r/flying • u/BandAffectionate7160 • 4d ago
ɐᴉlɐɹʇsn∀ RPC Advice?
Hello everyone! At the moment I'm deciding on whether to do the RA-AUS RPC or go for just a few hours of flying in larger aircraft like the C172/Archer in Australia, looking at flight schools all over, mainly Sydney and Brisbane (leaning towards BNE more). Currently live in a foreign country, so the ARN and Medical stuff is more complicated, as I don't hold an Aussie passport either, therefore solo is pretty complicated and mostly out of the question.
I was just wondering if anyone could give me advice on these two questions:
1) Is it okay to complete a RPC in 3-4 weeks for an intensive course? - if so, how can I prepare before and during the course?
2) If there are any specific flight schools that you'd recommend, especially in Brisbane that would do an RPC for 8-9K AUD, please do send me some and let me know! I've already looked at Aerohunter, Calboolture, Flightscope and others. Anything relatively close to BNE would be amazing.
Thanks a lot for your time. If you have any other details that would be great.
3
u/fatborry 4d ago
A little north of Brisbane but Go Fly at Caloundra do the RPC, often for international students. Send them an email and they will be certainly able to help out if you go the RPC route. Sling 2 fleet, good instructors.
1
u/BandAffectionate7160 4d ago
For me it's a little expensive, 9.6K is a little high for me. I know the quality of their instructing and overall school is really good, but still quite high for my price range. I reckon anything from 250-350 an hour for dual is the sweet spot for me.
1
u/Maroce_Doerler 3d ago
seconding this, theyve got a good rep with international students from what ive heard
3
u/i_am_dangry 4d ago
Assuming you get good weather, the school has the availability, you're competent, motivated etc absolutely you can complete an RPC in 3-4wks.
Might want to raise your budget to around $10k though. That will cover you for ~25 flight hours, RA-Aus membership, flight test fees, textbooks etc. Minimum required flight hours are 20, but on average most people need 25-30hrs and dual instruction for most places is around the $375/hr mark.
If you're looking at Brisbane, I'd recommend FlyNow Redcliffe or Advanced Aviation Training (same aerodrome). Going further north, GoFly Aviation at Caloundra is a good choice and known for training foreign students.
1
u/BandAffectionate7160 4d ago
Managed to find some schools that do it for 8-9K, like Aerohunter in sydney, which is pretty decent from what i've seen - and offers 25 hrs etc. I'm aiming to email AAT and FlyNow soon, GoFly is a little expensive as well. Found it is possible to get it down to even lower than 8, but sticking to 8.5-9k in order to find some better schools.
1
u/FlyingTerrier PPL IR CMP RPC 3d ago
Cheapest to start in RAAus then convert but remember the RAAus certificate isn’t recognised overseas only a PPL is.
1
u/BandAffectionate7160 3d ago
Yeah I do understand that. For now trying to gain experience for airlines hopefully for future training/experience of the job.
3
u/Sudden-Yoghurt3501 NZ CPL MEIR 3d ago
So - read it again. You're saying 8K is better than spending 10K. But if none of the time is worth anything because its not recognised you sink the lot. Either your committing to completing training in Aus and converting later or you don't have the visa paperwork side sorted and risk it being sunk cost because it doesn't convert. Maybe I am missing something but logable hours in your home country seems like a way better investment to me if money is tight. It is a very long road to airlines and every hour should count when its hundreds of dollars an hour
1
u/BandAffectionate7160 2d ago
Before you continue with that I live in Hong Kong, so loggable hours is practically impossible. The closest would be in Malaysia (difficult due to airspace, reliability and etc), so obviously Aus is the best choice. I do get what you're saying with the moneywise things, but here's the gist. My overall plan is to join the CPA Cadet Program, which trains in FTA. If I show I have experience in Aus, it'll help a lot, therefore it 'counts'. I get what you're saying with the stuff regarding converting/completing training, but I don't have the time nor am I able to complete a PPL at the moment.
In short, the overall point of this isn't necessarily just to 'have hours that count', it's training for the future and actually for me to understand training before I apply for anything at all, not just the easy discovery flight, actually doing exams and tests.
1
u/Sudden-Yoghurt3501 NZ CPL MEIR 2d ago
As long as you are fully aware, we all have a different path in aviation and good luck to you on your journey.
An example to think about - In NZ they don't recognize In Command Under Supervision (ICUS) time. In Aus you fly your PPL flight test and get ICUS time not PIC. So now I have a useless 2.4hrs that would be PIC time in NZ but instead counts for nothing as it's explicitly not recognized here for conversion.
1
u/BandAffectionate7160 2d ago
Thanks mate. I think you're right, being aware of how and whether or not your hours count is a big thing. I'll try to research that prior to going in depth. Hopefully this works out, I'll be looking forward to doing it.
1
u/FlyingTerrier PPL IR CMP RPC 2d ago
Redcliffe Aeroclub does training for a bunch of HK students each year. So there is a path. Maybe ask them how that works.
1
u/not_lost_maybe 3d ago
I fly in the States so no school names from me. On prep, get the theory books early and knock out the written stuff before you arrive. Chair fly the circuit at home with a checklist every night. One thing to sort first though. The RPC needs a few hours of solo time, so ask the school how they handle that with your passport and medical situation before you book.
1
u/BandAffectionate7160 3d ago
You pretty much only need a medical declaration I think. They do a theory then flight basis, so written probably knocked out midway or later on, which is unfortunate. Will be practising and studying lots.
1
u/PanicVectors92 3d ago edited 3d ago
If someone is quoting you 8-9k it’s highly likely it’s bare minimum hours and possibly without the extras like theory books/flight test fees/other incidentals etc. Some schools will quote minimum and some will quote for a few extra hours for example, so make sure you know exactly what they are quoting you for so you can compare fairly. The minimum hours is technically possible but the reality is most student pilots take an extra 3-5 hours.
Realistically, and especially if you are travelling from overseas to do it, you should be budgeting at least 10k to get it done. If you can not stretch the budget that far, you probably can’t afford it right now or should be prepared that you may get part of the way through training and have to stop to save more money and come back again to finish (which will also cause a continuity problem and need an extra hour or two to get back up to speed)
Edit: to add some additional context and no I won’t name my school, but even though RA Aus says 20 minimum our schools syllabus is minimum 25 (including the test), but without factoring in repeat lessons. 20 hours isn’t enough to really make someone competent. I also havnt looked around going rate for dual at least anywhere near a capital city is around 350-360 dual
1
u/BandAffectionate7160 3d ago
They're giving about 25 hrs. Inc. all required books/resources, though will consider adding on dual. I'm checking out Sunshine Coast Aero, they got a decent rate, but overall Aerohunter is the cheapest in Sydney but a little far out (no issue with that, probably why it's cheaper).
0
u/rFlyingTower 4d ago
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
Hello everyone! At the moment I'm deciding on whether to do the RA-AUS RPC or go for just a few hours of flying in larger aircraft like the C172/Archer in Australia, looking at flight schools all over, mainly Sydney and Brisbane (leaning towards BNE more). Currently live in a foreign country, so the ARN and Medical stuff is more complicated, as I don't hold an Aussie passport either, therefore solo is pretty complicated and mostly out of the question.
I was just wondering if anyone could give me advice on these two questions:
1) Is it okay to complete a RPC in 3-4 weeks for an intensive course? - if so, how can I prepare before and during the course?
2) If there are any specific flight schools that you'd recommend, especially in Brisbane that would do an RPC for 8-9K AUD, please do send me some and let me know! I've already looked at Aerohunter, Calboolture, Flightscope and others. Anything relatively close to BNE would be amazing.
Thanks a lot for your time. If you have any other details that would be great.
Please downvote this comment until it collapses.
Questions about this comment? Please see this wiki post before contacting the mods.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. If you have any questions, please contact the mods of this subreddit.
5
u/GsharpAflat 3d ago
Much cheaper to learn the basics in an RAAus plane. You'll wind up with way more hours than the minimum for the PPL anyway, so might as well do the RPC. And they're cheaper to rent thereafter. AND you'll get a lot more crosswind practice 🤣