A Different World

Learning to fly means emerging yourself in a totally different world. How different? Well… AviBlog which reports on “Aviation and General Ramblings” (but seems to have ceased operation after only two postings ) paints an interesting picture, illustrating what it would be like to drive a car from one destination to the next if typical aviation rules were to apply. 

You also immediately understand why the author disagrees with the usual public outcry for ‘better regulations’ and ‘stricter controls’ following an airplane accident.

In any case… it is stopping me from ever comparing driving a car to flying a plane again!

IELTS Results are in!

The good news: I passed!

The even better news: I beat my husband! Ooooooooooooooooooooh yes! Even though he is a native speaker and I am not, I STILL managed to beat him. My overall score was 8.5, his was 8. You can imagine what he is having to go through at the moment. LOL

Seeing as I did not yet give any specifics on IELTS, here goes:

• IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System. 
• Tests are organised throughout the world and intend to measure your knowledge of and proficiency in English. It is stated that “You can’t fail an IELTS test”. A bad result just means that… your English sucks! (I’d rather fail than being told I suck, but hey! I passed the damn thing!)
• During the test 4 skills are tested: reading, writing, listening and speaking.
• Taking an IELTS test is mandatory if you want full credit (25 points) for your language skills to obtain certain visa, e.g. we will need it for Plan B, not too sure about Plan A.
• Native speakers of English coming from the UK, US and 3 other countries (which I can’t recall and did not feel like looking up, sorry) are not obliged to take the test but in that case will only receive 20 points.
• You get full credit if you score a 7 or above on each of the 4 skills tested.
• IELTS tests come in two flavours: general and academic. For most people migrating to Australia, the general test should do. You should check this beforehand though! If in doubt, take the more difficult academic test.
• The test is not cheap, expect to pay around €200. However, results are valid for two years and can serve multiple purposes. So if -for whatever reason- you did not get granted an Australian visa, at least that part of your money wasn’t completely wasted!
• For practical details concerning the test (when, where, how,…), please consult the official IELTS website. 
• I found IELTS Exams to be an excellent source of information with regards to practice materials, examples,…

Aircraft versus Helicopter

Separate Private Pilot Licences exist for aircraft (the PPL(A)) and helicopters (the PPL(H)). That is because these two types of air transport are quite different, not only in the way they look but also in the way they operate. The result is that you need a somewhat different skill set to be able to fly the one compared to the other, hence the difference in licence AND another decision for you to take early in your flying career… Are you an aircraft or a helicopter person?

There are definite advantages to both means of air transport:

Advantages of flying an aircraft (fixed wing):

• Cheap: The same flight time in a helicopter will cost you 2 to 3 times more than in a plane. That is because planes use less fuel. So you will easily be able to rent a small aircraft for about 80 to 100 EUR an hour, for a similar sized helicopter well… start raiding your (or even better: somebody else’s) bank account!
• Environmentally Friendly: Because of the lower fuel consumption, airplanes are kinder to nature. Don’t be mistaken though… flying remains a non environmentally friendly hobby, even if you go for an airplane rather than a helicopter.
• Go High, Go Fast: How fast and how high you can go, depends very much on the airplane/helicopter you are in. However, on the whole airplanes tend to take you places faster and higher than helicopters.
• Cargo/Weight Capacity: If you are into carrying lots of weight around on your flights, you will need an airplane. Helicopters just can’t hold quite as much.

Advantages of flying a helicopter:

• Fun Factor: With a helicopter you can do some really crazy stuff. It will allow you to fly side ways, fly backwards, hover in a particular spot,… You can even rotate while being in the air. With airplanes… well, you really can only fly in one direction: forwards. 
• Job Security: Helicopter pilots are said to be more in demand at present, so if you want to pursue a flying career anytime soon… learn to fly a helicopter.
• No Airfield Needed: With a helicopter, you can take off and land virtually everywhere. Unlike airplanes, you do not need an airfield which means you could turn your garden into your own, private helicopter landing bay (Don’t mind the neighbours!).

And then there is personal opinion/preference of course… Lots of helicopter pilots seem to argue flying a helicopter is (much) more challenging than flying a plane, resulting in statements such as “to fly an aircraft is a science, to fly a helicopter is an art” and “a plane is managed while a helicopter is flown“.
Aircraft addicts on the other hand might tell you that “heli’s are for the support while planes were built for the attack” and that “helicopters are a quarter million moving parts looking for a crash site“.

It is difficult to assess the ‘truthfulness’ of any of the above statements. The safety issue for example to which the last claim indirectly refers, is highly debated on the Internet without, in my opinion, a clear winner.

Probably the best way to find out which type of air transport you should go for – if you do not already have a preference -, is to make a test flight in both and see what tickles your fancy the most. It does not need to be an “OR this, OR that”-decision anyway. Lots of airplane pilots went on to become helicopter pilots, and vice versa. The order in which you get both licences does not matter in that respect.

Happy 2009!

Best wishes to everybody in the New Year. If the last 6 days are anything to go by, 2009 will be quite eventful for me…

• I had to reformat my computer after a very naughty virus got hold of it on the 2nd of January (probably a time triggered trojan. Bad horsy! Baaaad!). No idea how I got it, but it will teach me for not installing a virus scanner on my computer… not that I have learned my lesson now. Oops.
• I got addicted to watching a certain TV series on DVD (after finding out the local TV station was making a mess of the ‘right order’ in which the episodes are supposed to be played). Unfortunately our DVD player has decided to switch of at will, preferably in the middle of a very interesting part. Hitting the machine has not proven to be effective… yet. Oops.
• I very belatedly remembered somebody’s birthday (at least I remembered!), so I quickly sent the person a text message at 23:49 or thereabouts knowing very well he was going to have to get up at 5:00 the next morning. Oops.
• I did not find the time yet to do the washing. My two best jerseys (read: those that I can wear to work without looking like too much of a fool) are both dirty. It is -15 degrees Celsius outside. Oops.
• I had evening classes on Monday… completely forgot to go. Oops.

Time to get focused!

Stairway to Heaven?

Or maybe not…

Stairway to Heaven

A Matter of Visas

Living and working in Australia will require my husband and myself to hold valid visas. The Australian government offers several options in that respect (see the Department of Immigration & Citizenship for an overview; if you want some guidance on which visa to go for, try their visa wizard).

We are currently exploring two possibilities:

• Plan A is all about my employer. I am hoping the company I work for will allow me to transfer to Australia through them. They offer the possibility to their employees but… there should be an open position ‘down under’ and with the current economic downturn I am not too sure whether this is still realistic.
  Nevertheless… I recently handed in my transfer request so hopefully I will be able to apply for an employer sponsored “Temporary Business Long Stay – Standard Business Sponsorship (subclass 457)“-visa soon (Yeah, it is quite a moothful).
• Plan B is all about my husband. He is in a “Skilled Occupation List (SOL)“-profession that would earn him 60 points (I would only get 50, HIGHLY unfair! ) so he will be going for a “Skilled – Independent (Migrant) visa (subclass 175)“.
  Plan B is not, as the name might suggest, a backup plan. Even if we manage to get the 457 visa, we will still go for this visa while already in Australia because it will give us permanent resident status and all the benefits that go with it. Applying for this 175 visa takes a really long time though (12 to 18 months while we haven’t even started the process yet) therefore… thumbs up for Plan A!

In an upcoming post I might provide more details on the different visas, but now I should spend some time preparing for my IELTS.

The Less Positive Side of Getting your PPL Abroad

In my opinion there are a lot of benefits attached to getting your PPL abroad in a so called “crash course”. However, there are also some downsides to it, reasons why you might want to consider getting your PPL at home.

• Licence Conversion: Different areas in the world have somewhat different PPL’s with different requirements. If you want to fly around in France and you got your PPL in Australia, you are going to need a conversion turning your CASA PPL into a JAA PPL. This means you might have to redo certain tests (e.g. theoretical exams, medical tests,… For details, please consult the internet. I might cover this in an upcoming post.) and of course you have to pay for that in both time and money. 
  Some flying schools take this into account and offer ‘foreign’ PPL programs, meaning you would be studying in Australia, South Africa or the US, but instead of getting the local PPL, you would be receiving the licence valid in your home country. Check beforehand whether your flying school has the right facilities to be able to do this (and don’t just believe anything they say). Medical tests for example can usually only be executed by doctors authorised by the ‘right’ flying authority. Abroad such medical staff can be hard to find.
• No Local Network: Flying might strike you as a solitary hobby, but actually it is not. If you want to become a good pilot, you are going to have to go out there – even after you already got your licence! – and learn from the rest/best. Having studied and completed your licence abroad, you might experience a much harder time establishing a network of people to learn from at home. And you are going to need those people, because they will be able to explain to you the lay of the ‘local’ land… which leads us to the next disadvantage.
• Unfamiliar Flying Territory: Indeed, it is not because you learned to fly abroad that flying at home will be so easy. From the air things can look quite a bit different. You might also have practised at a rather quiet airport. Nice to start of like that, but have you got what it takes to take off and land at the busy airport at home?
• Stress: Getting your PPL abroad means you have to accomplish the feat (including passing the theoretical exams!) in a limited period of time. This can cause severe stress so if you can’t handle it, don’t do it! Rather stay at home and take your time.
• Money: Food, lodging, transport,… are all costs which you will have to cover while following your crash course abroad. At the same time you will most likely not have an income. Let’s hope your financial situation can deal with this. It is often much easier to come up with X amount of money over the course of 1 to 2 years, than it is to pay it up immediately. I am personally convinced learning to fly abroad can be cheaper overall than giving it a go at home, but if you can not put down the money on the table there and then, you are not going to cut it.
  Also keep in mind that even the best budget usually does not take all hidden/unexpected costs into account. For example: The basic “learn to fly”-package most schools offer only seems to cover the minimum amount of flying time required, e.g. 40 to 45 hours depending on your authority. It is said on average people need between 55 and 75 hours before they can fly! What happens if you are not ‘ready’ after you have used up all your hours? How much extra is it going to cost you?
• Value of a “Crash Course”: The value of a crash course is sometimes doubted. “Would you trust a pilot that has learned to fly in under 8 weeks?” In my opinion this is a somewhat lame kind of reasoning. I believe on the whole most flying schools will only give you your licence once you have proven you are capable. It does not mean though that there is nothing more for you to learn afterwards. Compare it to getting a driving licence. When I got mine, I knew the basics. In the years that followed I ‘mastered’ (in my opinion at least ) the skill. The same goes for flying! Whether you got your licence through a crash course or not, it is practice that makes perfect.

Conclusion? Draw up a personal list of pros and cons and see where it takes you. It will give you a good first idea of where you want to go. Ultimately however, your success will depend on the school and the flight instructor(s) you choose. In that respect you can be just as ‘(un)lucky’ at home as abroad. So pay attention to the people you choose to train with: look them up, talk to them, ‘test’ them, ask others about them.

New Design

I have had to change my design theme because even though I liked my previous choice, I did not feel it supported photo’s very well. I hope this new theme does better in that respect. If not… I will change it again.

Just so that I can test it, below a ‘trial’ picture. It was taken about a month ago when autumn colours were still plentiful. I love autumn.

Autumn Colours

A Cunning Plan

I have been very lazy lately updating this blog but… truth is I have had other things on my mind. So much so that I did not even go for an introductory flying lesson yet. Now I have never ever promised or written anywhere that I was going to do it this year (I am smart enough not to put such things on paper giving myself some ‘wiggling space’), but it was always in the back of my mind that it would be happening within the next 12 months.

However… with less than two months to go in the ‘old year’ and my husband and I ready to embark on a new adventure in life migrating to Australia, anything related to flying has been put on hold a bit, be it not quite completely.
You see, I have got this cunning plan. My husband does not know about it yet (which makes it all the more cunning ) but I am going to organise us living in Australia somewhere… right on top of the local flying club!

Don’t know about you but I think it is brilliant! It will mean that I will just ‘have to’ start flying. No more excuses! That is of course… if we can get our hands on a visa which will allow us to live and work ‘down under’.

A Digital Pilot Logbook

A while ago (that is before I went on holiday, got back, discovered planes had been crashing left, right and center (not even taking smaller accidents into account), did not feel like blogging, had the flue, felt even less like blogging,…) I came across an interesting site: Twinstang Digital Pilot Logbooking.

As the name suggests, the site allows to keep an online logbook of each and every flight you ever made. Features include:

1. Integrated Search
2. Statistics and Graphs
3. iPhone Optimized 
4. Print Logbooks

Admittedly, if you were already keeping your logbook in excel, there is a good chance items 1, 2 and 4 do not sound all that ‘new’ to you. However, what really did it for me was (1) the fact that it is an online service, (2) the nice and clean look and (3) it is… free.

So check it out if you are interested!