Learn to Fly
General Aviation
General Aviation Flying training will be conducted in our Cessna 172’s at Latrobe Valley through our Training Partner. You will learn all the basic flying skills you will need for your future career or hobby of flying.
After covering the basic sequences of flying the aircraft and take off and landing practice, you will be approaching the time for your first solo flight.
Your first solo flight is one of the most memorable moments in learning to fly and will probably take place at around 15 hours of flying. However, this varies with each student.
The next 10 – 15 hours includes more advanced training sequences and more solo flights for practice. This leads to your first licence test.
Your first licence test is for the RPL (Recreational Pilot License) where you will demonstrate your newly learnt skills. After this, you will be able to take passengers in the training area, within 25nm of the aerodrome. The minimum hours for RPL licence is 25, however, the average taken is 40 – 45 hours.
Many students are satisfied with this level of skill but you may wish to advance to a PPL (Private Pilots Licence). The PPL is a new exciting stage of navigation training. During these lessons, you will learn how to navigate while in the air, get exposure to different types of airspace and communicate with air traffic control towers.
After your navigation training, you will undertake your test to obtain your PPL and being a fully qualified private pilot, you will be able to fly anywhere in Australia with family and friends.
Should you be looking at a career as a pilot, you can then proceed to your CPL (Commercial Pilots Licence). A CPL is a requirement to be employed as a pilot. The CPL syllabus includes a lot of ‘hour building’ to increase your time flying as pilot in command. There are also more advanced and challenging navigation lessons. By the time you complete your CPL, you will have a minimum of 200 hours of flying time in total.
Recreational Aviation Training
Latrobe Valley Aero Club conducts initial training in Recreation Aviation Australia (RAAus) registered aircraft – Pilot Certificate, Cross Country and Passenger Endorsement. These aircraft are two-seat, tricycle undercarriage, recreational planes with a maximum weight of 600 kgs. Our training is conducted in accordance with the RAAus Operations Manual and Flight Syllabus.
The minimum requirement for a pilot certificate is 20 hours. On average a student will obtain their Certificate in approximately 25 -30 hours, however, the exact time depends upon the aptitude and individual learning capability of the student.
We can provide training for the Cross Country Endorsement (a further 12 hours of training), the Passenger Endorsement (one hour training, once you have 10 hours of Pilot in Command experience). We can do Biennial Flight Reviews and RA conversions for GA pilots.
There is no limitation on when you can start learning to fly when accompanied by a flight instructor, but you must be 15 years old to fly solo.
Whilst under the supervision of a flight school, you do not need a licence. However, you will need an aviation reference number (ARN) before flying solo.
You will need a CASA Class 1 or 2 medical certificate prior to flying solo
A recreational aircraft is an aircraft that has a maximum take-off weight of less than 1500kg, is not turbine or rocket-powered and is certified for single-pilot operations.