Cfi

[NWpilot]

G'day All,

 

I have a question that i would like to put out to any GA CFI's out there.

 

I fly at a school that has more interest in the GA mining industry then it does in training pilots.

 

Now the school has got students that are up to various levels of GA training, from first solo circuits to students about to sit there PPL exam.

 

Now the guys about to sit the PPl exam have been told that the school does not have a CFI and they will either have to pay for one to come up from Perth or wait until the other students are at the same level and all chip in and pay for a CFI to come up.

 

The other thing that was lumped onto them yesterday was, that the two FI have resigned. so now there are students that are left high and dry.

 

My Question is, Is there a CFI out there that would be willing to travel to the Nth West to help these

 

guys get through there training and help prepare them then take them for the PPL exam? Now i am not sure if the local school will have a problem with the CFI using thier plane, (i wouldnt think so, as they let other CFI's come up and do the exam for them) but the thing would be cost again, now private hire rates up here do compare with Private hire rates in Perth, A cost would have to be worked out for the CFI's time, incl accom and travel.

 

or in peoples opinions do you think it would be better for these guys to pack up, head south and find another flying school to continue thier training?

 

any thoughts appreciated.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Hi. Don't quote me, but a school with no CFI is not a school. The school MUST have a CFI. Any training done that is not under the direction of a CFI does NOT count towards any lic requirements. Its not as simple as just finding a CFI to come and test them. I know of a school at Bankstown recently that had this issue, and it required a student to refly 20 hours in a twin.

 

Sorry to be the bringer of bad news.

 

 

[NWpilot]

Hello, CFI and Motz,

 

Can either of you guys tell me how it would have been happening in the past, where they fly a CFI up for the day/week and do the testing on the guys that there FI deemed at the correct standard. it has been operating like this since..............well as long as i can remember.

 

Also what will happen to the guys that have gained thier PPL under this school? will they have to hand back thier licence and will CASA recognise the hours they have done or because it was from a school that should not of been operating will they have to do the hours again? as it states you must complete ?? hours of training prior to PPL exam etc etc.

 

any info anyone else could share on this matter will be greatly appreciated, and i would like to pass the right info on to my mates, before they cough up and extra cash for a licence that is not legit.

 

Cheers,

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Either that or take their stamped logbooks to a different training facility for a lic test.

 

 

[NWpilot]

I was thinking they could be operating a sattelite flying school, and using the CFI from down south, and getting the students to fly him up when they

 

are ready to sit / fly the PPL.

 

Bit of a shame that because both the FI's quit at the same time, it is going to leave the students out in the wind for a while.

 

 

[sseeker]

I always thought that GA flight tests were done by an approved 'testing officer' not a CFI (although they could be the same thing). My brother flys at Jandakot and had to get a testing officer in to do his PPL test. His school does have a CFI, however he doesn't do the testing (as far as I'm aware)

 

-Andrew

 

 

[Mazda]

Yes, that is correct. The school is not permitted to operate unless it has a CFI, but the CFI may not be an ATO.

 

It's pretty common to need to book in with an ATO for a test. Some schools have CFIs with testing approval for some things (such as PPL or NVFR), but ATOs for CPL, instrument ratings, instructor ratings etc are a bit more specialised and are often external. CASA may even want to send someone along to do the test.

 

 

[FlyingVizsla]

Your quite right Andrew...ATO's (Approved Testing Officers) do the tests....it just happens that many (not all) CFI's are ATO's as well!!

This one always amused me - that the CFI could test their own students, and some of these were CFI's of very small schools, and they could only test their school's students. No independance and surely a conflict of interest. Outback our CFI was in the Capital 1,200km away and we had to fly up an interstate Independant ATO (a very rare breed indeed) as the CFI never visited and couldn't test - until CASA caught up with it and insisted on a CFI presence rather than a Gr.1 getting instruction by phone. We could not use a CFI/ATO of a closer school because the approval was only for his own students.

 

This was a few years back when there were some strange things going on with CASA - different States interpreted the rules differently so anomalies like our school being required to have a fully equiped office at every airstrip we instructed from, and being under cut by a satellite school operating from anywhere because NSW deemed a fully equiped office "somewhere in NSW" was good enough to cover anywhere a school wanted to instruct at, whereas we had to be inspected and have phone, fax, desk, full set of docs etc at each location. Certainly killed off any training at country locations.

 

Sue