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Hire and fly
Structured hire-and-fly opportunities, allowing you to build hours while gaining valuable real-world exposure — flying on your own schedule.
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Hour Building — Hire & Fly
Developing well-rounded, confident pilots.
For pilots progressing toward a commercial career, hour building is a vital step in developing experience and confidence before commencing CPL training.
- Starting point
- A Private Pilot Licence
- Two ways to fly
- Hire and fly, or a fly-away
- Fly-aways
- Several days, across South Africa
- Into a variety of airfields and controlled airports.
Where to begin
Two ways to build hours
Both put flight time in your logbook. They are very different experiences.
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Organised fly-away trips
Small groups exploring destinations across South Africa over several days, operating into a variety of airfields and controlled airports, guided by an experienced safety pilot.
The licence itself
What hour building is, and isn't
It is flying time, bought deliberately. That is worth being plain about.
With a Hour Building — Hire & Fly you can
- Build the flight experience commercial training requires
- Give practical insight into flight planning, navigation and operational procedures in diverse environments
- Put you into a variety of airfields and controlled airports rather than one familiar circuit
Not until you train further
- Be a licence, a rating or a qualification — nothing is issued at the end of it
- Be flown without a licence: you are the pilot, hiring the aircraft
These experiences not only make hour building enjoyable, but also play a crucial role in developing well-rounded, confident pilots ready for the demands of commercial aviation.
Knowledge, handling and judgement
What you get out of it
Hours are the point, but they are not all of it.
Operate: Practical insight into planning and flying real trips, in unfamiliar places.
- Flight planning
- Navigation
- Operational procedures in diverse environments
Adapt: A variety of airfields and controlled airports, rather than one familiar circuit.
- Destinations across South Africa
- Controlled airports
- Several days away
No surprises
What it takes
You fly as the pilot, so the licence comes first.
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Before you start
What you need to hire and fly.
Hold a Private Pilot Licence
Eagle Air guidanceAircraft hire terms, checkouts and currency requirements
Eagle Air's site does not publish what a hire checkout involves, which aircraft are available for hire, or any currency requirement.
To confirm
Licence requirement is set by the regulator; Eagle Air guidance is our own advice, not a condition of entry.
Honest numbers
How long it takes
Hour building has no duration: it finishes when the logbook says it has. How long that takes depends on how many hours you need and how often you fly.
What changes it
- How many hours you need
- Which depends entirely on the licence you are working toward and what is already in your logbook.
- Hire or fly-away
- A fly-away runs over several days; hiring fits around your own schedule.
- Weather and availability
- Aircraft availability and weather set the pace of any self-directed flying.
What it costs
What it costs
No hire rate is published. Because you are paying for flying time rather than a course, the rate per hour is the number that matters.
What drives the total
Hours flown
You are buying flight time, so the total follows directly from how many hours you need.
Which aircraft
The school's fleet ranges from the Cessna 172 to twin-engine types, and they do not cost the same to fly.
Hire or fly-away
An organised multi-day trip and an hour's local hire are different propositions.
Alongside the flying
- Landing fees at other airfields
- Accommodation on fly-away trips
What a fly-away trip includes is not published, and is confirmed with the training team.
Common questions
- For detailed and up-to-date pricing information, please contact us directly at info@eagleair.co.za, and our team will gladly assist you.
- To begin the enrolment process, simply email info@eagleair.co.za, and one of our experienced team members will guide you through each step and assist you in getting started efficiently.
The horizon after this one
What the hours are for
Hour building is almost always done with something specific in mind.
Next · 01
Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL)
The licence most hour building is aimed at — it is flown before CPL training commences.
Next · 02
Night Rating
Worth holding before you build hours, so the night time counts toward what comes next.
Next · 03
Airline Transport Pilot Licence (ATPL)
1,500 hours, 250 of them in command. This is where they come from.
Your first step
The hours have to come from somewhere.
Tell us how many hours you need and whether you would rather fly locally or join a trip, and the team will tell you what is available.