Flying for Free. Brevet d'Initiation Aeronautique (BIA)
Jun 28, 2019 19:59:36 GMT 1
ian531 and spitfire250 like this
Post by ronturner on Jun 28, 2019 19:59:36 GMT 1
I just returned from a ceremony at our aero club here in France and thought I would share something for those interested. We are a small rural club with one aeroplane and about 30 flying members, but we run it on very professional lines and we have a great social side too.
Every year in the autumn we team up with the local sixth form college in Lucon, to run a course in the theory of flying. This is all done on a volunteer basis. The students, of which this year there were 17, study every Wednesday afternoon covering the same topics you cover when you start your real flying training. (Air law, regulations, meteorology, mechanics and the principles of flight.) Most schools and colleges close on Wednesday afternoons so this is an ideal time to do this study. Our instructor and other members go into the school to do this work. The whole thing is sponsored and regulated by the state through the DGAC.
At the end of the academic year (Just two weeks ago,) an exam is taken under what I would call "A" level conditions. It is no walk over.
This year everyone passed with several getting a mention for good work and three getting a mention for outstanding work.
During the course of the year club members such as myself are encouraged to adopt a student and to take him or her flying whenever we have a spare seat in an aeroplane. This is an opportunity to get some hands on flying, and to put some understanding on top of the theory, especially the instruments.
The reward at the end of this is to be awarded with this "licence in aeronautical information" and a once off flying lesson for free. Anybody wanting to go further, and who joins the club to take up a course of flying lessons can take advantage of a government grant of 1500€ per student, as well as highly subsidised membership fees of our club.
Every year we have a least one such student, who goes on, and this year a young lady who went through the class in 2017/2018 passed all her theoretical exams with "flying" colours and passed her practical skills test on her 17th birthday, gaining her PPL, and thus becoming at that time, France's youngest pilot.
This is a great scheme. I know of nothing similar in other countries.
Every year in the autumn we team up with the local sixth form college in Lucon, to run a course in the theory of flying. This is all done on a volunteer basis. The students, of which this year there were 17, study every Wednesday afternoon covering the same topics you cover when you start your real flying training. (Air law, regulations, meteorology, mechanics and the principles of flight.) Most schools and colleges close on Wednesday afternoons so this is an ideal time to do this study. Our instructor and other members go into the school to do this work. The whole thing is sponsored and regulated by the state through the DGAC.
At the end of the academic year (Just two weeks ago,) an exam is taken under what I would call "A" level conditions. It is no walk over.
This year everyone passed with several getting a mention for good work and three getting a mention for outstanding work.
During the course of the year club members such as myself are encouraged to adopt a student and to take him or her flying whenever we have a spare seat in an aeroplane. This is an opportunity to get some hands on flying, and to put some understanding on top of the theory, especially the instruments.
The reward at the end of this is to be awarded with this "licence in aeronautical information" and a once off flying lesson for free. Anybody wanting to go further, and who joins the club to take up a course of flying lessons can take advantage of a government grant of 1500€ per student, as well as highly subsidised membership fees of our club.
Every year we have a least one such student, who goes on, and this year a young lady who went through the class in 2017/2018 passed all her theoretical exams with "flying" colours and passed her practical skills test on her 17th birthday, gaining her PPL, and thus becoming at that time, France's youngest pilot.
This is a great scheme. I know of nothing similar in other countries.
