Any pilots in da house yo?

[Mikeymikemike]

Im thinking about taking up flying, as hobby, maybe career. who knows, but ive always been fascinated with planes. so now im old enough to do something about it. I'd like to find out
whats involved in terms of finances, time, health.. etc..

Anyone have any ideas?

[Fastgirl]

My hubby has his single engine private pilots licence. He is going for his twin engine next. He loves it, lots of money. Jandakot is your place to go for lessons...they do an introductory lesson which is cheap. Ive lost count of the $$$ we have spent so far...prolly in excess of 10k. HE said its $200 per hour, and you have to clock up 40 hours for your single engine.....so 8K and there u have ur single engine pilots licence.

[DaveR6]

contact the royal flying club at jandakot. they should be able to tell u all u need to know.

also, if u are at uni they might have a flying club. i know UWA does and thats worth looking at as a cheaper option for a private pilots license.

if u want to do it as a career its lots of money and lots of hard work. u need to be really switched on and prepared to take the shit jobs before/if u are lucky enough to get the good jobs. my cousin has just been accepted to qantas after slogging his guts out doing crappy work for not much pay.

i also believe though that qantas as well as possibly singapore airlines are offering cadetships. if thats of interested to you, PM me and ill try find out more for u.

[Aphex]

Birdman has his CPL. Im sured he'd be more than happy to impart his experience.

FG has the figures about right though. Although you can spend alot more depending on your progress.

Royal Aero Club are expensive for instruction however it still pays to be a member. Cheaper aircraft hire later on etc.

The Aeroplane company are my favourite. New planes (only a couple of years old compared to the RAC 1970s Cesnas) and more friendly instructors whos heads arent stuck where the sun dont shine.

[Hornet]

Used to have a mate that took up flying for a job but it ate into him for money so much that I think he owed around 100k by the time he got his commercial licence, but then Ansett crashed (not literally ) and all the top pilots dropped back a few levels so it made finding work hard.

He ended up driving trucks on the mines for a few years to earn some $$$ and AFAIK he's still there, saving a bit extra to get back into it.

Make sure you do your sums. It's not cheap to get into, and by the looks of it, a job isn't guaranteed at the end.

[mikey_R6]

look at the bottom of page 5 of today's west australian newspaper, there is an ad there for exactly the kind of info i think you're after

[Mikeymikemike]

Thank you all for your advice, its much appreciated

The geeneral concensus seems to be that this career requires a lot work which i am prepared to do, but also financial back up.

Ive also looked at this (thanks DaveR6) http://www.qantas.com.au/info/about/employ...pilotsCadetInfo, this program looks quite promising

So, now its time to see my options

Thank you all.

[xphread]

Even better - if its for a hobby - more fun, more challenging and cheaper is Gliding.

Only hassle is you have to travel a bit further to get away from controlled airspace.
(Beverly, Narrogin and Cunderdin, in order of closeness)

Costs on average ~$2000 to get to solo level and hourly rate is MUCH cheaper than powered flight.
(especially since hire is free after 2.5 hours, so you can fly for the whole day for less than an hours hire of some power planes.
More info is on Beverley Soring Society's website: www.beverley-soaring.org.au
I used to fly there every fortnight. (and planning to go back once other commitments have settled down)

If you really want a noisy smelly engine, then check out ultralights. Half the price of GA (General Aviation). (Cessnas etc)
Its not just rag and tube/dodgy home builts any more... Some of the more sophisticated planes now are approching better than the entry level GA aircraft.

[Deej]

Have a unresricted private lic. and been a member of the Royal Aero Club for some 23 years, personally i recon its the best place but it will cost u a little more. THey have the best facilities at Jandakot and also at Murray Field (which they own).

Go have a chat to them, they will have detailed info and also have a trial flight (for a nominal amount) where they will chuck u in a C152 and let u have a play to get a taste for it.

[Rich...]

It would definitely be an expensive hobby....but so can motorbikes, boats, or a host of other things people do...

A few years ago I looked into getting commerical pilots license...

It would have cost a little less than $70k to get CPL and twin engine certification..

To do it as a job would be great, challenging, aways learning and upgrading skills...

What I did find out was don't expect to make alot of money out of it...

[mark_r]

Or do what my younger brother is doing and get the taxpayers to pay for your lessons - the RAAF looks after its pilots well. Just been posted to Canberra to learn on the BBJ 737 Vip Jet.

[stone]

I too have the lust for filght.Although RC flying is all Ive done to date.

My old man got his ultrlight licence for around the couple of grand mark and built his fisrt plane with an all up cost around ten grand.

Im waiting for him to finish his new twin seat pusher,about 20g worth mostly pre fab'd, then I'll take more intrest.

[stone]

Oh and too the GA pilot's that want to take the piss,yeh they are the 250's of the sky, but for 20g you can have a real world plane that has been desinged tested and proven it can littrly fly around the world. Oh it's a Chalenger ll the old fella is building,full span and fiber spoiler version.Aparentlly capable of thermaling (glideing) also.

FUCK I WANT ONE

[Davey]

I've done 7 hours of my GA licence - though a while ago so they might not count anymore. I also flew ultralights a few times as a teenager. They are both fun.

I flew RC aircraft (planes and helis) for 6 years as a teenager - I was australia's youngest MAAA rated instructor (instructor #q38) at age 13. Raced pylon racers for a while .. great fun an r/c plane that does 320km/h.

Would love to get into flying but dont have the time to do it properly (full time)..

[stone]

My fav RC plane at the moment is my 1/4 scale Harmon Rocket lll. The real one is a sport class pylon racer,it's a modified RV-4 with a 400 hp Lycoming in it.

Might go down to foothills MAC tomora befor batherst starts me thinks.