FlyUK
17th Dec 2004, 15:57
I have had a few requests for information about Flight Training Europe, Jerez, so I wrote this to hopefully cover any questions you may have. Also to clear up any untrue myths that seem to circulate on forums like Pprune. This is by no means a sales ploy for FTE; it is simply what I think as a student. It is also not in any way meant to come across as ‘FTE is the best’ as everyone has different needs. The modular route suits some people and the integrate others. Please don’t turn this thread into an integrated vs modular.
Background:
FTE was originally managed by BAE systems until just over a year ago. It is now under new management and I must say there have been a lot of changes for the good. Mainly a shake up in the managerial structure with a few unnecessary employees being asked to leave.
Aptitude Testing:
I did my aptitude testing last February so it may have changed a bit since then although from talking to people that have taken them recently they sound fairly similar. You do the tour of the campus, look at the classrooms, sims, hangers etc. Then get placed in a small room with a computer for about 3 hours to complete a load of tests. Basic hand eye co-ordination stuff that you can either do or not! Flying though boxes, shapes, numbers. Then you have some maths questions and verbal reasoning which is actually quite hard, mainly because you run out of time. You do get a calculator but it’s quicker just to dead recon the answer as its all multiple choice. Then a questionnaire type thing that is supposed to allow the computer to find out what sort of person you are. Not quite sure how that works but then I don’t know an awful lot of things. Then you have an interview, either with the MD here or with another guy. Both of whom are very nice people and very easy to talk to. Basic questions, ‘why do you want to come here?’, ‘why a pilot?’, ‘what did you do at school/college/uni?’. Never will money crop up in the conversation. You then get a small problem, you are the manager of a company and one of your aircraft goes tech in some random country. How do you get the punters back home, type of thing. During the interview there is a general discussion between you and the interviewer, just to see what type a person you are. My advice is to be yourself, its so easy to put on an act at interviews and they can see straight through it. Normally you get told during the interview if you will be offered a place.
If you do come down for the interview and you stay the night, go into the bar and talk to some of the students here. They will always talk to you, but don’t expect to be able to understand any of the Irish lads after a few drinks on a Friday night! Rah Blah Dah is about all I can understand normally.
Most importantly, people do fail the aptitude testing nowadays, as recruitment picks up the schools want students with the best chance of getting a job at the end of training, so they become more selective. Its not easy and its not a case of just turning up with the money.
Ground school:
Ground school takes place Monday to Friday from 9-5 with 6 hours of lessons a day. Hard work, and by Friday you are ready for that night out! The tuition, I have to say is very good. All of the instructors know there stuff and most of them have had real life experience in what they teach. Eg. Our electrics teacher was a flight engineer before coming out to Spain and our engines teacher was a ground engineer. We do have a couple of Spanish instructors but they are just as good, if not better than the English guys and all speak excellent English. Plenty of work to keep you busy for years although it is compressed into only a few months, with a couple of weeks revision time and lots of feedback questions to go thorough before the exams. Phase one consists of Navigation, Met, Mass and Balance, Radio Nav, Principles of Flight and Aircraft General Knowledge. Then after you pass those exams you start phase two which is the rest of the subjects and the flying is integrated into that. One day ground school, one day flying. If you fail more than 2 phase one exams then you are put down a class (about 4 weeks) and then have to do them again before you can go onto phase 2.
Flying:
What can I say here? Starting with the aircraft. As you would expect they are training aeroplanes that are used every day so are not perfect. Planes do go tech and have to be fixed. Having said that, they are very well maintained, and the hangars are so clean and organised you could eat off the floors! The engineers here are very friendly and will always fix anything you break on the airplane to get you back in the air asap. The instructors are also very good, most of whom have a lot of experience, air force and civil, and are very dedicated to the job. If you put the effort in and take it seriously then you will get the results at the end. The airspace is fairly crowded and there is a lot of commercial traffic in and out of Jerez all of the time, which is good for training. The Spanish ATC are on the whole very helpful although not quite as slick as the British controllers I must say so you must stay one step ahead of them at all times. The aircraft we use are Warriors, Senacas, and the MCC sim is an HS125, full motion. As well as the Frasca and FNPT2 sims.
Life In Spain:
Well it is very different to the UK, the language, the culture, the weather to name a few differences. A bit of Spanish will help you a lot when you go out into town but I don’t know any and I manage to get by ok. In this area of Spain not that many people speak English so don’t expect anyone to understand anything you say, out of the campus that is. The weather is brilliant most of the year, although we do suffer a bit from early morning mist/fog until about 11.00 some days. The locals are very friendly and very welcoming as well as the staff at FTE who will join the students on Friday evening outings to the local bars. So everybody knows everybody which gives a good atmosphere. Some weekends it’s nice to rent a car and go to explore some of the local towns, even if its just to get out of the school. As you spend 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week on the site it is nice to get out occasionally. Having said that everything you need is here for you. Gym, swimming pool, canteen, bar, social club, Sky tv and the rooms even get cleaned twice a week! The rooms vary in size, but all have Air Con/Heating, en-suite showers and toilets and we are currently having network sockets installed in all of the rooms which will give us access to the internet and should be operative by next week. Lastly the price of things down here is great. Almost everything is cheaper than the UK, including the beer. We pay about 90p a pint and half of that during happy hour!
Jobs:
Lots of interest recently at FTE from a lot of airlines. Things are definitely picking up in the industry and many of the students have found jobs very soon after completing their training. Not going to go into specifics but if your interested PM me.
On the whole I am thoroughly enjoying my time here. Obviously I only speak for myself but I really can’t fault the place, except I miss the cold and the rain. Its currently +18ish and still t-shirt weather in the middle of December!
If you have any other questions that I have missed out then get in touch.
Rgds, FlyUK :ok:
Background:
FTE was originally managed by BAE systems until just over a year ago. It is now under new management and I must say there have been a lot of changes for the good. Mainly a shake up in the managerial structure with a few unnecessary employees being asked to leave.
Aptitude Testing:
I did my aptitude testing last February so it may have changed a bit since then although from talking to people that have taken them recently they sound fairly similar. You do the tour of the campus, look at the classrooms, sims, hangers etc. Then get placed in a small room with a computer for about 3 hours to complete a load of tests. Basic hand eye co-ordination stuff that you can either do or not! Flying though boxes, shapes, numbers. Then you have some maths questions and verbal reasoning which is actually quite hard, mainly because you run out of time. You do get a calculator but it’s quicker just to dead recon the answer as its all multiple choice. Then a questionnaire type thing that is supposed to allow the computer to find out what sort of person you are. Not quite sure how that works but then I don’t know an awful lot of things. Then you have an interview, either with the MD here or with another guy. Both of whom are very nice people and very easy to talk to. Basic questions, ‘why do you want to come here?’, ‘why a pilot?’, ‘what did you do at school/college/uni?’. Never will money crop up in the conversation. You then get a small problem, you are the manager of a company and one of your aircraft goes tech in some random country. How do you get the punters back home, type of thing. During the interview there is a general discussion between you and the interviewer, just to see what type a person you are. My advice is to be yourself, its so easy to put on an act at interviews and they can see straight through it. Normally you get told during the interview if you will be offered a place.
If you do come down for the interview and you stay the night, go into the bar and talk to some of the students here. They will always talk to you, but don’t expect to be able to understand any of the Irish lads after a few drinks on a Friday night! Rah Blah Dah is about all I can understand normally.
Most importantly, people do fail the aptitude testing nowadays, as recruitment picks up the schools want students with the best chance of getting a job at the end of training, so they become more selective. Its not easy and its not a case of just turning up with the money.
Ground school:
Ground school takes place Monday to Friday from 9-5 with 6 hours of lessons a day. Hard work, and by Friday you are ready for that night out! The tuition, I have to say is very good. All of the instructors know there stuff and most of them have had real life experience in what they teach. Eg. Our electrics teacher was a flight engineer before coming out to Spain and our engines teacher was a ground engineer. We do have a couple of Spanish instructors but they are just as good, if not better than the English guys and all speak excellent English. Plenty of work to keep you busy for years although it is compressed into only a few months, with a couple of weeks revision time and lots of feedback questions to go thorough before the exams. Phase one consists of Navigation, Met, Mass and Balance, Radio Nav, Principles of Flight and Aircraft General Knowledge. Then after you pass those exams you start phase two which is the rest of the subjects and the flying is integrated into that. One day ground school, one day flying. If you fail more than 2 phase one exams then you are put down a class (about 4 weeks) and then have to do them again before you can go onto phase 2.
Flying:
What can I say here? Starting with the aircraft. As you would expect they are training aeroplanes that are used every day so are not perfect. Planes do go tech and have to be fixed. Having said that, they are very well maintained, and the hangars are so clean and organised you could eat off the floors! The engineers here are very friendly and will always fix anything you break on the airplane to get you back in the air asap. The instructors are also very good, most of whom have a lot of experience, air force and civil, and are very dedicated to the job. If you put the effort in and take it seriously then you will get the results at the end. The airspace is fairly crowded and there is a lot of commercial traffic in and out of Jerez all of the time, which is good for training. The Spanish ATC are on the whole very helpful although not quite as slick as the British controllers I must say so you must stay one step ahead of them at all times. The aircraft we use are Warriors, Senacas, and the MCC sim is an HS125, full motion. As well as the Frasca and FNPT2 sims.
Life In Spain:
Well it is very different to the UK, the language, the culture, the weather to name a few differences. A bit of Spanish will help you a lot when you go out into town but I don’t know any and I manage to get by ok. In this area of Spain not that many people speak English so don’t expect anyone to understand anything you say, out of the campus that is. The weather is brilliant most of the year, although we do suffer a bit from early morning mist/fog until about 11.00 some days. The locals are very friendly and very welcoming as well as the staff at FTE who will join the students on Friday evening outings to the local bars. So everybody knows everybody which gives a good atmosphere. Some weekends it’s nice to rent a car and go to explore some of the local towns, even if its just to get out of the school. As you spend 24 hours a day/ 7 days a week on the site it is nice to get out occasionally. Having said that everything you need is here for you. Gym, swimming pool, canteen, bar, social club, Sky tv and the rooms even get cleaned twice a week! The rooms vary in size, but all have Air Con/Heating, en-suite showers and toilets and we are currently having network sockets installed in all of the rooms which will give us access to the internet and should be operative by next week. Lastly the price of things down here is great. Almost everything is cheaper than the UK, including the beer. We pay about 90p a pint and half of that during happy hour!
Jobs:
Lots of interest recently at FTE from a lot of airlines. Things are definitely picking up in the industry and many of the students have found jobs very soon after completing their training. Not going to go into specifics but if your interested PM me.
On the whole I am thoroughly enjoying my time here. Obviously I only speak for myself but I really can’t fault the place, except I miss the cold and the rain. Its currently +18ish and still t-shirt weather in the middle of December!
If you have any other questions that I have missed out then get in touch.
Rgds, FlyUK :ok: