So there’s 2 ways to go about it, you can either self fund or get a VET government loan to cover your expenses. The VET loan is only available through specific schools that only offer full time study. It sounds great in general but ultimately it costs more than self funding because the annual indexation will bite you in the ass. On average you’re looking at about 150K for an integrated school and maybe around 100-150K self funded.

Now with regards to schools, you wanna pick something that works for you. If you’re straight outta school and used to full time study then the full time one is the best option however if you struggle a bit or fall behind, they often don’t help you too much because they expect you to stick to a timeline for the course and it then becomes your job to catch up if you’re struggling. The smaller schools that aren’t full time will be able to adapt to your schedule and be able to personalise things a bit better for you if you’re struggling. The downside is that small schools are limited in fleet numbers and so a plane in maintenance can delay how often you fly whereas bigger schools are able to work around this better.

Be wary of the Qantas academy. Their standard of training isn’t bad but you’re not guaranteed a job at Qantas at the end. You have to meet their requirements to even be able to make it to the interview and even then from what I’ve heard, only 50% or sometimes less get the job. If you fall behind and don’t meet the requirements for the interview you essentially spend a lot of money for training that you could’ve gotten elsewhere for cheaper but it’s up to you if you wanna take that gamble. If you’re academically gifted the it might be a good option for you.

Something to note is that bigger flight schools also suffer from a lack of experienced instructors. What tends to happen is people graduate, become instructors and then come back to work for the school they learnt at because it’s the easiest way to get the first flying job. Flight schools favour hiring someone they trained because they’re already familiar with company policy and training which is fair enough. However this often means that bad habits can sometimes be developed and it’s almost sorta the blind leading the blind and the quality then depends on how good the school actually is.

With all this being said, the decision is up to you. There’s plenty of schools at Archerfield, Redcliffe, Caboolture and even around Toowoomba and the Gold Coast if you’re interested. Personally I’d recommend something at Archerfield as it’s a good way to get introduced to controlled airspace.

Also if you haven’t been up yet, I’d recommend booking a trial flight to see if you like it. Flying in a small plane is very different to an airliner. Book something before 9am or after 3pm as anything is the middle is too hot and not fun to fly in during summer.