FAQs.

Flying lessons

Flying lessons are structured so that you get the maximum benefit from your lesson.

A typical lesson will include your instructor guiding you through the following:

Pre-flight

• A pre-flight briefing
• The objectives of the lesson – what you will learn
• Principle of flight – this includes some theory
• Aircraft management – what you will focus on regarding aircraft control
• Human factors – physical factors that need to be considered
• Sequence of the lesson – what we be covering in this lesson

Flying

• Demonstration: Once you are flying your instructor will demonstrate an activity based on the skills you’ll be focusing on during that lesson.
• Exercises: You will then perform the activity via a series of exercises where your instructor can guide, assist and correct you until you a confident you have mastered the activity.

Post-flight

• De-brief ­– your instructor will go through a post-flight analysis of your performance and areas to focus on and improve for future.
• Flight training records are kept so that hours and competency is recorded . All flight training records are kept and can be provided to other flying training organisations if required.

Start your learning to fly journey any time

You can start flight training with us at any time. There is age limit for learning to fly but to fly solo, a student must be 16 years of age. Flight tests can be taken at 16 but a PPL license cannot be issued until the student is 17. To obtain a CPL, students must be 18 years of age.

Private Pilot License (PPL) requirements

As per the Civil Aviation Authority of New Zealand, PPL training requires flight trainees to:

Pass a medical assessment to obtain a CAA class 2 medical certificate
Complete a minimum of 50 flying hours before taking and passing the flight test
Pass 6 written examinations
Be 16 years of age to fly solo. (Students can begin learning to fly at any age but to fly solo you must be 16. A PPL license will not be issued until 17 years of age.

Private Pilot License examinations

The written examinations are focused on the following areas. Your instructor will guide you through all the practical and theoretical training required:

Air navigation and flight planning – calculating flight times and distances, compass headings and fuel
Aircraft technical knowledge – e.g. aircraft instruments, systems, engines, aerodynamics and loading
Weather conditions – learning about New Zealand’s weather patterns, cloud formations and how weather affects aircraft performance.
Flight radio – communicating with air traffic controllers via radio in controlled and uncontrolled airspace and operating aircraft emergency locator beacon and transponder
Human factors – including aviation medicine and health, decision-making and managing stress
Law – learning the Civil Aviation rules that apply to all pilots and everyone in aviation

Our expert instructors can guide you through every step of the learning process for both PPL and CPL training. CPL is an extension of PPL but every pilot must get his or her private pilot license before being able to continue training to become a commercial pilot.

Flight training theory

Theory lessons are classroom-based and our instructors will guide you through all of the theory you need to learn.

Our approach to learning theory is flexible. If you want to learn all the theory up front, we can plan intensive theory lessons for you via our Ground . If you’d rather learn the theory as you go, we can integrate theoretical training with flying lessons. The choice is yours and it will depend on how quickly you want to progress and your own preferred learning style.

Theory exam and flight test

For both PPL and CPL flight training there is a clear syllabus and text book that includes all the theory that trainee pilots must learn – and it is their responsibility to do so.

A theory exam is part of the PPL or CPL assessment and is run by ASPEQ, a CAA delegated testing organisation. Students must pass the theory exam before they can proceed to the flight test.

The flight test will assess all aspects of the student’s flying skills. There is also an oral test on the day of the flight test where the examiner will ask theoretical and practical questions.

Flight training tailored to your requirements

We understand that flexibility is an important factor when considering flying schools, and we provide a flexible approach to all aspects of our training. You are in control of how long your flying training takes, how often you have lessons and where you fly – you’ll even get the chance to explore new places during your flying lessons.

We want to inspire aspiring aviators to achieve their flying dreams and we are excited to be able to do this in one of the most stunning mountain regions in New Zealand.

We want our students feel excited and inspired when they wake up in morning, knowing they’re going to take to the skies and learn with the best.

Get in touch to find out more about how we can help you to achieve your flying dream.

We train under CAA part 61 which is more adherent to CAA training syllabus. This means that we can tailor the curriculum to each student.

Under part 141, flight schools are often limited to a specific program that they cannot deviate from. The advantage to this is that they can theoretically complete training in less time. But after the training, unless the student is an airline cadet student with guaranteed employment, the student from 141 course will have less flight experience compare to their counterpart.