The final piece has now been slotted into place. Pacific Flight Services has received the last remaining element required to permit it to offer commercial flight training to international students. We have received our CRICOS number from the Australian Department of Education, Employment and Workplace Relations. [CRICOS stands for Commonwealth Register of Institutions and Courses for Overseas Students.]

So, if you live outside Australia and want to learn to fly in the world’s best flying training environment; if you want to gain your Commercial Pilot Licence and become an Airline Pilot, get in touch. You can make an enquiry or make your initial application. We will begin sending out the required forms shortly. Places will be limited, so it’s a good idea to get your name on the list as soon as you can.

See you soon!

We have heard an unofficial whisper that PFS will soon be running a new Instrument Flight Rating course. No start details finalised yet as far as we know (because, you know, it’s unofficial and a whisper). You can find details about PFS’s IFR courses here.

Numbers are certain to be limited because these have to be pretty much one on one courses. It’s still early days so if you’re interested it’s probably a good idea to get yourself pencilled in. Wouldn’t be surprised if all the available places are already gone by the time it is officially announced. PFS phone number is (02) 9791 0055.

PPL Course

Great news!

UPDATE! New course starting October

One of the things that’s always frustrated us (well, me, actually) has been learning the theory for the BAK and PPL Licence. No pilot will ever tell you they’re stupid, but we often felt a bit challenged, sitting down with the books and the calculators and not really knowing where to start.

And not having anyone to ask those silly questions, like, “how can you have a datum point that’s not even in the aeroplane? How does that make sense?”, or “what’s the difference between a climbus and a numubus again?” “Isn’t ‘katabatic’ a yoghurt culture, and isn’t ‘adiabatic’ a disease …?”

So we’re very happy that PFS is running a PPL Theory course on Sunday afternoons from Sunday 23 August. The course will take 30 hours over ten weeks.

That’s Sundays from 2pm to 5pm.

So you’ll get thoroughly trained by qualified Instructors and you’ll be able to ask the questions you can’t ask if you’re sitting at home alone with your books.

Preferred text is “Trevor Thom“.

Also, if you’re just starting, the PPL course will cover the BAK syllabus as well, so if you’re going for your GFPT, this course is great for you, too.

If you want to know more flick us an email at “instructors(AT)pacificflight.com.au” with “PPL Course” in the Subject and we’ll get right back to you.

The course starts in only a few days time so don’t miss out. Let us know you’re interested straight away.

Email “instructors(AT)pacificflight.com.au”. No need to write anything - just put “PPL Course” in the Subject.

See you next Sunday!

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For anyone who is thinking of coming to Sydney to begin training for their Commercial Pilot Licence at Pacific Flight Services, here are a few images from Google Earth - some suitably angled to give you a pilot’s eye perspective of what you can look forward to.

Pacific Flight has been officially registered to offer accredited courses to overseas students. We will be accepting enrolments soon. If you want to get in at the head of the queue and be informed as soon as enrolments open, send us an email or use the Application Form here. Local students of course can continue to apply for all of our courses as usual.

Things have changed in aviation in the last 5 - 10 years. The pilots have changed. The people who want to become pilots have changed. Here’s what we wrote a year or two ago. It’s at least one thing that’s as true now as it was then.

Who is the “New Pilot”? What makes them the new breed that they are? Well, they’re someone who is equally likely to be male or female, works hard, plays hard, is disciplined, results-driven, performance-oriented, self-critical but self-confident, determined, persistent, relishes challenge, looks forward to the future but respects the past without nostalgia. They’re:

Can-do

Will-do

Punctual

Prepared

In fact clearly they’re just like the OLD pilot… complete wan…no hang on, I didn’t say that.

Anyway you’ll agree that CNN’s Ted Turner knows a thing or two about how to be a success (in aviation or otherwise). Here’s what he says:

“I’ve never run into a guy who could win at the top level in anything today and didn’t have the right attitude, didn’t give it everything he had - at least while he was doing it - wasn’t prepared and didn’t have the whole program worked out. “

Yup, that’s the New Pilot. That’s the pilot that makes it into the airlines today.

So there was an image that went with all that:

The guy’s name is Kamil. When we took the photo he had completed his PPL with us, and his CPL with us and was training for his Flight Instructor Rating with us. Later on he also worked as a charter pilot with us.

Kamil is now flying jets for an airline in Europe. And that’s no accident.

The surging growth of the worldwide aviation industry has caused a critical pilot shortage which has encouraged Pacific Flight Services to open its doors to international flight training students.

With the current strong growth in the aviation industry expected to continue for at least several years, the shortage worldwide of professional pilots is already seriously straining the capacity of airlines to crew their flights.

We learnt today that at least one airline is accepting new recruits up to age 55! The main thing the airline is looking for is ‘Attitude’. “If they’ve got that, sign them up!” was the company CEO’s directive.

To take advantage of this situation and help fill the pilot shortage, Pacific Flight Training, as rumored, is gearing up to accept full-time international students.

Pacific Flight Training is a wholly-owned subsidiary of Asian corporate giant, Singapore Technologies Aerospace.

Asked about the rumor, Pacific Flight Services’ Sydney Manager, Captain Rod Crane, said, “Well, learning in Australia certainly makes sense, especially in this climate of growth. We know that Australia, by every measure, is the best place in the world to learn to fly.

• The weather is better and more predictable than both the United States and Europe.
• The prices are lower.
• The skies are far less congested.
• The aviation environment is as sophisticated as any other top-level nation
• and our training standards are at least the equal of anywhere in the world.”

But when does Capt. Crane plan to open Pacific Flight Sevices (Sydney) to international students?

“I can’t confirm anything at this stage. What I can say is that we have investigated our potential market, especially in Asia and the Sub-continent. There were a lot of administrative hurdles we had to jump to satisfy the government agencies. We had to prove we have the infrastructure to train and manage professional pilots at international level. You can imagine there was quite a bit of thorough and meticulous work involved in that! Added to that, we needed to be confident ourselves that we could handle the large number of applicants the studies show we can expect to receive. 

“I’m happy to say that the authorising agencies have approved our credentials and we are now beginning the process of putting everything in place - things like student accommodation need to be finalised. We’ll definitely be accepting the first intake before too long. I can’t tell you exactly when, but within weeks. You’ll just have to keep your eye on our website, I guess!”