Ra to ga why

[stevron]

Is it worth the trouble to convert from RA to Ga

 

 

[RKW]

It certainly is if you want to take the wife and the billy lids for a fly!

 

 

[kgwilson]

Once you convert you will just have to pay more to fly & you can take more passengers, you won't have to pay RAA an annual fee & you can fly in CTA. You will need a class 2 medical though & you have a lifetime licence. BFRs every 2 years is no different to RAA. Whether it is worth it depends on what that means to you. In $ terms it will cost more especially if you put in a lot of hours.

 

 

[Louis Moore]

Or want to fly with lots of bag, golf clubs and in a twin!

 

 

[Tomo]

The expensive part is getting the GA license, once you have it, it's cheaper to maintain than an RA certificate I reckon. Opens up many opportunities, just depends on what you want to do with your flying I guess.

 

 

[Guest Maj Millard]

OK if your rich !..................................................................................Maj...

 

 

[Louis Moore]

If you're like Tomo once you have your GA ticket you get invited to fly ALL TYPES of aircraft. That alone makes it worth while!

 

 

[fly_tornado]

with GA you can fly overseas

 

 

[David Isaac]

Where are u at the mo FT

 

 

[fly_tornado]

at the computer? where are you?

 

 

[David Isaac]

God you are a crack up ... so am I. The reason I ask is that when you click on the socialise button bottom right for who is online it shows that you are currently in the the good ol USA.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

ok i am watching to a daily show extended interview, I trick the internet to thinking I am in the US so i can see it... grrr foxtel monopoly

 

 

[boingk]

I have approaching 60 hours this year and in total, mostly in a GA-register C150 Aerobat. I've recently done an RA-Aus conversion and gained my student licence (not for bl00dy long!).

 

I would say the advantages of GA are the restricted airspace, ability to utilise different aircraft with more seating and load capacity simply by hiring, and international recognition of licence. The disadvantages are cost of gaining licence and time spent gaining licence.

 

Personally I am doing it to get a career, and am persuing the 200hr CPL course via my local training centre / airfield. I have been pre-emptively offered a job as RA-Aus instructor and would be inclined to take it provided I continue to fly (and pass tests!) at my current rate. Needless to say the GA licence is fairly important to me, but for personal (pleasure/point to point/you+sig. other) aviation I strongly believe that RAA is the way to go and I intend to buy a craft in the future.

 

What it means to you may be a different story, too; I am living at home still at 23 y/o, having completed university, and am working two jobs to put myself through flight school. I work nights as a bar manager and the odd day as an aircraft detailer, thus leaving most days free for flying. I have a good credit rating and use it to full advantage in regards to flying hours, as well as having a 'wink & handshake' deal on the price with the local flying school due to my ability to fly weekdays when most people want to fly weekends.

 

Anyway, good and bad points for a GA licence.

 

Cheers - boingk

 

 

[turboplanner]

In $ terms it will cost more especially if you put in a lot of hours.

If you don't put in a lot of hours it can cost you a lot less.

 

I'm basing that on recency, or currency, and the comparative amounts of time it tales to keep skills up in a 172/Cherokee vs Jabiru

 

So if you want to take someone on a trip every three months or so, the preparation hours in a Cherokee are at lot less, even though the hourly cost is slightly greater.

 

If you own an aircraft:

 

If you do fly a lot more frequently, and you do record costs accurately, the cost envelope on an RA aircraft is almost the same pattern as a Japanese truck. They cost a lot less up until the time the engine needs to be replaced, but if you haven't sold by then, the extra engine replacement costs exceed the GA aircraft costs at that point and you can never get back.

 

In the case of the Japanese truck, the economics are brilliant because even the better make four cylinder models achieve around 600,000 km. This is not so in the case of RA aircraft where in some cases you aren't going to make a year's flying before the massive dollar crunch.

 

 

[fly_tornado]

compare apples to apples with an example of flying a self built sonex or a zenith 750 either registered as a GA exp or RAA #19.

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

I trick the internet to thinking I am in the US so i can see it... grrr foxtel monopoly

Can you tell me how to do that?

 

 

[fly_tornado]

install https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/x-forwarded-for-spoofer/

 

and pick a US IP address

 

 

[68volksy]

Don't forget a lot of the "it costs less to fly RA" argument comes from having to do your own maintenance! If people try and relay to me how wonderful the RA world is and the fact you can do your own maintenance I'm always more than happy to present to them my lawnmower as an example of why I shouldn't be allowed to do my own maintenance!

 

That said thankfully there are some organisations out there you can trust enough to hire their RA registered aircraft and get around this also.

 

Definitely get both licences though. For one it takes you out of either camp politically and secondly learning anything new in this world of aviation is just good fun!

 

 

[facthunter]

Don't forget the insurance that comes with RAAus membership. Nev

 

 

[Gnarly Gnu]

Can fly higher too right?

 

Doubt I'm gonna see the curve of the earth from a Jabba but it'd be fun trying.

 

 

[Guest Howard Hughes]

install https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/x-forwarded-for-spoofer/and pick a US IP address

Thanks for the tip FT!

[rdarby]

Why does it cost less to maintain your PPL than the Pilot Certificate?

 

You pay more per hour for a GA plane.

 

The only way it can cost less is if you fly less hours. Is GA easier so you don't lose the skill over more weeks?

 

I don't know and I don't think so, and I see some silly mistakes made by GA planes who you know are only being flown every second month.

 

 

[Tomo]

Why does it cost less to maintain your PPL than the Pilot Certificate?You pay more per hour for a GA plane.

 

The only way it can cost less is if you fly less hours. Is GA easier so you don't lose the skill over more weeks?

 

I don't know and I don't think so, and I see some silly mistakes made by GA planes who you know are only being flown every second month.

For me at least, medical is once every four years, BFR every two years and that's it. RAA is BFR every two years and annual membership. Not complaining at all, and I know we get stuff out of the membership, but it does work out cheaper for me to keep my GA license.

 

Depends on the aircraft hire thing, I can hire various GA aircraft for a reasonable price. It's not what you know, it's who you know in the aviation world. Ownership of a GA plane is more expensive though, mainly 'cause they're so old!! Unless it's an ultralight or something these new 100k RAA planes are no where near as cheap to hire as some think. I can hire a Cherokee 140 for $90 hr dry... or Warrior for $190 wet, G1000 Cessna for $210 wet etc... so really, like I said once you're there, it's not actually that bad compared to hiring a two seat high performance aircraft. Find flying buddies and it costs you even less!

 

Yes there are places out there that are a fortune to hire from, but shop around and get yourself out there!

 

Saying that I flew my plane for about an hour yesterday and only cost me about $15 in fuel!

 

Not keeping current is everywhere I'm afraid, and not just in the form of aviation!

 

 

[rdarby]

It costs me $162 to hire a SportStar wet.

 

One problem with the RA aircraft is the scarcity of them. There are 172's all over.

 

I love RA but I fear one day having to have retrain in another type if I cant hire the SportStar anymore

 

 

[Guest nunans]

In the aerodrome where my RA aircraft is hangared, all the VH reg aircraft owners are billed by the owner of the aerodrome (the local council) over $300/year in leiu of landing fees. This is for all VH aircraft including your small singles. The council get a list of the aircraft registered owners publically from airservices and just send the bill. (supposed to cover ground maintenance, awis, lighting etc) It doesn't matter if the VH plane doesn't leave the hangar for the whole year they are charged anyway.

 

My 19 reg aircraft lives at the same airport, uses all the same facilities and does it for free!

 

This is just the tip of the VH expense iceberg.

 

If you can get by with two seats, day VFR and OCTA (and we should be able to since we're flying for the fun of it instead of flying to get to an important business committment) then GA is wasting alot of money which is fine if you're loaded to the eyeballs with it but chances are if that's the case you'd already be flying GA and wouldn't even think about risking your safety by flying in our half arsed kit planes in the first place...