C150/2 in Florida

[marcus1290]

Hi all.

Firstly, 2012 has been a mad year for me. Started my PPL, finished my PPL and have done 7 ATPLs in 3 months. And i'd like to thank everyone on this forum for their advice and help during my training up till now. Thanks to everyone who has answered my daft questions, and to the other people who have previously asked questions which have been of use. Id like to wish you all a Merry Christmas and a Hope-filled, Happy New Year.

Now, down to business. After my last ATPLs, im going to be heading to Florida to do some hour building, around 100hrs. I'd like to do it in a 150 or a 152 to keep the costs down and i kinda like a little 152 to have some fun in. I've got time in PA28, PA38 and 172 so i'd be open to fly one of these (if the price is right).

Can anyone give me any advice or share their experiences on renting in Florida? Can anyone recommend a good organisation which won't mess me around? And as i said, im looking for around 100hrs max, so the organisation might need to have a decent sized fleet in case of 50hr checks.

I have been in contact with Sky Eagle Aviation Academy who seem like a decent and very helpful bunch of guys. Does anyone have any experience?

Thanks in advance for any help.

Mark

[A le Ron]

Paul Sengupta will be along in a moment....

[Paul_Sengupta]

Oh dear, that's put me on the spot! I did see the original post but...

I haven't been to Florida for a couple of years, and some of the places of my past are no longer, so I have no specific recommendations for a 150/152. If I rent over there, I always go for a 172 or PA28. And I have no idea who Sky Eagle are, so I can't comment one way or the other!

Sorry!

[gfry]

OBA or whatever they call themselves these days are well worth it. I havent used them fo 6 years though.

[trinity 09L]

What part of Florida (and when) - still a big place - upstate away from the resorts could be cheaper.

[neilgeddes]

I enjoyed a good C172 rental this June at SunState Aviation http://www.sunstateaviation.com at Kissimmee, South of Orlando. Ok it was just one flight but I got good vibes from them. They're building a new hangar and club house and their C172 G1000 fleet seemed well looked after. Have fun!

[pb6797]

Does it have to be Florida? Other places are likely to be cheaper and more challenging.

Chandler Air Service in Arizona have a very good reputation and I think they have 172s at about $100 an hour ...

[Keef]

Quite. Each to his own.

I did my FAA PPL and IR in Florida - it was perfect for it, with predictable weather and all the facilities you could wish for. But the scenery is flat and wet, and it's consistently warm. I prefer the rugged and varied climate futher west - nothing for me beats Arizona and Colorado for scenery and friendly places to go. YMMV.

One place I doubt I'll ever go back to is Detroit

[mo0g]

OBA or whatever they call themselves these days are well worth it. I havent used them fo 6 years though.

Agreed - they call themselves FlyEASA these days http://www.flyeasa.com/

They have a large fleet of 150s, including an aerobat for a little more umph, and according to their price list do 100hr package for less than $80/hr. They have a maintenance crew on site, and when I was there I was the only person flying the 150s, so plenty of availability if one a/c goes tech.

I rented a little house in Ormond Beach, 15min drive from the airport, and if you had some free time the theme parks are an hours drive away.

[marcus1290]

Thanks for the replies gents.

I had looked at flyEASA (OBA) and that seemed like the ideal place. That was until i had heard stories about them and read their reviews. Has anyone had any recent experience with them? Obviously the worst nightmare is going out there to be messed around!

[mo0g]

Thanks for the replies gents.

I had looked at flyEASA (OBA) and that seemed like the ideal place. That was until i had heard stories about them and read their reviews. Has anyone had any recent experience with them? Obviously the worst nightmare is going out there to be messed around!

Where are the reviews you refer to? In my experience the main admin woman there was a bit "commercial" - ie primarily interested in getting the money, and I also had to pay for my fingerprints twice as one set was lost (or not sent) - something I wasn't overly pleased about having to pay myself seeing as the payment was meant to be a voluntary contribution to the local Police Dept, but in the overall scheme of things, obviously not a significant amount of money.

Did any of the complaints pertain to hour building? I would have thought hour building would be straightforward as you are basically sorting yourself out and not reliant on others. If the complaints were about aircraft availability, again I do not think that will be much of an issue if you are planning on flying the 150s.

[CAT4R4TTA]

Last year I rented a pa28 at Atlas Aviation Inc at Tampa.
The plane was more than nice, well maintained and costed 134$ wet. Of course if you rent it for many hours I'm sure you can have a good discount.

Just in case you need any other infos let me know.

[Tall_Guy_In_a_PA28]

Chandler Air Services in Arizona has had some good reviews here over the years. They have a PA28-140 (160 hp) advertised for $85 per hour - there may be a fuel surcharge that most schools seem to leave off the website.

If I had 100 hours to build, I would fly from Florida to California and back. You could rent anywhere en-route with a convenient international airport (e.g. Chandler at Phoenix). That would be a great adventure and would look far better on a pilots CV then 100 hours flying around Orlando. You would have to find a rental place that allows multi-day trips out of State (some don't).

Sunstate at Kissimmee are very good, but maybe too good (i.e. expensive) for hour building.

[Paul_Sengupta]

Thanks for the replies gents.

I had looked at flyEASA (OBA) and that seemed like the ideal place. That was until i had heard stories about them and read their reviews. Has anyone had any recent experience with them? Obviously the worst nightmare is going out there to be messed around!

Hmm, well, yes, I have experience of OBA, and have nothing bad to say about them myself, but I'm reasonably experienced in Florida aviation and some of the shark like practices around and go/went in with my eyes open. Yes, they've had a lot of flack over the years, but sometimes this has related to some of the main players in the business. The instructors and the general setup is great. However, there are clauses and stuff...I'd say don't pay all the money up front, as if you do and something annoys you and you want out, there are all sorts of deductions and the like which will see a pile of your money not coming back. So yes, by all means use them, but keep an eye on the big picture.

Once you've decided on a place, come back and ask for nice places to fly to, I'm sure we can make some recommendations!

[Ridders]

If I had 100 hours to build, I would fly from Florida to California and back. You could rent anywhere en-route with a convenient international airport (e.g. Chandler at Phoenix). That would be a great adventure and would look far better on a pilots CV then 100 hours flying around Orlando

Totally agree with that, what a great idea.
I found florida a bit bland to fly over, coastline is pretty in places, inland its ok if you like trees, more trees, big lakes and swamps..