Need your help where I should start

[shahbaz]

Hi Folks,

 

I am new to this forum.

 

I have done 31 hours of flying (with 9hrs solo) in C-152 back in 2002. I didn’t continue due to life circumstances changes. I am dying to get back to flying again for the love of it. I am not interested to get into professional/commercial flying. However, flying cost is the big hurdle for me. I am trying to decide between: re-starting with GA and getting my restricted GA license then converting to RAA; or just leave GA and pursue it with RAA.

 

I would be grateful if you could share your thoughts with me…

 

 

Appreciate your help in advance.

 

 

Shahbaz

 

 

[motzartmerv]

G'day, and welcome to the forum..

 

If cost is a restrction (it is for most) then RAA is deffinatly the way to go.. You need to consider a few things, how much flying do you want to do?? do you want to take passengers (more then 1) ?

 

If you were to just pick up and start your RAA cert now you can count your GA hours, but you will need to do 5 hours of duel training in an ultralight with 1 hour of solo.. so by the sounds of your experiance you would be able to get your RAA licence after only 5 hours training, but if you have been out of the game for a while this could be more, it would be up to yopur instructor to decide if your ready, but surely it wouldn't be to much more then te 5 hours..

 

If you were to Do the GA licence you would need another 9 hours before you could have the flying exam, then you would still need to have the 5 hours training in an ultralight to convert to the dark side..hehe..

 

How close to an RAA school are you??

 

Do you eventaully want to own your own aircraft?? There are heaps of ultralights around that aren't that expensive..( there are heaps that are to).

 

So It all depends on what sort of flying you want to do.. The RAA enjoys many freedoms and we pride ourselv's on not having the red tape hassles that casa seem to want to infl;ict on pilots and operators.If i were you, i'd arrange a TIF with in an ultralight and go from there, once your bitten by the flying bug thats it..

 

Hope this has helped you...

 

cheers:thumb_up:

 

 

[Guest pelorus32]

G'day Shahbaz,

 

There are lots of views on this, but here are mine:

 

A 3 axis aircraft is a 3 axis aircraft. If you choose to train at a school that does both RAAus and GA then you most often get the same training in both regimes. The RAA hourly rate tends to be less however.

 

The RAA hours count towards a PPL.

 

So if you are getting the same quality of training, the cost is less, there is a qualification (Pilot Cert with endorsements) along the way and you can use it as a step to PPL, then why wouldn't you do that?

 

Regards

 

Mike

 

 

[shahbaz]

Thanks motzartmerv for your thoughts…I live very close to Archerfield (in Brisbane) which has several GA schools but have to drive 80k to the north for RAA training. I am planning to buy my own aircraft but not in near future. Are there many 4-seater RAA planes around? Do you need additional training to fly them?

 

 

Cheers,

 

Shahbaz

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Hi, no, there aren't any 4 seat RAA acft at the moment.. WE have a weight limit of 544 kilo's, so that keeps us with the 2 seaters at the moment..There's a few members from your area, theres a school at cabulture and caloundra aswell..

 

Thats why i asked if you wanted to take more then 1 passenger.. Only Ga would facilitate you if you do.. So i guess its a trade off that you need to consider, cheaper hassle free fun flying with only 1 passenger or the alternative of more expensive flying with more passengers.. the training is very similar, but with RAA flying there's no flying in cloud so you don't need to do the BIF (basic instrument flight) and a couple of other little things are missing, mind you the BIF doesn't allow you to fly in cloud either for that you need to do the PIFR course..

 

But remeber that all your hours can be counted if you do want to convert back to GA.. so a logical progression would be this (for you)

 

1. You sign up for an RAA student licence, this will cost you $115 and you can fly solo as soon as they recieve and accept your application (usually the same day).

 

2.You do the BAK exam

 

3. You do the 5 hours (including 1 hour solo) in an ultralight and then sit the flying test and obtain your licence.

 

4.You spend a few hours flying around the local area and accumulate your hours.

 

5. when your flying time has reached 40 hrs (including all your previous flying) if you wished to you could convert to GA.. This would probably involve an hour or 2 in a GA plane .. But conversions from say a jabiru to a cessna 150 or a 172 don't take long.

 

This would still be a much cheaper option then just doing the GA licence and then converting.. and who knows, ya may just love the ultralight flying and not want to do the ga licence.. But doing it this way you can convert quite easily once your hours are sufficent..

 

Comparativly RAA duel instruction cost's are way more affordable.. Typically an hour of duel in a cessna 172 would be around the $220/ hour if not more, where as the average price for RAA training in a jabiru is usually between $130-160/ hour and hiring the jab after you get your ticket is usually around $100 / hour..

 

I hope this has helped you, one thing i havn't mentioned yet is the type of people in the RAA, in my opinion they are great bunch of guys and girls who have the same reasons for flying, fun, there's alot of fantastic people with tonnes of experiance who are all to willing to pass on knowlage to us young pilots.

 

cheers and good luck, keep us informed on your progress..

 

cheers

 

 

[shahbaz]

Motzartmerv,

 

Thanks a lot mate! It was most helpful.:thumb_up: Your suggestion definitely makes sense. I will be sending my RAA application very soon.

 

 

Cheers,

 

Shahbaz

 

 

[Guest Macnoz]

This duel training sounds interesting!

 

I suppose a case of pistons at dawn!

 

 

[Guest Macnoz]

Hi Shabaz.

 

there are RAA schools at Caboolture 2 that i know of,one with 4 different types of craft. One school in Caloundra, one school in Redcliffe and at least one in Jacobs Well at Heck Field home of the Gold Coast flying club. Tee are also some in the Gatton area

 

I own a Jabiru J160C based at Caboolture and fly it most weekends.

 

You are welcome to come and peruse it and the club facilities there with me if you wish -- just pm me and I will respond with phone number etc

 

 

[Ben Longden]

Now thats an offer you can't refuse!! :thumb_up:

 

Go for it.

 

Ben

 

 

[shahbaz]

The closest flying school to me trains in a Tecnam. How do these machines fly? Are they easy to fly and land, say compared with C-152.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

Not sure about the tecnam, but by all acounts its a nice plane to fly and land..Having said that, you would be hard pressed to find a plane thats as easy to land as a 150.. Most ultralights are a little trickier to land then there heavier sisters.. But don't let that put you off, just needs alittle more attention paid..

 

I'd be taking up that offer if i were you, cabultre is a nice spot to fly;)

 

 

[Guest Crezzi]

The closest flying school to me trains in a Tecnam. How do these machines fly? Are they easy to fly and land, say compared with C-152.

The Tecnam Echo is an excellent training aircraft & its easier to fly than most ultralight trainers IMO. The only comparison I can make to a C152 is that the Tecnam apparently has a larger cabin. Saving $80-100 an hour would pay for a fair bit of travelling & with ultralights you wouldn't need to do so many hours. But don't take my word for it - contact the schools, book yourself a trial lesson in each type and make up your own mind.

 

John

 

 

[Guest Macnoz]

Hi again Shabaz

 

Which Tecnam -- High or low wing?

 

I have flown these and the C152 -- Tecnam everytime!. Forgiving easy to land craft only thing I notice that all of them Ive flown like right rudder almost constant and flaps are slow to retract making for a long runway occupancy when touch and go.

 

Typical cost here are $160 per hr dual for a Jab 160C, $10 more per hr for galss panel new 170C and c$20 less per hr Gazelle. They are transponder equipped so you can crossover easy to GA and that beloved class C and GAPP at your home!

 

My no strings no cost offer made earlier stands.

 

John

 

 

[shahbaz]

Wonderful Guys,

 

I appreciate all your time. Your postings have been most helpful. :thumb_up: I am pretty set now to resume my flying.

 

 

Cheers,

 

shahbaz

 

 

[Guest airsick]

when your flying time has reached 40 hrs (including all your previous flying) if you wished to you could convert to GA.. This would probably involve an hour or 2 in a GA plane

Is this correct? I was of the understanding (and could very well be wrong) that to convert from RA to GA took a lot more than this. During my PPL I had to do some instrument time, VOR and NDB stuff, etc. that most RA planes wouldn't be equipped with. I would have thought it would take a couple of nav's to cover off the prerequisites.

 

I also believe (and again, could be wrong) that nowadays you have to be recommended for the flying test. This involves a nav that is basically a run through all the items on the PPL test prior to doing the test itself. Given a test usually runs for 3+ hours this nav would be similar in duration.

 

To me I would expect it to take at least one nav (~2.5 hrs), a recommendation for the test (~3hrs) and the test itself (~3hrs) - all up about 8.5hrs if all went well.

 

I would be interested in hearing other peoples thoughts on this.

 

 

[motzartmerv]

No, i meant to convert to a GA aircraft, not the PPl.. But he already has 31 hours in a c150 so mabye he's already done alot of the stuff he'd need.. At our school they just do some radio nav and BIF in the simulator and then do the test in the GA Jabiru.. But if old mate gets his crosscounty endorsement i'd reckon he'd be right to just do the test nav..

 

cheers

 

 

[Guest airsick]

Out of curiosity do they cover radio aids during the test? I am not sure if it is something that had to be checked off but we covered it on mine nonetheless.

 

EDIT: I just found this form. http://www.casa.gov.au/manuals/regulate/fcl/form077.pdf

 

Item 12.8 - Use radio navigation aids. So the Jabs they use must be fitted with NDB/VOR equipment.