Flight Training

Gold Coast Sports Flying Club now has on-site Flight Training !

Do you want to learn to fly and perhaps achieve your dream of becoming a pilot ?

With Gold Coast Sports Flying Training, in conjunction with the Gold Coast Sports Flying Club Inc, we can help you achieve your dreams !

Conveniently located roughly halfway between the Gold Coast and Brisbane, Gold Coast Sports Flying Training conducts its operations and training away from busy metropolitan and regional airports, this means more flying time and less congestion around the airport, making an ideal training environment.

How do I start ?

Many people begin with a Trial Instructional Flight (TIF) and are issued with a (free) temporary RA-Aus membership which is valid for 30 days or three hours of flying.

This trial instructional flight allows you to take the aircraft’s controls under the expert guidance of one of our experienced instructors You will actually fly the aircraft yourself !

In addition, your trial instructional flight comes with a temporary (one-day) membership to the Gold Coast Sports Flying Club, this allows you to use the wonderful facilities at the club and meet fellow aviators.

Recreational Pilot Certificate (RPC)

With Gold Coast Sports Flying Training, you are well on your way to achieving the Recreational Pilot Certificate (RPC).

The RPC lets you:

• Fly a recreational aircraft (or Light Sport Aircraft – LSA) with a maximum take-off weight of 600kg.
• Operate within  a radius of 25 nautical miles (just under 50km) of the aerodrome from where you initially take off, during day VFR (Visual Flight Rules) conditions
• Take a friend or family member along as a passenger (once you’ve obtained your passenger-carrying endorsement)
• Fly anywhere in Australia – outside of controlled airspace – once you have obtained your cross-country (or navigation) endorsement
• Accumulate your flying hours and experience which can be used towards higher levels of certification (such as the Recreational Pilot License, Private Pilot License, Commercial Pilot License, etc)

The next step … Joining up!

(1) Gold Coast Sports Flying Training is an accredited Flight Training School (FTS) with Recreational Aviation Australia (RA-Aus) and we provide flying training in recreational aircraft. Our operations, training and aircraft are governed by RA-Aus.

RA-Aus administers ultralight, recreational, weight shift microlight and LSA aircraft. RA-Aus train and certify pilots, flying instructors and maintainers, register their aircraft fleet and oversee a large number of flight training schools across Australia. The Civil Aviation Safety Authority of Australia (CASA) sets the regulations and then works with self-administering organisations (such as RA-Aus) to ensure the regulations are applied and enforced.

By joining RA-Aus, your membership includes the issue of the Student Pilot Certificate and a host of other benefits which your instructor can describe. You can also find out more at www.raa.asn.au

In addition, you will also join the Gold Coast Sports Flying Club as a student member. This allows you to use the facilities of the Club whilst you are in the learning-to-fly phases.  Once you have gained your RPC, then you can convert your student membership into a full membership. You will be able to privately hire aircraft to fly or, who knows, maybe someday you’ll invest in your own personal aircraft!

You can find out more at www.gcsft.com.au

Your flying lessons

Your flying lessons are carefully structured to help you develop the range of skills and knowledge necessary to ensure that you can operate and fly a recreational aircraft competently, safely and responsibly.  As such, we encourage you to engage in your flying lessons as often as both practical and possible, which will minimise the learning time and costs considerably.

The RA-Aus Syllabus of Flight Training is used as the basis of our flying training. The syllabus mandates a minimum of 20 hours to achieve your RPC (15 hours dual instruction + 5 hours solo flying), but our experience has shown that around 25 hours is a more realistic “average”.

Age and health requirements

You can start learning to fly at any age, but the minimum age to fly a recreational aircraft on your own (solo) is 15 years.

Persons under the age of 18 will need written consent from a parent or guardian to undertake flight training, including an understanding of the risks.

In addition, you must sign a declaration that your health is of a standard equivalent to that required for the issue of a private Motor Vehicle Driver’s Licence in Australia. If you are aged 75+, you will require a Doctor’s Certificate which validates your ability to drive a private motor vehicle and therefore to operate a recreational aircraft.

Format of each flying lesson

Each lesson normally starts with a theory briefing (either formal or informal) before you move out to the aircraft to conduct the flying component of your lesson.  We encourage you to bring a notepad to your theory briefings.

After your flight, there will be a short debriefing session to go over what you have learned. We base our bookings on 2-hour time slots (1 hour pre-brief & de-brief + 1 hour flying).

We recommend you wear comfortable clothing and soft, enclosed shoes.

Exams and Study

There are five examinations (multiple choice) which you must undertake as a part of achieving your RPC. The pass standard is 80%.

They are:

1. Pre Solo Exam
2. Human factors
3. Radio Exam
4. Air Legislation Exam
5. Basic Aeronautical Knowledge (BAK) + Human Factors (HF) exam

In addition to the comprehensive theory briefings, your instructors will provide additional resources (online + printed) to assist you.

The journey ahead …

Whilst this information serves as a very brief introduction to the journey of learning to fly a recreational aircraft, we encourage you to speak with us personally about your goals of achieving your Recreational Pilot Certificate (RPC).

And, once you have achieved your RPC, then you may wish to undertake many other qualifications like…

• Recreational Pilot Lisence
• Passenger Endorsement
• Cross-country (navigation) Endorsement
• Formation Flying Endorsement
• In Flight Adjustable Propeller Endorsement
• Retractable Undercarriage Endorsement
• GA to RA-Aus conversion course
• Biennial Flight Reviews (BFR)
• Trial Introductory Flights (TIF)

Please contact us for further details.

Gold Coast Sports Flying Training
Empowering Recreational Aviators
1638 Stapylton-Jacobs Well Road.
Norwell  QLD  4208.
Phone:  0468 442 732      Email:  https://gcsft.com.au/contact-us/

Flying most days by appointment

Questions ?    Please contact the ladies at our office on weekdays during office hours :0468 442 732 or send us an email and we’ll get in touch with you : info@gcsft.com.au