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‘How do I become a pilot?’ is a question we get asked nearly every day, so we thought we would bring together all the information that we have access to, in order to help you on your journey.
At GoFly Aviation, based in sunny Caloundra in north eastern Australia, we teach students how to fly ‘fixed wing’ aircraft (planes not helicopters).
Starting out
While you CAN learn to fly earlier than 14 years of age, there is not much point in starting earlier, as you need to be 15 years old to go solo and 15 to obtain your Pilot Certificate.
If you are serious about going all the way through to become a a Commercial Pilot, you must choose between paying for your different licences as you go, at a flight school, and finishing without too much debt, or applying for a cadetship or going to university for around 3 years and finishing with around a $100,000 VET student loan.
The Jetstar Cadet Program can be found here. Here is the Qantas Cadet Pilot Program. We have had graduates join both these programs after obtaining their RPC with us.
You can do a Diploma of Aviation with VET-fee at TAFE at Caboolture and do your flght training there as well.
You can do a Bachelor of Aviation at USQ or at Griffith University’s Nathan Campus (in Brisbane). Eligible undergraduate fee-paying students may defer their tuition fees by taking out a VET Student loan which is part of the Higher Education Loan Program. Payment of the loan is via the taxation system when income reaches a specified level.
If you are 15 years and over and living in the Brisbane or Sunshine Coast region, you can choose to take flying lessons with GoFly, in our beautiful and well-maintained Sling training aircraft, for a set fee of $365/hour with one of our friendly and experienced instructors. There are no hidden costs for ground school, theory briefings, exam marking or landing fees. Our planes and prices are pictured here.
Included in the cost of GoFly Aviation flying lessons are our exclusive online video briefings. New content is added to GoFly Online each week and these lessons can be watched on any device, including with headsets. Watching these innovative online lessons has been shown to improve the flying skills of beginner pilots and enable them to reach key goals earlier, thus saving money. People who are flying with other flight schools can still subscribe for a monthly fee and access these lessons.
We also have our own reality shows about people learning to fly at our school. You can find all the episodes of Flight School and Taking Flight here. We also regularly upload GoFly Quick Tips to YouTube, GoFly Online and our website.
Learning to fly might seem expensive, and this is due to the high costs of running such a business. Owners have to cover the cost of the leasing of the aircraft and the hangar, running an office, maintenance and insurance, expensive fuel, as well as the wages for instructors and administration staff plus memberships of peak bodies and marketing. It all adds up. Those flight schools which are still in business have found the right balance between keeping training affordable for their students and making a profit so they can continue to pay their bills and operate their businesses.
If you haven’t managed to win the lottery, haven’t got well-off parents or money saved in the bank, you might like to read this blog to find out about ways of paying for your flying tuition or check out our GoFly Finance page. During certain times of the year, we also offer special discounts for full time and part-time courses.
At the bottom of this page we will include short videos from a selection of people talking about how they became a pilot.
Types of flight training taught at GoFly Aviation
Click here to see the types of low wing sports planes we use for teaching students.
Further information on each type of licence:
Aviation terms
You may also like to visit our new Aviation Dictionary over at GoFly Online.
The lessons that we teach at GoFly Aviation for obtaining the various pilot certificates, and the theory books and other materials required for study, are outlined on our website here. Once you have begun studying, you will need to become familiar with all these student resources. Other flight schools may teach a slightly different version.
Here is a link to the Civil Aviation Safety Authority’s website outlining the stages for becoming a pilot
Becoming a pilot requires both theory on the ground as well as flying practice in the air.
GoFly Online is our own flight training website. You can subscribe by the month or buy the year for just $9.90/m or $99/yr for ab initio or $19.90/m or $199/yr for ab initio, Cross Country, Passenger, Instructor Rating, RPL and some CPL lesson, plus much more! New content is added regularly. We have also written our own aviation theory books and practice quiz questions to help students pass their RPC exams. All RPC pilots are flying visually, without relying solely on instruments. You may like to look at the Visual Flight Rules Guide
Weather resources:
Bureau of Meteorology and BOM for Aviation
Aus Web Cam at Caloundra
Aus Web Cam at Heck Field
In the coming months we plan to interview a number of employed pilots to show you the path they took for studying and the jobs they have worked in. We shall post these videos on our new website at www.goflyonline.com.au
Recreational Aviation Australia is the membership body for all Australian Flying Schools with over 170 Flight Training Schools across Australia.
CASA is the Civil Aviation Authority of Australia
Airservices Australia is an Australian Government owned corporation, responsible for providing safe, secure, efficient and environmentally responsible services to the aviation industry within the Australian
Aircraft Owners & Pilots Association of Australia
Australian Federation of Air Pilots
Women in Aviation – Australian Chapter
There are many useful and relevant websites for beginner and established pilots and we will add to this list as we come across them. There are also many forums and Facebook groups where beginner pilots can obtain advice from established pilots, and in these groups there is a real sense of support and a generosity with advice from experienced pilots who share your love of aviation.
Pilot Career News (English site)
Australian Aviation news
Professional Pilots Rumour Network (PRUNE)
Find the group on Facebook and request to join.
Aviation Careers Mentorship Group
Aviation Buy Sell Swap Australia
GoFly Graduates Group for our own graduates
Learn to Fly Group
Use our own site as a starting point and take a look at all the world-wide aviation-related people and organisations that we follow
Use our own site as a jumping off point and take a look at all the aviation-related people and organisations that we follow then look at who they themselves follow
Flyer Mag (UK)
Sport Pilot Magazine (published by RAA)
AIN Publications (US)
Ipad news about apps and software for ipads (US)
GoFly Aviation YouTube Channel
GoFly360 immersive online flying lessons (one year subscription)
Sporty’s Pilot Shop YouTube videos
Uncontrolled Airspace available on iTunes
Airline Pilot Gateway Podcast (USA)
In the pattern podcast
Some of the software and apps that pilots like to use include:
OzRunways Pty Ltd is a CASA CAR 175 approved data provider, meaning that Australian pilots can rely on OzRunways EFB or RWY to meet all the requirements for documentation carriage in flight; private and commercial, IFR and VFR.
AvPlan is the leading Australian flight planning application for the Apple iPad and iPhone. It is available from the Apple App Store. They are CASA approved under CASR Part 175.295 so AvPlan EFB can be a legal replacement for paper maps, ERSA, DAP, AIP and AIP SUP.
CloudAhoy is a product for post-flight debriefing, for pilots. It is cloud-based, and the debrief is done via a web service – on a desktop or laptop and in any browser on any device, on the iPad, or on the iPhone. CloudAhoy integrates flight data with information from a comprehensive suite of aviation resources, analyzes the flight using a rule-based knowledge engine, and presents the analysis via detail-rich interactive display. CloudAhoy brings technology to post-flight debriefing, adding value to any flight training, and enhancing the experience. It is used by pilots around the world.
Debrief with CloudAhoy is suitable for pilots at all levels and for a variety of scenarios. CloudAhoy debrief can be done for VFR and for IFR, and is effective for review and currency flights. For flight training at any level, CloudAhoy provides an objective look, in a calm environment, at what happened in the cockpit where things happened fast and the pilot is often overloaded with tasks and information. Review on the ground adds significant value to the lesson or review flight.
CloudAhoy also maintains a flights list, with detailed information about each flight. Some of the information is generated automatically by the analyzer – such as the exact times of wheels up and down and a list of manouevres performed during the flight.
Foreflight – flight planning, charts, weather, airport information, flight logging, document management, hazard awareness, and more.
FlightAware is the world’s largest flight tracking data company and provides over 10,000 aircraft operators and service companies as well as over 12,000,000 passengers with global flight tracking solutions. FlightAware leverages data from air traffic control systems in over 55 countries.
Flightradar24 is a global flight tracking service that provides you with real-time information about thousands of aircraft around the world. Our service is currently available online and for your iOS (iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch) or Android device.
Flight shop (Australian)
Oz Pilot (Australian)
Skyshop (Australian)
Civil Aviation Safety Authority
ATP (US)
Top Gun, The Aviator, Flight, Memphis Belle, Pearl Harbour, Those Magnificent Men in Their Flying Machines, Tora Tora Tora , IMDb’s 100 best aviation films
The following video shows the path Lachie Smart (the youngest person to fly a single engine aircraft around the world in 2016) took to become a pilot. You can see more interviews with pilots over at GoFly Online6
If you still have further questions, you can email us at goflyaviation@gmail.com or make an appointment to drop in to chat to one of our friendly instructors seven days per week.
We wish you all the best in your aviation career!
The GoFly Team