As of July 2020 we can serve our clients practically without restrictions — in practice only flights to/from Sweden are discouraged, although possible with a good reason.
Information below was valid as of Tue 24-Mar-2020 for operations in Finland.
Due to the situation with the Corona virus, Aeropole has also had to adapt its service delivery accordingly and is trying to do its best to slow down the propagation of the virus and to mitigate the various consequences it has on the company operations. As of this writing, Aeropole continues both practical flight training as well as theory instruction, and services are provided at almost normal levels, bearing in mind we need to take special measures under these special times.
As a general rule, we are declining visitors during these times, but one-on-one instruction on a confirmed appointment is possible.
Flight Operations and Maintenance
Aircraft Rental
Aircraft rental is still possible almost as usual—only flights abroad are forbidden until further notice. This applies to PIC flights by Diamond Cadets, any skill tests/proficiency checks/assessments of competence, as well as any other aircraft rental. We have lowered the daily reservation minimums for most aircraft and are not charging for even last-minute cancellations if made for health reasons.
Practical Flight Training
Operations continue normally, with regular disinfection of cockpits and shared computers, larger separation of flight planning desks etc. Luckily, in the kind of 1:1 tuition that flight training is, a single instructor instructing only a handful of clients, each one by one, we are not in the highest risk.
Maintenance
Our aircraft maintenance organisation continues to operate as normally as possible, given the circumstances.
Theoretical Instruction
Now it is obviously a good moment to catch up on theoretical studies at home. Theoretical instruction continues as much as possible, given instructor availability.
Ground Schools
Physical attendance is strongly discouraged and instead, now is a great time to try out the virtual attendance option. We will limit the number of physical attendees to 4-6 case by case and depending on classroom size.
However listening-in attendees, i.e. those who have not fulfilled the necessary GS prerequisites to get the attendance mark, are not allowed to participate: neither in classroom (to lower the contamination risk), nor virtually (in order to preserve the bandwidth to those in bigger need).
Registration in advance is required as usual, but we reserve the right to prioritise attendees based on their stage of studies and real needs and hence to refuse attendance in some cases.
Last-minute cancellations due to instructor availability (or more stringent health measures later on) are of course possible and more likely than normally.
Examinations
Final Exam opportunities will be provided on a limited, prioritised, as-needed basis. First-attempt candidates will be prioritised. Please make extra sure during these times that you have a high likelihood of passing the exam on the first attempt!
By default the responsibility of organising the CAA (Traficom) exams rests with the CAA, who have on 17-Mar suspended offering them at Kumpulantie in Helsinki until 14-Apr and informed they would provide extra opportunities on 15-16 April. The convenience option of sitting CAA exams at Aeropole’s premises is more or less suspended and reserved for really high-priority cases only.
This information is valid on the date above written and may change without prior notice, especially if competent authorities mandate compulsory other measures. We hope you can focus on your flight training even in these difficult times, knowing that your health and that of our staff is of paramount importance to us all at Aeropole.
