Ask me anything! I can talk about the cost, and several legal requirements, however I might be a bit vague when it comes down to stuff against legislation. Be nice everyone!
[AMA] I'm a 16 Year Old Student Aviation Pilot, Ask Me Anything
burgermaniac on 16/02/2018 - 17:51
Last edited 16/02/2018 - 18:08
Last edited 16/02/2018 - 18:08
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How much does it cost to fully obtain your SPL?
Not too sure what you mean by SPL, but we have a RPL, PPL, CPL and ATPL that is achieved in that order. The RPL starts at $17000 from many flying schools. The CPL will cost on average $65000, however the University of Sydney will charge $150000 for a CPL and subsequent training. It should be noted that for all your licences, you must have certain type ratings costing anywhere from a few thousand dollars to upwards of $30000 depending on the time taken to train. It should also be noted that there are many various flying related expenses that individuals make, including headset, medical examination and a Aviation Security Identification Card. These cost several hundreds of dollars, and may need to be replaced every year. Personally, my current expenses are upwards of $6000, and I am only 14 hours into my training.
I should also state that the ATPL is generally something you can only achieve through an airline. The requirements are a little bit vague, but from what I can gather you need about 2000 flying hours in a multi crew aircraft to achieve it, not the mention the rigorous study that must be completed for the theory component.
That's quite a lot of money to achieve CPL.
What is like to fly a single piston engine versus a multi engine piston one? Say Cessna vs Baron?
Do you enjoy flying a specific aircraft (though I note you only have 14 hours so perhaps not the best question)
I've flown in both a Cessna 152 and a Piper PA-28 Cherokee. I have to say that my favourite is by far the piper. These are only single engine aircraft however. Once I do achieve my CPL I will be working with dual engine aircrafts.
Many people in my flight school have various opinions about their choice of aircraft. Some prefer the Cessna, while others maintain their belief that the Cherokee is supreme!
That's a lot of money.
I first thought that it was a typo, but then I saw more typo's…
I am referring to an Aviation Pilot here :)
how long do I need to study to get a job at qantas/any airline?
will you go all the way to be a fully licensed commercial pilot or not?
the cost is enormous too, whos paying for your study?i've always wanted to be a pilot, however the cost is the biggest factor.
I don't think it's about the study, it's more about age, finance and luck. There isn't a guarantee that you will get a full job. Many instructors that I have are on 900+ hours and still aren't close. My personal aim is to get my CPL and all ratings to go with it, either through a university or private flying school. This means that I will have an open horizon, as I am able to fly as an instructor during my spare time. Hopefully I make it into the commercial pilot world, however I do know it is hard. The Airforce is going to be my secondary option, as all training is paid for, however you do owe 19 years of service in return. Currently, I go 50/50 with my parents for flight training. All other related expenses have been purchased by me, including headset, textbooks and sunglasses. After higher school education I will be off and paying it under the relevant HECS or FEE-Help.
I hope the circumstances arise for you personally over time, and take on your dream
Red or Blue?
If you are referring to Qantas or Virgin, my heart is settled with Qantas. All day every day!
Have you flown solo? If so, how soon did you fly solo and what was it like the first time?
I personally haven't flown solo. However the time required to fly solo is extremely variable. Some people go before they get to 10 hours, many go around the 18 hour mark. Apparently the first time is really nerve racking, however the plane is extremely responsive to light control movements. Hope this helps!
Do you ever speak to ATC? Are they as cool as in the pushing tin movie?
Yes, I make all my radio calls. I fly at Camden Airport in NSW, and I do need to say that everyone is extremely chill and knows eachother. All my instructors know the controllers, and could have a conversation with them over radio, but that is extremely unprofessional. During training, my colleagues have stuffed up a radio call, and the tower guy didn't make much of a deal with it, as after all there is only 1 guy. At Bankstown however, things are much more strict. Many frequencies and many staff around, with such a large aerodrome
Why don't you go the defence way?
Currently being only 15 (for atleast the next week) it isn't an option for me. However, when I'm 17 I'm considering flying with the Air Force. There are a few problems in relation to that though. There are strict policies that I will need to follow, and frankly I'm not too sure whether or not I can abide by those rules. Things are very strict, and for some it's a shock going from a chill environment to doing extreme aerobatics in fighter jets. Not to mention, the earliest I can go commercial from that is at the age of 36. I also don't consider the salary worth the effort and struggle involved (although in saying that the perks are good!)
Not all airforce pilots fly fighter jets, you got to get top score before you have to chance to apply to go that route. Yes the perks are good. Don't need to pay tuition, and get salary while you learn.
Fair point, however in some cases, grades aren't everything. Financially, it might make sense for a company likes Emirates under a cadetteship to take on someone that already has an RPL, and a lower ATAR than a freshly graduated high school student. These circumstances will always change, and there is no guarantee of consistency.
Is it true that if you wear glasses you can never become a pilot?
Not at all. I know a few of people that are pilots who wear glasses or contacts. Just need to have 6/6 aka 20/20 vision with them plus you're eyes have to be within tolerance.
I see. Thanks mate
Pretty much what he said, I believe your lenses can't be past a certain point? I think its 0.5x If I'm mistaken, someone clarify. Two fellow students wear glasses when they fly, and they're fine. However there is a greater risk that over time you may develop certain medical conditions in relation to eyesight so it is of great importance that if you have a condition, it is treated properly.
So what will happen when the lenses go past 0.5x in future, will the pilots then be grounded from flying?
I believe there will need to be special precautions, and I think CASA will review it on a case by case basis
Do you mean a pilot in GTA?
Not too sure what you're referring to over there mate! :)
Have you joined the mile high club yet, or still going solo?
No mile high club yet ;)
Still only on the first stage of training, in achieving my first licence. There are many things before I get on that list mate!
whats your second career choice after being a pilot (if that doesnt work out)?
Currently, I'm not too certain because I'm hoping on my many different entry paths for aviation. I will always try be an instructor for UNSW as I do have connections. In saying that, completely out of the aviation field, I could consider myself working in finance, as outside of the sciences that is one of my positives
What part, if any, does an aeronautical engineering degree or similar play in the process of being a pilot?
It really depends on the individual. Some people will try aeronautical engineering first, then realise that there are a few complications with that. Others might change degree mid way through, others will do both. Undoubtedly there will be times where the engineering degree will be useful, but from a financial standpoint there isn't much use with one.
how many girls in your class ?
Sadly, currently there are none. However there are many people who have come before, who are now instructors at Bankstown Airport NSW. Although that being said, there are two female instructors, I've only had one of them. She's nice, and is decisive, straight to the point while flying.
how old is the oldest guy training there to become a pilot, do you think you can say train to be a pilot when you are middle aged? (like career change) and what is the height maximum for pilots? Can you be too tall to be a pilot?
My flight school only really focuses on youth in aviation, however there is someone I believe 35 years old undergoing training. I know at many other flight schools there are individuals there who are even above 70 years old! However, a career change in your 30s is mostly impossible, an Airline like Qantas won't want someone new, when they could have someone with 5000 hours. That being said, our chief flight instructor has 9970 flying hours, 5000 of which are training. He also has an ATPL, so there isn't much from stopping him from going commercial if he really wanted to.
Thanks for answering! And what about height requirements? Got a super tall kid considering bring a pilot too… and how did you get into this so young? How did you even know where to go for training etc? School careers advisor?
Height requirements I don't believe is that much of a hassle, one of my instructors was 6' 7", and still fit quite well, just be careful as the small trainer aircraft don't necessarily have sufficient room in them.
I had a mate of mine start this when he was 14, and naturally I realised that he was flying from social media. Following that I just decided to go and take a look, and join myself. This I immediately knew was going to be my starting option. My school careers advisor only really helped me with the thought of being a pilot after school, not necessarily worrying during school time.
wanted to say, you are awesome doing flight training at 15. My teenager is older than you and can't even be bothered to go for their Learner drivers permit! I applaud you hardworking teen!!
Thank you very much. For some people in my flight school, they have their first licence before achieving their Ls. It certainly requires hard work and dedication to be able to do this kind of stuff, and I can certainly say it isn't for everyone.
So I guess the major airlines don't offer to fund training nowadays then? Too many people fully qualified to choose from?
Qantas completely abandoned the flight cadetteship a few years ago, instead opting for universities to take their place. However, sources do say that Qantas will start apprenticeships soon for many individuals, in a short period of time due to a so called pilot shortage, affecting Qantaslink. I will certainly say that some airlines do offer full cadetteships, such as virgin. These have approximately 10 spots, and over 5000 applicants for it, you could guess the competitiveness. In terms of having too many fully qualified people, this is debatable depending on the airline. Qantaslink as a minimum wants you to have 1000 hours in a multi crew scenario, however really this amount is only achieved if you have been in the commercial space beforehand. I guess with a kind of high demand for pilots, Qantas and Virgin don't see a need in completely paying for flying training, instead opting for private training then bridging on with the respective airline.
Emirates however takes another approach. They would rather have individuals come and stay with them from the initial flight training, instead of assimilating them in with the other qualified CPL pilots. It all just depends on the economy, political status, and education requirements really.
OP writes extremely competently and maturely for a 15 year old. If only most uni grads with ambitions for writing careers could write so well.
Haha, I appreciate that. Unfortunately, English isn't my strong point when it comes down to school assessment tasks. I can attribute that to a personal quality that I prefer logical subjects. Thankfully, English and literacy isn't much of a requirement when becoming a pilot so that works in my favour :)
Have you spent any time in a decent simulator? Can you count any flight time in simulator towards flight times for your qualifications?
As a gift once, I got the chance to be in a flight simulator in Bankstown Airport NSW. It's quality wasn't that good however, as it was essentially a big control input, on a TV. I surely do hope one day I get the opportunity to use the Qantas A380 simulator in Qantas Training at Sydney Airport as it is state of the art!
In our pilot logbooks, we have different columns for flight experience. It involves all types of flying (Single or dual), as well as simulator usage. Unfortunately, the simulator aspect doesn't count to "Total Flying Hours", however there is the "Grand Aeronatical Experience" that a simulator could effect. It does have to be a good simulator however, and not a home made one!
Please teach me how to hijack a plane and smuggle eneloops back to north Korea.
*Not interested in GTA style
Consider investing in Xplane 11 on a good PC. It should save you hours on your instrument training. Some argue it is a game, some argue it is a simulator. As you are Sydney based, the free Sydney Scenery is also pretty good.
Hey mate, I appreciate it. This might be useful during my instrument rating, however I'm not too sure what it will be like. You rely visually only your instruments, with no outside view (yes there is a cover, so you can only see instruments, but your instructor can see out for safety reasons). I currently am Sydney based, flying at Camden Airport!
From A VFR perspective you lose the feel of the plane so it is more of a nav aid than a flight aid. But if you set yourself for a simple ILS approach to YSSR with clouds at minimum you will get used to scanning the instruments in the 'white', and there will be an achievement when you pop out of the clouds and the runway is ahead of you. There are a few add ons that give you real weather (including cross winds) that you can either fly through or around.
I might take a look at it, because we are interested in purchasing a new simulator computer costing $4000. Although that being said, I hopefully don't have to do my instrument approaches for atleast 5 more years. Thank you though, I will certainly take a look into it!
Thanks I've landed successfully in North Korea enjoyed my 24 hours DC 3 trial.
How many months have you been flying?
Also how long get a lesson be?I thinking of doing the RTL, unfortunately I working full-time too so it probably take a year for me to complete it on the weekends part-time
Thank you,
G'day
I've been flying for about a year now, and each lesson has been about 1 hour long, however some lessons we're 0.7, and others have been 1.3. This all attributes to what we do during the lesson, as well as current weather conditions.
I used to learn how to fly, also in my mid-teens. All my part-time job money went on it and basically struggled to get the hours in. I hit around 13 hours of flight time and the teachers were impressed, pushing for me to start with the solo section of training. This was the late 90's and an hour lesson had creeped up to around $300. Throw in the water/fuel contamination crisis, this was a painful time.
I came to the conclusion as I was completing my year 10 that I needed to make a choice, leave school to pay for flight lessons or stick with school. I chose the latter. My VCE (I'm Victorian, HSC equivalent) would get me more places if I couldn't get a job flying or just couldn't afford it. It's a great undertaking but ultimately it's an expensive and enjoyable pasttime (if doing it for your own fun). Personally, if you don't go for a commercial level of licencing you're wasting so much money. Why pay to do what you love when you can be paid to do that!
I miss it occasionally since I now work in a hospital only 3-5kms away from the airfield I used to train out of, but glad I made my choice (also throw in 9/11, all the jobs went for a while).
Good luck with your training and future completion!
I also work at McDonalds, earning a measley $11.52. I can't really complain as my skills are quite low. Despite that, I still plan on getting my HSC ATAR at the end of Year 12, which is only a year away. I want to go to the UNSW, or do a diploma of aviation, the Qantaslink Cadetteship looks like the best idea for me. For these individuals that get PPL and Instrument Ratings I wonder why spend all that money (north of $35,000). I really hope I make it into the world of aviation, it might be hard, but we can see when I get there.
Thank you,
Good luck! I still dream of flying occasionally.
The science of flight makes driving a bus/truck in the sky much more exciting and interesting! The only path that doesn't help is joining the Air Force since they require a return-of-service that makes you much less employable in the future.
There are TAFE/Uni courses for flight training out there that look very promising. Costs are comparable to private and you'll have a structured curriculum. Go for it!
Oooh good thread! Hope you don't mind me asking a few things. Great that you're chasing the goal so young
I've had a few lessons at Camden, with Gostner aviation, though they're a tad expensive now.
I'm keen to try somewhere else, just to get some different scenery and maybe a better price.
Bankstown would be a big challenge, but do you recommend any other places, not too far from Sydney?Also, I'm keen to just make the simple stuff second nature, but can't afford regular lessons. Is there a half decent flight sim package for Mac that you're aware of?
Thanks man, keep at it!
G'day,
Sorry for late reply, but I do recommend Sydney Flight College in Bankstown Airport due to firsthand experience of the effort and time that is placed in by instructors without any extra income. Similarly, many mates of mine fly there too.
Otherwise, Curtis Aviation in Camden Airport isn't bad, although haven't had experience with the people, but their service records are on par.
I know there is FSX, and XPlane but the problem is I don't know if they are on Mac
I hope you enjoy your time in the air!
Hi, sorry a bit late for this post, but just trolling ozb on a long weekend ;)
Had about 15 hours training when in my 20's and really really njoyed it, but after having a family was cost prohibitive to continue
A weird thing: I have a flying phobia, but only on commercial airlines, I have no problem getting in a 2 seater cessna with a lawn-mower sized engne, but get all anxious on any commercial flight no matter how short.
A loss of control issue?
G'day mate
There are certainly a few aspects that make me feel more comfortable in my Cherokee. These include:
- Fuel and Service logs individually checked and single determination whether the aircraft is airworthy
- Close to an aerodrome, and the possibility of landing on a 400m straight road.
- Engine cutoffs at 3500ft, have the range of flying almost 10nm without issue. Basically giving me a large and wider range of close aerodromesBut yes I do agree with you. In commercial airliners the loss of control fear is present, and imminent between many people.
Do you ever drink drive?