Flight Training School - Pilot Training Alice Springs

Stage 1: The General Flying Progress Test

The first stage of your training at our flight training school in Alice Springs will see you working towards the GFPT. On successful completion of you GFPT you will be licenced to fly as pilot in command, both solo and with passengers in the local training area, the circuit and within 10 nautical miles of the airfield. (This gets you around a lot of the close sightseeing routes).

Your first training exercise at the flight training school, EFFECTS OF CONTROLS, will start with a ground briefing in the student briefing room. An Alice Springs Aero Club instructor will introduce you to the basic principles of flight and the various locations and functions of the Cessna 172 flight control systems. This briefing will be followed by a flight to the Alice Springs Training Area where you will be able to put this theory into practice.

Following your EFFECTS OF CONTROLS exercise are lessons on STRAIGHT AND LEVEL FLIGHT, CLIMBING AND DECENDING, TURINING and STALLING, all of which are carried out in the training area of the flight training school in Alice Springs. On completion of these Ab-Initio training sequences your instructor will introduce you to operations in the circuit area. Here you can practice your basic flying skills, take offs, landings and radio procedures until you are ready for your FIRST SOLO, This will be a flight that you will never forget.

On completion of your first solo flight with the flight training school, you will find yourself up in the air more and more often by yourself, practicing your take off and landings and building your self confidence.

Just when you think you are getting comfortable in the circuit area you are back out to the training area of the flight training school with your instructor to learn how to handle in flight emergencies along with more advanced flying skills. Once your instructor is confident with your training area procedures he/she will send you out to the training area solo to practice all that you have learned and until you are ready to take the GFPT flight test.

In addition to the flying training the Basic Aeronautical Knowledge theory exam (BAK) must be completed before the GFPT flight test. The text book covering this is available through our Pilot Supplies store at reception. This contains all the home study material needed to pass the BAK exam.

In addition you may wish to organise some private tuition with one of our flight training school instructors and again this is available through reception.

The BAK is a test in the fundamentals of Aerodynamics, Aircraft General Knowledge, Performance and Loading, Air Law and Human Factors Performance and Limitations. All exams to PPL stage are sat on our flight training school premises.

Costs for the C172 are $230 hr plus GST plus landing fees so you work it out for this first stage of about 20 hours? At the moment we do not pay for touch and go landings but a once only charge when you are doing circuits.

» Click here for more information about learning to fly with our flight training school in Alice Springs.

Pilot Training Alice Springs

Stage 2: The Private Pilot’s Licence

Stage two of your pilot training in Alice Springs will see you working steadily toward your Private Pilot Licence (PPLA). On completion of your PPLA (A meaning aeroplane as against H denoting Helicopter) you will be authorised to fly solo and with passengers anywhere in Australia.

PPLA training consists mainly of navigation training, and for the first time you will be venturing away from Alice Springs to land at bush airstrips, on station properties and in other small towns and communities.

Along with the practical flying training there is theory study to do as well. As part of your pilot training in Alice Springs, you will be studying navigation, meteorology, flight planning and performance and flight rules. The PPLA theory book contains all the home study material needed to pass the PPLA exam. In addition you can organise private tuition through reception with one of our instructors. This is well worthwhile.

The PPLA exam is issued by the Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA), conducted on our premises and sat on computer, it is called the  “Cyberexam” The results are available immediately on completion.

The PPLA flight training consists of about ten navigation exercises, each about three hours, however some people take a little longer than others especially if they have large breaks in their training.

On completion of your PPLA you can further your flying skills through other achievements such as the Night VFR Rating, Constant Speed Unit and Retrsactable Undercarriage endorsements and of course the COMMERCIAL PILOTS LICENCE and INSTRUMENT RATING.

Costs for the C172 are $230 hr plus GST plus landing fees. If this stage takes a minimum of between 20-30 hours you do the math. There will be incidentals of text books, maps , publications ,stationary etc.

» Click here for more information about pilot training in Alice Springs.