If you are interested in becoming a pilot and thinking what pilot
licence you should go for.
In this video, I am going to answer 4 common questions from new student pilots.
What pilot licence should you choose?
What can you do with that particular licence?
How much does the flight training cost?
and Where should you start?
Hey what's up guys?
My name is Jane, I am a flying instructor in Australia.
Even since I started instructing, most new students ask me what pilot
licence they should choose and how much the flight training costs.
let's start with what pilot licences are available in Australia and what you
can do with that particular licence.
The first licence is recreational pilot licence, RPL.
It is introduced on 1st of September 2014.
RPL replaces the student pilot licence and general flying progress
test, GFPT, that existed under the Civil Aviation Regulations 1988.
With RPL, you can fly single-engine light aircraft by yourself, or you can
carry passengers within 25 nautical miles of your departure aerodrome.
In order to get RPL, you need to be at least 16 years old, complete
the flight training, which included at least 25 hours flying time.
Those are 20 hours of dual time with an instructor and 5
hours of solo time by yourself.
The flight training is basically general handling of the aircraft, such as
straight and level, climbing, descending, turning, takeoff, landing, etc; and
mini navigation in the training area.
Also, you need to take a general english language assessment, pass
a theory exam and a flight test.
Then you will get the recreational pilot licence.
You can get endorsements or add on for your RPL, I will talk about that in
separate video for all pilot licences.
If you are interested, please subscribe to this channel, so
you don't miss any new videos.
The second licence is private pilot licence, PPL.
With PPL, you can fly an aircraft as pilot in command or co-pilot
in a private operation, you cannot get paid for the flying.
It is sort of an extension or add on from RPL with navigation training.
So, normally, student will go through the RPL training first,
then move on to the PPL training which is the navigation exercises.
To get the PPL, you need to be at least 17 years old, complete the flight training.
As I said, students will do RPL first, then transit to PPL, the flying experience
needs to be at least 40 hours for non-integrated training course and 35
hours for integrated training course.
I mentioned what integrated training is in the last video,
link is in the description.
10 hours will be solo flight time, 5 hours of those need to be solo
cross-country time, or solo navigation.
Also, the instructor will make sure you have at least
2 hours dual instrument time.
By the way, all the pilot licence only allow you to fly under visual
flight rules by day, meaning that you need to see outside with certain
visibility and cloud base requirement.
If you want to fly in low visibility condition or in cloud
or at night, you will need to get instrument rating or night rating.
More videos about that will be coming soon.
Beside, you need to take a general english language assessment if you
skip the RPL flight test and go straight to PPL training, then pass a
theory exam and a flight test, so you can get your private pilot licence.
The main difference between RPL and PPL is that PPL allows you to fly anywhere
in Australia, while RPL will restrict you to fly within 25 nautical miles.
Of course, you can get navigation endorsement for the RPL.
But the PPL will open more door to more endorsements, ratings and other
add-on for your flying journey.
The third licence is commercial pilot licence, CPL.
With CPL, you can fly an aircraft under private and commercial operations.
You can even be copilot in multi crew aircraft like a Boeing 777
in charter or regular public transport operations, RPT operation.
Basically, if you want to become a charter pilot, airline pilot,
agriculture pilot or any other pilot jobs that lead to receiving a payment or
salaries, you will need to go for a CPL.
To get the CPL, you need to be at least 18 years old, learn and pass 7 CPL
theory exams, which are navigation, meteorology, human factors, flight rules
and air law, aerodynamics, aircraft general knowledge and operation,
performance and flight planning.
The pass mark for all exams are 70%, except air law, it is 80%.
While you are doing all the theory subjects, you will need to complete
the flight training, the minimum flight time requirement is 200 hours for non
integrated training course and 150 hours for integrated training course.
100 hours of those need to be solo flight for non integrated training course and
70 hours for integrated training course.
Again, the instructor will make sure you have at least
10 hours dual instrument time.
After you have pass all the theory exams and completed the flight training,
you can attempt the flight test.
Once you pass it, you will get your CPL.
The fourth licence is air transport pilot licence, ATPL.
With ATPL, in addition to private and commercial pilot licence privileges,
you can be the pilot in command or the co pilot of any operation, such as
private, commercial or RPT operations.
To get the ATPL, you need to be at least 21 years old, hold a CPL, learn and pass
7 ATPL theory exams, which are air law, human factors, navigation, meteorology,
flight planning, performance and loading and aerodynamics and aircraft systems.
Similar to CPL theory exams, the pass mark for all exams are
70%, except air law, it is 80%.
The minimum hours for a ATPL is 1500 hours, 500 hours as pilot in command.
200 hours for cross country, 100 hours of those as pilot in command.
Also, 75 hours instrument time, 45 hours of those will need to be in flight.
Once you have the required flying experience, complete the flight
training and an approved course for multi crew cooperation training, then
you can attempt the flight test, which is conducted as an IFR operation in a
multi-engine turbine powered aeroplane or in an approved flight simulator.
Once you pass it, you get your ATPL.
Basically, you will only want and need ATPL when you are working
in an airline or a flying company which operate under RPT operation.
Overall, you have the options of RPL, PPL, CPL and ATPL.
So now you know what pilot licences you can go for, let's talk about how
much it costs for the flight training.
For RPL, you require a minimum of 25 hours, but sometime, the flight
hours could vary, the average hours for most students are 30 to 40 hours.
It depends on the frequency and consistency of your training.
The cost per flying hour with an instructor is around 350 to 600,
that depends on the aircraft type you are flying, if you are learning
in piper Cherokee, it is cheaper, if you are learning in cirrus
SR20, it is very very expensive.
and the location, if you are learning in Sydney or Melbourne,
it could be cheaper because it is more competitive market there.
If you are in Darwin, it could be expensive.
So let's say you aim for 30 hours to complete RPL in a piper Cherokee,
that will be 30 hours times 350 dollars, which is 10,500 dollars.
As I mention in the last video, you can pay as you go, so you don't need
to pay 10 thousands dollars in one go.
Each lesson will be around 1 to 1 and a half hours long, so you pay around
350 to 525 dollars after each flight.
I do suggest you to save up enough money for the first 15 hours, so you
can fly frequently, like twice a week, to keep your muscle memory going.
Moving to PPL, you require a minimum of 40 hours, since part of the 40
hours is actually training for RPL.
So, 40 hours minus 25 hours for RPL, so the minimum hour required is 15
hours for the navigation for PPL.
The average hours for most students are 15 to 25 hours.
So let's say you aim for 15 hours to complete the navigation training for
the PPL, the extra cost will be 15 hours times 350 dollars, which is 5250 dollars.
Each navigation lesson will be longer than RPL lessons, is between
2 to 3 hours, so you pay around 700 to 1050 dollars after each lesson.
Moving to CPL, you require a minimum of 200 hours, you can actually hire
the plane with a lower cost, since you already have a PPL, and you won't be
under supervision by an instructor.
So, 200 hours minus 40 hours for the PPL, you need extra 160 hours to
reach the flight time requirement.
Let's say you reserve 40 hours to fly with an instructor to get you up to
CPL standard before the flight test, you will need 120 hours solo time.
Cost for private hire is around 250 to 350 dollars, so overall you need 30,000
dollars to build your solo time, then 14,000 dollars for the dual training with
an instructor, in total of 44,000 dollars.
For ATPL, you only build your hours with your pilot job.
Overall, it is quite scary when you hear all the number about the cost
for flight training, but if you budget it properly, it is not impossible.
So now you have some idea what pilot licence you want and how much
it costs for the flight training.
To kick start your flying journey, I suggest you to book a trial
flight at a nearby flying school.
It's normally around 30 minutes to 1 hour.
It is a good opportunity for you to have some flying experience before
you commit to the flight training.
If you have a bit more budget, I suggest you to try in a few more flying schools
to compare your overall experience, not just the flying, but also the
customer services, the facility, the aircraft condition, the instructors,
the pricing, the location, etc.
Do more research and compare the experiences you have in
different flying schools.
It is very important for your future training.
It could save you time and money!
After the trial flight, then you can start budgeting for the flight
training, eventually schedule for a few flying lessons and off you go.
That will be it for this video.
If you find this helpful, give up a thumb up, and comment down below for
any questions or anything you want to say and subscribe to this channel.
I will post every week.
All the important links are down below in the description.
I will see you next week.
Bye.