Ppl & cpl?

**Hiflyer** · 27th July 2009, 23:44

Why isn't the NSAC listed as an education provider when it offers similar classes to ardmore? obviously I've gone with Ardmore for sake of getting student loan/allowance/living costs and learning at the #1 school in NZ but I wantd 2 do it with the NSAC,

does anyone have any idea why the NSAC isn't an "education provider"

BTW NSAC is the North Shore Aero Club

**Swoop** · 28th July 2009, 09:30

The best people to ask would be the NSAC.

Obviously there will be a reason. Possibly all the NZQA hoops that have to be jumped through to become a recognised provider?
Possibly the fact that they are a "Club" rather than being a "Business"?
Ask the club captain or President.

**marty** · 28th July 2009, 15:36

Waikato Aero Club (there's a clue) is a provider, as is New Plymouth Aero Club.

Maybe NSAC have enough rich locals to keep them in business, not to mention the sale of the airpark funds. Not having to pay outrageous landing/ATC fees would help too.

learning at the #1 school in NZ

big call mate.

**R6_kid:Me** · 28th July 2009, 15:55

Originally Posted by marty

Waikato Aero Club (there's a clue) is a provider, as is New Plymouth Aero Club.

Maybe NSAC have enough rich locals to keep them in business, not to mention the sale of the airpark funds. Not having to pay outrageous landing/ATC fees would help too.

Heh, not quite sure about the 'rich locals' Marty. They were looking ok until the accountant realised someone had cyphered off abou $70k from the clubs accounts, the moneys gone and the perp can't pay it back...

Hiflyer - ring them up. My mate is an Instructor there, they're all a friendly bunch. They offer the PPL theory as a block course every 2 months, I did it for $10 a lesson as night classes twice a week. I'm pretty sure there are guys doing their flying at NSAC with funding from Studylink, possibly tied in with the Nelson Marlborough Institute of Technology.

You may find that over time your view of Ardmore being the best flying school in NZ isn't quite so accurate. There are a lot of people with a lot of different views, but that's aviation for you!

One bit of advice I get a lot is to 'move around' and fly with different instructors and different schools/clubs if you can. Also be prepared to move to a shit location near the asshole of the world, to work your ass off in order to build hours. The reality of training to be a commercial pilot is often quite detatched from the glossy pictures they show you in the magazines.

**ZK-Awesome** · 28th July 2009, 19:06

A lot of the flight schools come under the Nelson-Marlborough Institute of technology (NMIT) umbrella to get the student loan/living allowance etc. I think there are other shools that also do student loans that are outside NMIT, but most in NZ are NMIT ones. A list of them is here:
http://www.nmit.ac.nz/schools/aviati...providers.aspx

Many aero clubs don't come under this umbrella, north shore aero club included. For these you have to fund the training yourself, by savings/personal loan etc.

**Jantar** · 28th July 2009, 21:28

Originally Posted by R6_kid

.....

You may find that over time your view of Ardmore being the best flying school in NZ isn't quite so accurate. There are a lot of people with a lot of different views, but that's aviation for you!

....

My youngest son did his training at Chargemore, and overall it was a pretty good school. He is now flying commercially for an aviation company in Darwin.

However there is one aspect that Chargemore is not so good at. I had already sent him solo in gliders (in the south island high country) and I ensured that he had a bit of mountain flying under his belt before he went north to Dorkland. Just as well, because even as a student he had more mountain flying experience than any of the instructors at Chargemore at the time (except for the CFI). The idea of mountain flying there is so limited that pilots who learn entirely at Chargemore and then come down to Otago are dangerous to be around.

Once my son got his C cat instructor's rating he led a group of 6 Chargemore instructors on a training trip down here. I arranged for a very experienced local instructor to give them a weekend long practical mountain flying course.

After all that he ends up flying in the flattest region on our whole planet.

**R6_kid:Me** · 28th July 2009, 21:34

That's one reason I'm planning on heading to the South Island if/when I go through for CPL's.

My 'ideal' plan would have me ending up in Canada/North America doing floats and bush flying for a while. I have heard of airlines that won't hire pilots that don't have serious mountain flying hours, and those 'mountain hour' building courses you can do at Mountainair(?) down Alexandra don't really count.

**Jantar** · 28th July 2009, 21:45

Originally Posted by R6_kid

...those 'mountain hour' building courses you can do at Mountainair(?) down Alexandra don't really count.

There is no Mountainair here in Alexandra, in fact I'd never heard of them before your post. A quick look on Google shows that they are based in Tongariro. Wrong island even.

**R6_kid:Me** · 28th July 2009, 21:57

Not 100% sure of the name, but it was definitely South Island.

What I was getting at was the need to have learnt to fly in/around mountains, and have considerable experience rather than 'I did 20hrs flying around the South Island on a block course'.

**Jantar** · 28th July 2009, 22:07

Yes, there is a big difference between mountain flying under instruction, and flying where there are mountains because that is simply where you happen to fly. I was watching the TV show "Missing" last night about a Cessna 180 that went missing in 1978, and I couldn't help but relate to some of the comments made. Like "the clouds down here have hard centers." etc. The other thing about that particular missing aircraft is that I know the area reasonably well, and there are very few places that an aircraft could put down safely in the event of trouble.

Yet there is nothing more exhilerating than flying up a valley at 4500' and looking up at the snow covered peaks above. Then flying through a saddle and having a whole new vista open up in front. Or having to turn back and find a different route because you know that a fully loaded C172 just won't climb fast enough or high enough to clear a ridge line ahead.

**R6_kid:Me** · 28th July 2009, 22:13

The good stories make it sound brilliant, but hearing stories of my friend who is a city boy at heart, flying along the Southern Alps in a 172 and getting caught in a 1300ft/min down draft, unable to climb out of it at full power and max climb! I'm pretty sure he said he actually pooed a little that time.

**mowgli** · 28th July 2009, 22:26

Originally Posted by R6_kid

The good stories make it sound brilliant, but hearing stories of my friend who is a city boy at heart, flying along the Southern Alps in a 172 and getting caught in a 1300ft/min down draft, unable to climb out of it at full power and max climb! I'm pretty sure he said he actually pooed a little that time.

Got caught? More likely flew blindly into no man's land. Don't sweat it. Not difficult to avoid with appropriate training. Stay low; even the strongest gale gives way to mother earth.

**Jantar** · 28th July 2009, 22:42

Originally Posted by R6_kid

... flying along the Southern Alps in a 172 and getting caught in a 1300ft/min down draft, unable to climb out of it at full power and max climb! .....

Another potential trap. You cannot outclimb the down side of a wave, you can only turn downwind and fly out of it as quickly as you can. If there is a ridge downwind then that is even better, because that decending air mass hitting a ridge line will result in an equally strong updraught.