How to choose a flight school in South Africa

Training towards a South African pilot licence or rating only counts at an Approved Training Organisation (ATO), approved by SACAA under Part 141.¹ So the first job is checking a school's approval, which takes two minutes online. After that, the choice comes down to price, aircraft, instructors and how often you'll actually fly.

1. Check the approval

SACAA's training organisation search lets you look a school up by name, certificate number or province. A valid organisation shows a green dot, an expired one a red dot, and you can open a valid organisation's certificate.² The regulations it quotes give you three more checks:²

• The school may only train within its approved Training Operations Specification (what it's approved to train), with qualified instructors and approved aircraft and simulators, and that specification expires every year.
• Its certificate and specification must be available at the school for the public to inspect.
• Any advert for its training must clearly state its certificate number.

Ask to see the specification and check it covers what you want: a PPL, an integrated course to the commercial licence, a night or instrument rating, helicopters. SACAA also recognises Declared Training Organisations under Part 141, and the same search covers them.²⁴

2. Know the scam warning signs

SACAA warns that students in South Africa and abroad have been tricked into paying for training at organisations that falsely claim SACAA approval, through fake websites and other media, often for cabin crew training or type ratings and often with a promised job as a first officer or cabin crew member at a named airline.³ Its advice: ask for the approved ATO certificate and Training Operations Specification, verify the organisation on its portal, and be careful before paying, especially where a job is promised. SACAA says it can't help people who've been scammed: “If it sounds too good to be true, then it is probably not true!”³

3. Trial flights: what the rules allow

Many schools sell an introductory flight. Under SACAA's notice on air experience flights, it's a training exercise for someone who intends to enrol: preceded by ground briefings, flown by an appropriately rated flight instructor by day in good weather, with nobody else on board. Anyone else in the aircraft makes it a joyride (“flipping”), and joyrides for reward may only be flown by holders of the right operator's certificate.⁴ A trial flight is a good way to meet an instructor and see the aircraft, but book it as a lesson, not a ride for friends.

4. Compare the money properly

Published PPL prices vary a lot, mostly with the aircraft; what a PPL costs compares schools' own figures. When you ask for a quote, get in writing:

• the hourly rate for dual and solo flying, the aircraft type, and whether the price assumes the 45-hour minimum;
• what happens to the price if you need more hours than the minimum (one school says a typical student has 45 to 65 hours at the test);⁸
• everything outside the package: ground school, notes, exams, the skills test, landing fees, insurance excess, SACAA fees;
• how payment works, and what happens to money in your account if you stop or the school does.

Some schools put their terms on their price pages. One, for example, says completion can take more time and money than quoted, that it can suspend training at any time, and that it will then refund any money in credit.⁵ Read those terms before you pay a large deposit.

5. Aircraft, simulators and instructors

• How many aircraft for how many students? Ask how often students actually fly each week, and what happens when an aircraft is in maintenance.
• Simulators: simulator hours only count on a device SACAA has approved for the purpose, and for the instrument rating the credit depends on what the device is qualified for.⁶ SACAA publishes the list of qualified devices.⁷
• Instructors: will you fly with the same one most of the time? How many students does each have?
• Theory: is ground school in a classroom, online, or self-study? Is there an exam centre nearby?

6. Location, weather and airspace

A school close to home means more lessons and less driving. Look at its airfield's runways, weather and nearby airspace on the airfield pages and the map. Busy controlled airports teach radio work early; quieter airfields can mean more flying for each hour you pay for.

Questions to ask on a visit

1. Can I see your ATO certificate and Training Operations Specification?
2. What will my licence cost if I need 55 or 65 hours rather than 45?
3. How many lessons a week do your students fly, on average?
4. Who would my instructor be, and can I meet them?
5. What's not in the package price?
6. What happens to my money if I stop, or if you suspend training?
7. Can I talk to two of your current students?

Find schools near you on flight schools by region, and ask other pilots about them in the flight training forum. Before your first lesson, get your medical.