As our briefings are very thorough and include multimedia presentations, students are usually briefed in groups of typically 4-6 people, and then flown sequentially. This means that there may be a gap of up to 2 hours between briefing finishing and your flying starting; on busy days you may be with us for up to 4 hours.
There are many things that can cause delays, which include weather, queues for refuelling, minor technical hitches etc. We will try to keep you informed of the time that you are likely to be in the aircraft. If you are under time pressure, please make sure that you let us know in advance and we will endeavour to fly with you first.
Quoted flight times are defined as "airborne time + 10 minutes"; the 10 minutes on the ground is an average time and can vary considerably depending on how busy the airfield is and other factors. A 35-minute flight will therefore consist of 25 minutes in the air and around 10 minutes on the ground, with the "loggable" time in the pilot's logbook being 35 minutes (in line with the aviation industry standard which measures flight times from the time the aeroplane starts to move up to the point where it finishes moving). The airborne time may occasionally vary from the time quoted (it may be more or less) for a number of reasons including busy aircraft circuit traffic on returning to the airfield, passenger airsickness etc.
Flight time is entirely at the instructor pilot's discretion; the instructor's prime concern is safety. We do not charge if your flight time overruns the stated time and likewise are unable to offer refunds if your flight time is less than the time stated, whatever the reason.
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