phattattak

Thanks for the responses. The weather in Adelaide at the moment isn't conducive to flying at the moment, so it might be the time to start some conversations, map out a plan and do some reading. The big thing for me is the opportunity cost, there is a a dual school I think in Murray Bridge (or at least RAAus and GA schools that may play nice), but a 3hr+ round trip is hard to stomach. Gawler for me is half that, so will be a lot easier to keep continuous lessons and learning going. I'll head out there in a few weeks and have a chat to the guys. Definitely will complete the navs in RAAus space. That's where the benefits of the cost really shine, $1k for a GA nav, $400 or so for RAAus. For me that's one of the main points of flying is seeing the country rather than circuits (as much as mastering skills is great). Getting the paper is one thing, but would want to be largely fluent before tackling GA, just so things are more second nature given the greater workload in GA aircraft. From the hours it sounds like most went from RPC to PPL. And in general it sounds like most GA flight schools have no or at best various ideas about how to convert from RPC to RPL. From CASA it should be a matter of submitting the forms and getting the RPL with corresponding endorsements. Even though the RPL requires 2 hrs instrument time, as far as the carrying over of endorsements go, this shouldn't have to be done. All that should be needed is a flight review against the competencies, but it seems in most cases that becomes a long winded learning plan. Granted gaps need to be filled for the competencies to be ticked, but in the most part it seems like a lot of GA schools don't know what is expected of them. Having said that I've found a GA school at Parafield that at least from their website is more in tune with getting people flying rather than getting people careers in flying, I'd never heard of Parafield Flying Centre before, and at $210 dual for a GA aircraft (C150) it helps the budget. And most of all it looks like they have a good plan of how to progress RPC pilots into the GA world.

Hey All, I've been trolling these forums and pprune for a while and trying to gleam as much information as I can but about earning an RPC and PPL. I've always contemplated taking to the sky for probably the last 15 years, but cost was always a prohibitive factor especially for a PPL ($>25k) and couldn't justify the investment. Given that I've left my interest at FSX and mirroring the flights I do for work.....so sad. So....some years ago I ran into an old CPL acquaintance and probed him about a PPL and he suggested RAAus. At the time it didn't sound like it married up to my expectations (e.g. being able to fly in controlled airspace or aerodromes). I looked at gliding at one stage as a legup to GA, but as interesting as it is the ambition always was powered flight. So with changes in personal circumstances and slight opening up of legislation, RAAus path is starting to make a lot more sense. I see it as a way to do things with the family as well as achieve a personal ambition. My plan is to start with an RPC, PAX, XC etc, then convert to RPL. From there work towards controlled airspace and aerodrome endorsements, with the end goal of being able to take the 4 of us to short jumps across the state or Australia. In between the dabble in GA (or even if I don't progress that far), RAAus sounds like the ideal place to keep skills, knowledge and smiles up without the cost...which of course leads to one of the biggest drivers, the budget needs to be maintained. So a few questions. 1. Are my ambitions and plans reasonable? 2. Should I park any attempts to start until the other side of winter given the unfavourable VFR weather? 3. Gawler is my closest flight school by far so always will be a home base. And from my research volunteers keep hrly costs down which helps the budget. From reading here it sounds like it's pretty busy with training? How hard is it to book training slots? 4. I can probably spare a half day on the weekend every week to two weeks. What are the typical hours to reach RPC then get through endorsements? Some people look to nail it close to the minimums, but looks like others took 3x the hours? 5. Is there much difference in flights schools, or some that could be considered better than others? If/when I get to an RPC level, I'd probably look at few hrs at another school to broaden horizons and get different perspectives. 6. Has anyone converted to RPL in Adelaide, and if so who did they go through on the GA side? 7. What are the typical hrs to convert to RPL, and on top earn the endorsements? I've read the thread here about being milked and if that's the standard it's well beyond budget. 8. Can the RAAus radio endorsement be migrated to a FROL? Or does it just substitute the need for a FROL? Or do I need to do it all over again (in which case I'd consider earning a FROL first and bringing that to the RPC). 8. Are there free publications available (e.g. BAK type publications) that are good reads to prepare? Looking forward to being shot down and my dreams somewhat grounded :) But also looking forward to maybe dipping a toe in and booking in a TIF if I can realistically achieve what I set out to do.