your professional training I belive it is one of a few organisations that offer all flight Instructor-examineer courses.

cat

have finally done it.got an envelope now.
was only to tell you about the gbash dins you missed........which we paid for! <img src="rolleyes.gif" border="0">