Aragon wrote:Hi Goose! Yeah, a an overview of Bay Flight would be good. Any delays, quality of instructors who go the extra mile, weather, students to FI ratios etc.... Have you flown with C.Hooker? Thx yah!
Right so, bayflight.
So far ive really enjoyed my time here! just like any other school or aero club it has the same old problems, maintenance issues (as in the planes are always in maintenance, but hey, we'd complain more if they started just falling out of the sky!) also you get the odd flight change with no one telling you so you turn up all ready to go and your an hour late or three hours early because someone has moved your flight. But from what i can tell every flight school on the country has the same issues.
In terms of instructors they are all pretty on to it people, and they actually care about where you are up to in terms of training and how your getting along. The way it is run is that each student is assigned to a mentor instructor who is in charge of your overall training, you dont always fly with this person but they keep a close eye on you. The way they get around the delays that some schools have when you only have one instructor is that along with your mentor you have around 2 other instructors you fly with regularly. This way the three of them get to know you and know how you fly, your weaknesses and your strengths, plus it all goes back to your mentor so he/she can see how your getting along, plus cos your always flying with the same people you get to know what they expect of you, so it still keeps it personal but you dont have to wait around for flights like you would if there was just one instructor.
The school and your mentor take your hours and last lesson in every monday to be put on a board so that everyone can see how each class is progressing and if who needs help to catch up. The Student instructor ratio is pretty good, there are 60-80 students and id say around 30 instructors (when they are all there). I know it sounds tacky but the place is also kind of like a family, there is a students lounge where everyone hangs out during the day and everyone gets to know each other pretty well because there is a free bbq every friday plus alot of bayflight parties (each time you go to the next level, like go solo or pass a flight test you are expected to shout, but they save it up so they can get a thousand or 2 on the bar)
Tauranga is also an awesome place to learn to fly for a couple of main reasons, firstly its controlled, so you get used to using the radio properly and quickly and although it can get busy the controllers are all really good and you almost never have to wait long to do what you wanna do, plus you know where everyone is when you out in the training sectors, plus can find an empty one that you know for sure there is no one else in it. The other good thing about it is the weather, because of the Kai Mai rangers and the papamoa hills, we dont get alot of rain here, i have been at bayflight since January and there have only been three days that i can think off that all flights were cancelled for the whole day, even tho its winter here at the moment and the weather hasnt been the best, cross countries have been canned but any flying within the zone has been unaffected.
As for Phil hooker, no i havent flown with him, unfortunatly he has taken a step back from the school. He still owns it and is around alot but he is no longer the CFI. We now have Graham Guy, he is an ex ASL testing officer and has a hell of alot of experience. When it comes to flying with him he is pretty strict and knows what he likes but he also knows his stuff, you can learn alot from him!
Anyways thats all i can think of at the moment, hope that answered all your questions, sorry if repeated myself and sorry for my slanted view towards bayflight and tga, but like i said im really enjoying it here!
oh, two more things, 1st I started off at ardmore flying school, doing my theory. I have found that you can get thru your training pretty fast here if you want to, i have been flying since january and have around 130 hours now, i have my ppl and have passed my commercial cross country flight test. One of my ardmore class mates is here two and she is a little behind me in the hours but only cos she started a month later, she has the same flight test passes. As compared to my other ardmore class mates who stayed at ardmore, i think only one of them has their ppl and the rest are well below the 50 hours mark, and they started a month or so before me. Not attacking ardmore flying school at all here, enjoyed my time there too! but the weather up there is not as co-operative! plus they only fly with one instructor.
2nd, bayflight has a diverse fleet. Here you start off in a cessna 152, then after your ppl, you can get a rating in and regularly fly a pa-28 warrior and a cessna 172, plus i think phil is letting some people get there piper cub ratings in his, and the twin we use is a piper senica.
right, im off to bed, hope thats helped, i feel its pretty accurate
