About Us
It's All About You, the Student Pilot
we're here For those with a love of aviation, or those wishing to Pursue a Career in Aviation.
Great Southern Flying School (GSFS) is a boutique Flight Training Company offering Recreational (RA-Aus) & General Aviation (CASA) Training from our Head Office located on the grounds of Barwon Heads Airport. From our second base within Bendigo Airport we also offer General Aviation training, endorsements & flight checks accredited by CASA.
We have highly experienced Instructors, with many thousands of hours of flight instructional time, as well as thousands and thousands of hours in Commercial operations, airline and Charter experience.
Our current Instructor base boasts a skill set ranging from A380 pilots, A320 First Officers, Regional Airline Pilots, Commercial Charter Pilots, RFDS and Aeromedical Pilots and some of the most experienced Fire scanning pilots in Australia.
Whilst we love to instruct and pass our experience and skills on to our valued students in Cherokee 140/160, Cessna 172, Archer, Cirrus SR22, Beechcraft Duchess Twin and Piper Chieftain Twins, our Instructors all still fly commercially. This keeps our training, current, purposed, deliberate and at an elite level.
We have vast experience training both International Pilots and Australian Pilots. We have trained cadet pilots for International Airlines, cadets for Australian Airlines, Private Pilots from scratch, Pilots starting their Aviation career at just 11yrs old, right through to a flight with an 86 year old former military pilot looking for one last “control of the bird”. It has been our pleasure to share in their amazing journeys.
You are never too young or too old.. if you want to fly, call us and discuss the options.
Meet Murray, Our Chief Flight Instructor
Murray Medway is the Founder & Chief Instructional Pilot of Great Southern Flying School, as well as Senior Charter Pilot for Medway Aviation. Murray is a highly experienced & respected pilot with over 8000 hours experience behind the controls working across many facets of the industry.
Murray’s passion is aviation. You will always find him at an airport; talking about planes, flying planes or looking at planes. In his spare time he teaches Aviation theory & loves flying to the best golf courses around Southern Australia in his endless attempt to reach a single figure handicap.
Murray found his way into the Aviation Industry later in life. Having spent many years working for multinational companies in the agriculture sector, Murray decided after a Trial Instructional flight that he was going to be a pilot, one flight and he was hooked.
After obtaining his Commercial license, Murray flew with a Regional Airline, where he spent 6 years working as an Instructor, training Australian and United Arab Emirates Pilots. Commencing as a Junior Grade 3 instructor he progressed through to become Senior Grade 1, then Chief Flying Instructor, then onto become Chief Pilot.
A snapshot of Murray’s Flying Experience:
- After many local, national and international surveys, obtained a CASA type specialist endorsement on the B200 Kingair.
- Ferried aircraft to Australia for the RFDS from NZ.
- Worked for the National Aerial Firefighting Centre (NAFC); flying and training fire scanning pilots for Vic, NSW, Qld, Tas, SA and W.A.
- Extensive Charter work throughout Australia & New Caledonia.
His favourite plane is the Kingair, his favourite flying location is anywhere above 26000ft.
Whilst Murray’s passion for the flying never diminishes, he has turned his attention to ensuring a strong aviation future within Australia by challenging and helping his students rise to greater heights. His former students are now in the air as Emirates A380 pilots, Qantas 737 and A330 pilots, Virgin Australia pilots, RFDS pilots, Charter and Survey pilots, Agricultural pilots, Private pilots and recreational flyers.
Murray has instructed on training flights with pilots of all ages & experience levels; from a 13 yr old boy through to an 86 year old flying veteran.
Learning to Fly is not a cheap endeavour, and Murray’s passion & experience for the industry means he is able to help young people and their parents navigate the minefield and funding disasters that have taken over Aviation training. If you want to learn to fly, talk to Murray about your Flying dreams, he will explain your options and arm you with the best knowledge to make the best decision for your individual circumstances.
Meet Shane, Our Senior Flight Instructor
Shane Stanley is our Senior Instructor, and loves sharing his passion for flying – especially with those interested in flying mainly for fun, as well as young pilots wanting to learn the fundamentals of flying recreationally before taking their pilot training further to transition into General Aviation.
Shane learned to fly in the United Kingdom when he was 19 years of age, and having sold his car to pay for flying lessons, he would hitch-hike 11 kilometres to and from the flying school.
Returning to Australia at the age of 21, Shane continued his training & obtained his Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) at the age of 27. After flying a Cessna 210 in Kowanyama for 9 months, he headed further North to the Torres Strait where he flew several multi-engine aircraft including the Twin Otter turbo prop.
After another 13 years as a Captain and over 15,000 flying hours, Shane took an early retirement in 2020 and decided the time was right to share his passion of flying and became a flying instructor in both Recreational Aviation (RAAus) and General Aviation (CASA).
What We Teach at Great Southern Flying School
We teach all required Aviation skills and knowledge, lessons in Flight and theory. Our Recreational Aviation & General Aviation instructors comfortably offer both training and testing for the issue of:
General Aviation (CASA)
RPL
Recreational Pilots Licence
PPL
Private Pilot
License
CPL
Commercial Pilot License
ME
Multi-Engine Endorsements
NVFR
Night VFR
Ratings
PIFR
Private Instrument Ratings
SECIR
Command Instrument Rating-Single Engine
MECIR
Multi-Engine Command Instrument Ratings
FIR Grade 1,2&3
Instructor Ratings and Upgrades
Kingair BE200
Complete Beechcraft Kingair BE200 Type ratings (including Simulator sessions)
Partner Landing Course
Have your partner learn to land a plane
Theory Training
All Theory Training provided by our Senior Instructor
Recreational Aviation (RA-Aus)
RPC
Recreational Pilot
Certificate
RPC-PAX
Passenger Carrying Endorsement
RPC-NAV
Navigation Endorsement
RPC-CTA
Controlled Airspace Endorsement
RPC-CSU
Constant Speed Unit Endorsement
RPC-RU
Retractable Undercarriage Endorsement