Recreational flight training taking off in Albury for the first time

SmartAir, based at Albury airport, has been offering commercial training, along with charter flights and aircraft maintenance, during its 50 years of operation.

But the business has now expanded to offer training for recreational licenses under Recreational Aviation Australia.

Chief flying instructor Richard McClelland said it was a positive step for people who were looking to take to the skies.

"We are the first RAAus training school in Albury and I think the RAAus organisation is really keen to see such a well-formed business like SmartAir to be able to provide that," he said.

"It's something we're very excited about."

The main differences between recreational and general aviation are the types of aircraft used and weight limits.

Recreational aviation includes powered parachutes, trikes, gliders and balloons.

SmartAir specialises in three-axis aeroplanes.

"The general rule of thumb is the RAAus certificate is a 20-hour course and in many ways it has a mirrored theory and education structure to that of the general aviation space," Mr McLelland said.

"We're in a very strong position given we've been training for such a long time to bring that experience into recreational aviation.

"There's some quite exciting developments within the RAAus space that are going to fit really nicely with SmartAir.

"There's recently been approval for an aircraft which originally had a 600 kilogram maximum takeoff to have the weight increased to 740 kilograms.

"What that does is allow certain other types of aircraft, if they wish to be, to be registered in the recreational aviation space."

Those trained in recreational aviation can further progress to private, commercial and airline licences.

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Tristan Mol, of light aircraft company Foxbat Australia, said as pilots got older, they could be keen to change from flying larger planes to recreational aircrafts.

"It's a bit of a step down but at least it keeps them flying in a different airspace," he said.

"A lot of our customers don't want bigger turbine planes, they just want something to burn around their station on.

"These planes fly all around Australia and out in the bush, so it gives us the opportunity to provide training.

"We can make sure when we send someone away in a brand new plane that they're capable."

Mr Mol believed many people would travel to Albury to be trained.

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