Why Choose Red Baron Flight Training?
Flying aerobatics is one of the most exhilarating, fun and fulfilling activities one can participate in. However, choosing the right flying school for you can initially be a daunting task.
There are several points that need to be considered when choosing a school. Firstly, we recommend that you do not settle for the first school you visit. Talk to as many as you can. And certainly don’t go for the cheapest. There’s a reason they’re cheap.
The points and questions you may want to consider include the school’s training philosophy and system, it’s reputation, instructor experience, safety record and aircraft.
We also provide flight experiences for those who want the thrill of adventure flights for a day. View all our flight packages here.
Flying out of Bankstown Aerodrome, we’re conveniently located for people across and beyond Sydney.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
Red Baron Flight Training has set the benchmark for pilot training for three decades. We provide a unique system, using easy-to-learn, very effective techniques which are incorporated into all of our training courses. In fact, our training techniques are similar in many areas to that used by defence force flying training schools around the world and include basic aerobatics, advanced handling skills, upset recovery and prevention training (UPRT).
Many people complete advanced driving courses to make themselves better drivers. The motivation is not to learn how to drift around corners on their daily commute, but to train their physiological response to be insignificant and muscle memory so they react appropriately. Most people do not carry this over to their flying. Even if you never intended to fly upside down, having upset prevention or Aerobatic training will minimise your body's physiological repose to an unexpected situation and ensure recovery is second nature.
Red Baron Flight Training still provides grass-roots, traditional ‘stick and rudder’ flying. The hands and feet skills and emergency manoeuvre recoveries pilots were traditionally taught have disappeared from modern civilian aviation training curriculum. Many well-publicised accidents and incidents in recent years have been attributed to poor pilot training and overreliance on automation.
Learn to fly with personalised flight lessons
Red Baron also provides very personalised flying lessons and tuition. Within the aviation training industry, in Australia and worldwide, exist what we call “sausage factory” or “cookie cutter” academies, schools and airline cadetships. That is they churn out pilots en masse in minimum time to a minimum standard. Often students at these schools complain they have had too many different instructors with inconsistent, non-standardised and poor training.
You definitely won’t get signed off for any endorsement with us just because you attained the minimum hours. Here at Red Baron we keep you with one instructor as much as possible throughout your training. Having a small professional dedicated team means we can keep everyone consistently operating to the same high standards.
REPUTATION
Finding a reputable and well-regarded flying school is one of the first steps when considering the right school. The standard of our students and pilots is well regarded and recognised by members of the military, Air Traffic Control and the Airlines. Our students and graduates however are our best judge. We’re happy to put you in touch with these people or alternatively you can read some of their testimonials.
AIRCRAFT
Red Baron utilises several aircraft types to meet the needs of our training courses including the Super Decathlon, Pitts Special S-2A and Extra 330LX
They are all maintained to the highest standards and hangared when not in use. This means they are not left out in the weather elements to deteriorate like many training aircraft are.
For more information about our fleet, check out our aircraft.
INSTRUCTORS
The quality and experience of your instructor is crucial to your development as a pilot. Many schools and airline training academies predominantly employ junior instructors with minimum experience and hours who have just attained a commercial pilots licence in order to minimise costs. This means that most new students end up with an inexperienced instructor who is simply using their new instructor job to gain enough hours to get a more lucrative flying job.
The chief and senior flying instructors of these schools usually only teach the more advanced courses, if at all, so those crucial fundamentals and experience are often missed in the early stages of your training.
You need to ask yourself; would you let a P-plate driver, who just got their driver’s licence, teach you or your family and friends to drive a car?
At Red Baron our philosophy is reversed. We care about you and want you to have the highest standards, skill and levels of safety. Our reputation and safety record depend on that. As a student you will fly with highly experienced instructors who love what they do, not someone who is simply using you as a means to a more lucrative job.
Our instructors don’t need hours. They already have lots of them! They are employed or have had flying jobs in the airlines, military, and other areas of general aviation. Red Baron’s instructors are hand picked specialists. They have all undergone additional specialist training beyond that of instructors employed at other academies and schools. They are all Red Baron Adventure Pilots as well so when not instructing they’re doing aerobatic joy flights!
They teach what they do!
Learn more about our instructors and The Red Baron Team.
FACILITIES
We have excellent modern classroom and briefing facilities at our Hangar
RATES
We conduct tailwheel, upset recovery and basic Aerobatic training in the American Champion Aircraft, Super Decathalon.
The Super Decathlon is $450 per-hour wet.
Instructor rates are $150 per hour or $350 for half a day or $600 for full day.