NAC vs OFT vs OBA vs EFT

[gillinn]

Ok people!

I am loosing my mind trying to decide where to do my PPL

now if those who have studied at these schools in the last year could make a small list with only the positive things they can think of for each school without starting to talk about the crash at OBA or something like that it would be greatly appreciated


Best regards,

Gilli

[RavenII]

I worked for OFT for a while, but as a Heli CFI, i recon you wanna go for the fixedwing stuff, right?

OFT is pretty busy when it comes to fixedwing, they have plenty of instructors, even good instructors from Europe (mostly Norway).

Plenty of planes, range from stone old 152s to brandnew 172s with glass cockpit. They also have a few multis (Seminoles and a Duchess) and a couple of Piper singles.

ATC in Kissimmee is very patient, because they are used to (foreign)students.

At the moment there are at least 70% Indian students, so bring your dictionary.

A couple of small uncontrolled airports in the area, which comes handy for the early training, but also the Orlando Class B overlaying, which is good for instrument training and general radio communication training.

The appartments are crap, there is no other way to describe that, but there is a lot of action around Kissimmee/Orlando. (Disney, Bars, Malls etc.) Shuttle launch in Titusville is a great thing to see. BUT, Kissimmee is as far away from any Beach in Florida as it gets. (Bummer, because the weather is NICE)

NAC is definetly the nicer place to live, but i can't tell you about the school, i visited them, but i don't know about the training.

I have no idea who EFT or OBA are. But you might wanna look into Hillsboro Aviation Oregon, that would be my recommondation.

Well, i hope i could help you

Take care.....

[Pace152]

Hey Gillin,

Having myself spent along time at OBA and heading off to NAC in a couple of months to get back into the flying thing, and having spoke to people who've been to OFT, I've come to one conclusion.

There is no school out there in which 100% of the people have had a 100% good experience 100% of the time. The truth is that whatever school you go to there are going to be good points and bad points and at the end of the day you might as well just flip a coin to decide which to go to cos they're probably all roughly the same.

I will say though that from my own experience OBA is seriously focussed towards getting people through their JAA PPL in 3 weeks and in all the time I was there there were probably only 3 or 4 that didn't get through it in that time.

[fescalised portion]

My own personal opinion of NAC is that if you want to get your PPL fast and relatively cheap, this is the place to go. I did my FAA PPL/IR/CPL and Multi there in 2004/5. It took me 5 months at a relaxed pace and at the end of it I had 250hrs.
I visited NAC just a couple of weeks ago and they have updated and replaced a lot of their equipment.
The staff there are friendly and helpful and will get you through as quickly as possible.
No flight school is perfect and you will of course run into small problems through your training, but having also spent time at three other different schools in Florida, from my experience you will have problems wherever you go.
As mentioned in other posts, Naples is a great city. It is extremely clean, has one of the best public beaches in the USA, is crime free and has some great bars and restaurants. In fact, I liked it so much that I just bought a house there !!

[captain_rossco]

OBA saw me through. Cheap and good fun!

[AlphaMale]

OBA saw me through. Cheap and good fun!

Are you working for a carrier rossco?

Only reason I ask is that no doubt next year I'll be re-evaluating my decision to train in US or UK ... or possibly Spain.

For now I have my sights set on B-F-C or my PPL/Night and possibly IMC. By the time I complete my ATPL exams I'll be looking to give up my current job and spending 12 weeks or so training for my CPL/IR.

Although people do deny that you're at any loss in gaining your licence in the US many pilots advise me that if I want to gain employment in the UK it's best to train in the UK.

Gaining a licence in the US is just as easy as gaining one in the UK I'm sure, but it's getting the job afterwards is what worries me more :uhoh:

[captain_rossco]

Well, "saw me through" refers only to my PPL and hours buliding. I'm seeing the rest through at Oxford as its local and only came out a few £k more than Bristol Flying Centre.
BFC runs an fantastic set up, I've visited a few times and really can't fault the place. It would sound about right that more and more carriers can afford to be slightly more picky about where their students have trained (On the mere mention of OBA to the chaps at BFC I could see them cringe).
I'd not want to be doing my CPL and an IR conversion too far from home, there are one or two carriers who are going to be taking students from only 4 major schools in the near future, (so they say). Now weather this comes into immediate effect or is a somewhere down the line, I do not know, but I thought it best to 'future proof' myself just in case!.:sad:

Regards

CR

[gillinn]

Thank you all for your responses.. i guess Pace152 (http://www.pprune.org/forums/member.php?u=114477) is right and i should just flip a coin hehe


anyway.. thanks!

[CptSilva]

I´ve the experience in OBA for the flight training and NAC for the distance learning ATPL, i think both can offer what you are looking for, but keep in mind that what ever school you choose you have alot of work ahead of you, about problems you can find in those schools you´ll find in any school but sometimes you have to deal with them the best way.
Alot of people for example say bad things about OBA training and about their aircrafts but for me it worked perfectly after i finish my training in Florida i did a 15 hours conversion in Portugal to a Frozen ATPL and 2 month later i was offered a Job in the main Portuguese Airline on the Regional Jet ERJ145, so i think the training is professional on those 2 schools that i was enrolled.

Best Regards,

[HH53]

I am a professional flight instructor and would say that 1st solo is somewhat overrated in its importance.Do not underestimate the trips your writer talks aboutvalue.When at an early stage in your instructor takes you toa satellite field that's quieter if he does it properly heis already starting to build your navigation skills.You may not solo a 5 hours or whatever the magic number you think is correct but when you do thelong cross country which to me is the real solo youare much more confident and prepared.I adopt this method in training PPL's and also try andpair two studebts if I can so that they see a lot of demostwice.The do not normally take any longer that the minimumhours on an intensive course.In the UK I have heard of the PPL taking as much as 90 hours to complete.There is a saying : The are no free lunches.If an operator in Florida is pitching really low pricesyou are best to go and view the school before youcommit to them.Good aircraft normally will cost you more.I don't know why everybody is obssesed with Floridaanyway.I went to Skymates in Arlington Texas they have areally good fleet of C172.s.A friendly bunch too.Also if you can pay for a G1000equiped one for your Navigation excercises.Another one Sun aviation in Lantana Florida.If you were going to buy a car would you buyit without a test drive and without looking at it.A PPL is a big investment and you can easilyswap an FAA Private for a JAA PPL,Go to your chosen flight school and book anintroductory flight look around at the aircraft fleet.Don't rush off try to talk to some of the students that are already there.If you want to make life hard for the bad eggs in the businessyou must be astute as with any purchase and look beforeyou leap!!!Then you will not have to bitch about it here later

[Farrell]

My eyes! MY EYES!!!!

[B2N2]

Another little gripe, which is nothing to do with the school per se but when you go on your initial lessons you will not take off and go straight into the circuit, you will fly to places like Marco Island and Imokalee to do them there. Makes for beautiful scenery but unfortunately all it means is you are racking up hours flying straight and level in transit to and from these places and giving a false idea of your flying ability in your logbook. Not wishing to blow my own trumpet or anything but I left when I was roughly solo standard after doing 16 hours but in reality it was probably more like 6 hours of actual worthwhile flying experience.


16 hrs of flying experience is 16 hrs of flying experience, nothing more AND nothing less. Learning how to fly is not only learning how to land.
Your solo in US airspace on a N-registered airplane on a US medical which means that your instructor needs to abide by the US regulations as far as pre-solo training is concerned.
Which means the following 14 CFR 61.87 (d)

(d) Maneuvers and procedures for pre-solo flight training in a single-engine airplane. A student pilot who is receiving training for a single-engine airplane rating or privileges must receive and log flight training for the following maneuvers and procedures:

(1) Proper flight preparation procedures, including preflight planning and preparation, powerplant operation, and aircraft systems;

(2) Taxiing or surface operations, including runups;

(3) Takeoffs and landings, including normal and crosswind;

(4) Straight and level flight, and turns in both directions;

(5) Climbs and climbing turns;

(6) Airport traffic patterns, including entry and departure procedures;

(7) Collision avoidance, windshear avoidance, and wake turbulence avoidance;

(8) Descents, with and without turns, using high and low drag configurations;

(9) Flight at various airspeeds from cruise to slow flight;

(10) Stall entries from various flight attitudes and power combinations with recovery initiated at the first indication of a stall, and recovery from a full stall;

(11) Emergency procedures and equipment malfunctions;

(12) Ground reference maneuvers;

(13) Approaches to a landing area with simulated engine malfunctions;

(14) Slips to a landing; and

(15) Go-arounds.

[civil aviation]

Rossco- you report that Ormond Beach Aviation is 'cheap and good fun' so why do you claim that OBA makes BFC guys cringe?