Learning to fly (xhtml w3c 01/10)

If you want to learn to fly within Recreational Aviation — gaining a Pilot Certificate just for the fun of it — we have (at March 2010) 160 RA-Aus fully approved flight training facilities [FTFs] plus 10 satellite FTF operating locations throughout Australia, where people from all walks of life, and of all ages, can learn to fly safely, at their own pace and convenience, in an uncluttered airspace and without having to continually interact with Air Traffic Control.

This Guide outlines the procedures and training involved in gaining the RA-Aus Pilot Certificate.

Note: when a new pilot graduates from a flight school, she or he has received the Pilot Certificate, usually with cross country, passenger and radio operator endorsements. The newly fledged pilot has acquired some skills and some situation awareness and judgement, and has developed some piloting techniques, but possesses little aeronautical knowledge.

In short, she or he has concluded the first stage of training and moved just a little way along the airmanship learning curve. How far a new pilot — or any pilot — will advance along that learning curve is entirely in their own hands. RA-Aus is vitally interested in, and concerned for, the advancement in airmanship of all its members and recommends that all pilots personally maintain that target of continuing learning and continuing advancement.

What's a 'recreational aircraft'?

Well, there is no internationally recognised definition that covers all aircraft types registered by RA-Aus, most of which are generally regarded as 'light recreational and sport aircraft'. However, we can say that RA-Aus registers powered aircraft intended for recreational, experimental or educational purposes mostly designed to cruise at speeds below 110 knots (200 km/hr), although faster aircraft are available and the ultralight world speed record in the under 300 kg class is 179 knots (330 km/hr).

There are many airframe configurations covered in the various RA-Aus categories — from powered parachutes with rudimentary instrumentation; the low-momentum single-place ultralight aeroplanes built at home from lengths of aluminium tubing and sail cloth; through the weight-shift controlled 'trikes' or microlights to the ultra-modern, state-of-the-art, two-seat light sport aircraft factory-built from carbon fibre reinforced polymers, and equipped with advanced electronic flight instrumentation systems. The only thing these craft have in common is that they fly safely and — in Australia — they must have valid RA-Aus registration a defined maximum stall speed and weigh less than a stipulated standard when fully loaded; 300 kilograms (660 pounds) for the single-seater you design and build yourself from scratch, up to 650 kg (1430 pounds) for a single-engine, two-place seaplane built by the owner(s) from a factory supplied kit or purchased as a 'fly-away' from the factory or a distributor. In Australia, many of the aircraft types now becoming available for Recreational Aviation may be registered with either RA-Aus or CASA.

There is an active secondhand market for RA-Aus aircraft, fuelled by the continuing desire amongst RA-Aus pilots to 'trade up'.