I have chosen a flight school for my license conversion. There is a surprisingly large number of flight schools and aviation colleges in the Philippines. Within one hour of driving I could choose from at least ten schools. I ended up with Laminar Aviation based at Subic International Airport.

Flight Schools and Aviation Colleges in the Philippines exist for three reasons:

• Train flight attendants for the world’s airlines,
• Offer cheap hour building for aspiring pilots from other countries (from my own experience, mostly India), and
• Train new pilots who want to become airline pilots.

Flight training for General Aviation (i.e. private flying as a hobby) does not seem to exist. In fact, with the exception of some ultra-light motorized kite flying at Angeles City Flying Club. I have not come across anybody who flies privately for fun in the Philippines,

As a result, finding a Flight School that knows what to do with me was not that easy. I have been in conversation with three flight schools, including the one I have chosen.

One flight school told me to go to CAAP to find out what is required to convert my license. They did not offer any assistance beyond that. I had the impression that they were not setup for my case, and contacting them online or by phone was difficult.

The second flight school seemed very promising at first. They responded immediately and asked for lots of documents which I provided. Unfortunately after that, I did not get any updates and when I asked about the status, I was told that somebody is looking at my documents and that they will provide me with a quotation. After three weeks or so, I gave up.

Finally, I contacted Laminar Aviation, a flight school I found through an advertisement on Facebook. The response was immediate and the information kept flowing until after a few days I was asked whether I would like to visit the school at Subic International Airport.

Lest week, I went there for a tour of the premisses and for an introduction to the school. A young guy by the name of Rom, who also was the one I was in contact online, had everything organized, from pick up by Van from the security gate to a nice presentation. He even had all the forms prepared for me to fill in. Later I learned that he had been with the flight school for only two month. I hope the school knows what they have with him and that he is going to keep up the excellent work.

The school was founded in 2005 in the US. In 2018 they relocated to the Philippines and in 2020 they got their certificate from CAAP.

For ground school, the school has six class rooms, and for flight training you would get the usual, somewhat elderly, Cessna 150, 152 or 172. They can also do a multi-engine rating with a Seneca II Piper or a Baron BE 55. I choose the 172 for my flight training.

At Laminar, it was also the first time that I saw a Redbird MCX Flight Simulator in real life. I have been looking at Redbird simulators on the Internet and at some point even considered buying one myself. It actually looks better in real life than on pictures, which is unusual.

The prices are comparable to other schools I contacted. However, the hourly rate for simulator training (with instructor) is up to 50% lower than what I saw elsewhere.

Given my particular situation, the things I like most about Laminar is their customer service, their attitude towards communication (no ghosting, keeping customer up-to-date, etc.) and the fact that they have a “liaison officer”. That person will help you navigating the bureaucracy of CAAP, which is super helpful given the way the aviation industry is setup in the Philippines.

There is more to say about Laminar, but I will leave this for future posts. For now I am looking forward to an orientation day on January 6, 2025.