Flight school selection (1 Viewer)

[Nilana2801]

Dear all,
Although we are in an unpredictable time due to the Coronavirus, I am really hoping the aviation industry goes back to normal after a few years. Can anyone please recommend the best way for me to become a pilot in Australia.
The four options that I have considered include:
1) UNSW Flight school
2) BASAIR
3) Australian National airlines college
4) Swinburne University

UNSW and Swinburne both have future pilot programs with Qantas link and Jetstar as I am aware, however I have been told that they are not very good choices. Could anyone please recommend the best way to become a pilot in Australia out of these flying schools or any other. Further, Qantas group flight academy have a program which would be first choice, this program however is very difficult to get into, therefore I would like to know the alternative to become a pilot in Australia without that program.

kind regards

 

[hschelper01]

I was in a similar position to you last year and decided I would get a degree first before training to become a pilot - It's the best decision I've ever made.

I was looking at studying aviation this year and from what I gathered, a number of people said that it would be wiser getting a degree first before going on to study aviation... Why? Because it would make you more competitive when applying for jobs at companies like Qantas and Jetstar. Someone I know is both a pilot and an accountant at Qantas - they fly 3 days a week and work in the office for the rest. Despite pilots being 'let-off' because of COVID-19, he's still working at Qantas as an accountant and will move back into the role of a part-time pilot when the crisis subsides.

So at the moment, I'm studying a Bachelor of Accounting at UTS and working on getting my recreational pilots licence in my spare time. I'm currently doing this through BASAIR and they are fantastic. They are associated with Sydney Aviators as well which means you get flight hire discounts on weekends and other membership perks. BASAIR have career seminars every month which might be worth going to: http://www.basair.com.au/. When I went last year, it cleared a lot of questions I had.

Sydney Flying College is another flight school I have heard great reviews about - https://www.sfcaero.com.au/. They have a specialised 'work at your own pace program' which they just recently created last month that allows you to work toward your recreational/private license at your own rate (I would have done this if I'd heard about it earlier ) while studying at University.

It's also worth having a trial flight before you commit yourself to the pilot course/s so you can gain an idea of what it involves.

Cadetships might be another great option - Jetstar and Rex Airlines have amazing programs and I would have done them if I haven't received a co-op offer from UTS.

I've attached a PDF REX gave me last year... Here's their cadetship website if you want to have a look: http://www.regionalexpress.com.au/cadetpilot/Default.aspx

Anyway - hope this helps! Feel free to PM me if you have any more questions!