Once you have shortlisted a flying school, there are a few things worth checking before you enrol.
In South Africa, that starts with confirming what the organisation is approved to provide and understanding how your training will be supervised, particularly during the early stages leading up to first solo.
Check the ATO and Its Approval
Training towards a pilot licence or rating in South Africa must be conducted through an appropriately approved Aviation Training Organisation (ATO).
The South African Civil Aviation Authority (SACAA) provides an online facility where approved training organisations can be checked. Prospective students should also ask to see the organisation’s ATO certificate and approved Training Operations Specification (Opspec).
The Opspec is important because an ATO approval does not automatically cover every type of training. It identifies the courses and training activities for which that particular organisation has been approved.
If you are enrolling for a Private Pilot Licence (PPL), instrument rating, Commercial Pilot Licence or another course, confirm that the training you intend to complete falls within the ATO’s approved scope.
The ATO certificate and approved Opspec are required to be available at the organisation’s premises for public inspection. Checking them is therefore a normal part of confirming what training the school is authorised to provide.
Understand the Instructor Structure
Many students beginning ab-initio training will fly with a Grade III flight instructor. This is a normal part of the South African flight-training system.
Grade III instructors work within a wider instructional structure, with more senior instructors becoming involved at prescribed stages of training.
Before a student conducts a first solo flight, the South African Civil Aviation Technical Standards (SA-CATS) require a dual check by a Grade I or Grade II flight instructor. A Grade I or Grade II instructor must also conduct the required dual checks before the first solo flight to the general flying area and before the first solo navigation flight.
A student must have completed at least 10 hours of dual flight training before being authorised for first solo, together with the other prescribed knowledge and competency requirements.
Ten hours is the regulatory minimum before a first solo can be authorised. It is not a guarantee that a student will be ready at that point. The decision remains based on whether the required standard has been demonstrated.
Where progress becomes unusually slow, however, the current SA-CATS require additional intervention and oversight.
When Progress Begins to Stall
SA-CATS 61.02.8 establishes a Slow Progress and Assistance Program for students who are progressing particularly slowly.
Where an ATO becomes aware that a student is progressing particularly slowly, it is required to provide reasonable assistance. That assistance must begin no later than when the student reaches 25 hours of flight time.
The process can include identifying the reasons for the slow progress, discussing those factors with the student, providing remedial assistance and adapting the training programme to address identified deficiencies.
The significance of the 25-hour provision is that slow progress should trigger a response. Training should not simply continue indefinitely without identifying what is preventing the student from progressing and what needs to change.
There is a further level of oversight if the student has not completed the first solo flight after 35 hours of dual flight training. From that point, subsequent dual check flights must be conducted by the Chief Flying Instructor (CFI), assistant CFI or a Designated Flight Examiner (DFE).
The 25- and 35-hour figures are not intended as normal first-solo targets. They are points at which the regulatory framework requires greater attention to the student’s progress.
For a prospective student, this makes it worth understanding how the ATO manages progress before training begins.
Ask how training is reviewed, when senior instructors normally become involved and what happens if you repeatedly struggle with a particular exercise.
Additional flying may be entirely justified, but those hours should have a training purpose. If progress stalls, there should be an understanding of what needs improvement and how the training will address it.
Sometimes another instructor may identify something that has not previously been apparent. In other cases, the additional assessment may simply confirm that more training is required before the student is ready to move on.
The objective is to reach the required standard, rather than simply accumulate hours.
If You Change Flying Schools
Students can change ATOs during their training, but it is worth understanding the practical implications before making the move.
The receiving organisation will need to establish what training has already been completed and where the student stands within the training programme before continuing.
Training records are therefore important. A student considering a move should establish what documentation needs to be transferred and what the receiving ATO requires before training resumes.
The new organisation may also need to assess the student’s current standard before deciding where in the programme training should continue.
Changing schools can be the right decision when circumstances change or another organisation becomes a better fit. It is simply easier when the records are complete and both organisations understand what is required for the transition.
Next in the Series
In Part Three, African Pilot will look at the real cost of flight training and how prospective students can build a more realistic training budget.
