Progress Vs 43rd Flight School

[Elpheba]

Hey, i'm a 21year old Kenyan who is working towards a Pilot liscense.
Since the only Kenyan Aviation School...falls short, I've been looking into training in SA.
My list has been cut down to the two schools.
I was hoping to get views from any past students, build up a list of Pros and Cons.
For example, Progress is cheaper but 43 is a "known brand"
Any help you could give me would be really appreciated.

[chileno 777]

Both schools are good. Progress is smaller so presume that you will get a more personal approach. Kenya Airway’s cadets currently are training for the frozen ATPL at Progress. Suggest comparing the number of instructors, airplanes and students (instructor student ratio) in each school.
My advice: go to USA!

[Parrot]

Chileno, since I see your address as FAPE, and you are recommending US schools, does this suggest that you have not been happy with your training in SA ?

[Elpheba]

@ Chileno 777 hehe the goal is to do it with minimum costs, a short period and excellent training.
Dreams of the good ol' USA, remain that, dreams :-)
I thought the Kenya Airways cadets were at 43rd??

@ suitcaseman, in this day and age, wouldn't you want EVERY advantage available to you? Incuding the best school?

[Tin-Tin]

I agree with suitcaseman...Go for the cheapest possible flightschool!!

[flying_hamster]

@Elpheba:

I have also been looking around flight schools, and SAFTA appears cheaper than Progress. Im not too sure of the costs involved at 43 Air School.

However, i am not too sure of the reputation of SAFTA. Anyone out there who can shed some light on this? Is SAFTA actually operated by SAA?

[Elpheba]

@ MVS wow! That thread was very helpful, but it did get me a bit worried.
I think finding a good school, where at the end of your course, you emerge with more than the "bare minimum" is important not only for Professional, but Personal growth too. :-)
@ Suitcaseman, you bring up a valid point about 43rd, and yeah, money is a big issue, but not big enough to copromise on quality. ;-)
@ Flying_hamster, I hadn't looked up SAFTA i'm looking forward to reading about it. Good to hear from you byay.

[Der absolute Hammer]

If you guys are goint o widen your field of search then you had better do some searching on Pprune. There has been a lot of stuff written about various schools, including SAFTA, which, as far as I know, has absolutely nothing to do with SAA.
FTS at Grand Central is run by two SAA Senior First Officers but is not 'accredited' to SAA. I do not think that any school in SA is. FTC at George is still, I think, owned by an SAA Senior 340 Captain.
I would strongly suggest that you have a good search, especially VaV SAFTA and, as someone has said before...do not be led up the garden path...I do not think it makes a blind bit of the difference which school you went to in the sense of getting an edge on the job front. It is very difficult to get a job anyway-either at the moment-or historically speaking, fresh out of flight school-not in SA-but then, check what the flavour of the month is in Kenya.
Many of us became teachers in the wildreness before we ascended to the great heights of the aluminum contrails.
Safari njema!

[chileno 777]

Chileno, since I see your address as FAPE, and you are recommending US schools, does this suggest that you have not been happy with your training in SA ?



The flying standards in South Africa are high and I am happy with my flight school (the instructors are great and the environment at the club is awesome) but the CPL theory is a nightmare (similar to JAA). There are 8 written exams and more than 60% of the theory that the prospective student should learn will never use it as a commercial pilot. The FAA training is more practical and the written papers are less complicated, hence, less time consuming and more focused on what is (in my humble opinion) the most important....the flying training! I do not have a problem at all of studying (have already passed 2 comm subjects) but do not want to waste more time focusing on things which I will not use when flying commercially. That is why I decided to go to USA to do my CPL. The flight training here is good (only problem in PE is the weather) but I opted to stop suffering with the useless theory that CPL students must learn in South Africa.

[chileno 777]

the goal is to do it with minimum costs, a short period and excellent training.
Dreams of the good ol' USA, remain that, dreams :-)
I thought the Kenya Airways cadets were at 43rd??



In my last comm sitting (June 2009) Kenya airways cadets were writing the ATPL subjects. Suggest emailing both schools to ask if the cadets are still there.
Living costs in USA are higher than SA but your training will be definitely shorter in US making your training cheaper.

[riqsid]

Hi guys

I have a Srilankan PPL now and interested in going to SA to do the CPL program. I was doing some search and as mentioned in the previous threads, IT DOES NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHICH SCHOOL YOU DO YOUR TRAINING BECAUSE WHAT YOU WILL HAVE ULTIMATELY IS A SA LICENSE. I find lanseria flight centre, Algoe flight centre, Aeronav very cheap compared to progress or 43 ? Is there any one out there better informed about these cheaper schools, is quality compromised? and which one is recommended ?

Thanks. Pls reply

Riqsid

[EladElap]

I can recommend Algoa Flying Club. They provide very good training and some highly experienced instructors there! They are also very reasonably priced and have a nice fleet of aircraft!

[riqsid]

Thanks alot. I v looked through most of the schools, but with the positive reviews about Algo, it seems to be the right choice. Thanks agn

[Habari]

Was a member of AFC for many years until I moved from PE. Club always had a good atmosphere with good instructors and plenty of experience to call upon amongst the members who frequent the club bar! (Many current and ex airline crew).
Had a couple of hours to spare whilst visiting PE yesterday, so went to AFC to check out the scene. Plenty of activity and instructors giving what I considered good airmanship training.

[chileno 777]

I can recommend Algoa Flying Club. They provide very good training and some highly experienced instructors there! They are also very reasonably priced and have a nice fleet of aircraft!



Totally agree with regards to the instructors and the price; however the aircrafts are quite old (although well maintained) and unfortunately due to mechanical problems not 100% of the airplanes are available at the moment. Last week only two aircrafts were flying (1 C52 & 1 C172 RG) but luckily they are slowly coming back to service.

[chileno 777]

Club always had a good atmosphere with good instructors and plenty of experience to call upon amongst the members who frequent the club bar! (Many current and ex airline crew).
Had a couple of hours to spare whilst visiting PE yesterday, so went to AFC to check out the scene. Plenty of activity and instructors giving what I considered good airmanship training.


The instructors are really great and almost all of them highly experienced. They are instructing because the like to fly and love to instruct and not because they need to build hours. Flying with them is a privilege.

[Elpheba]

Hi everyone
Thankyou sooo much for your contrributions they've all been really helpful :ok:
Now... theres been a change of plans. I'm going to school in Jo'berg, so that I can stay with a cousin and save on accomodation costs.
Does anyone now any good flight schools in Jo'Berg???:}:O:)

[Alternate Law]

you have a pm

[MainPeanut]

Here is my 2 cents worth. If you have lots of time to do your comm then go for a club, on the other hand if you are a person who likes structure and a plan for your training go to a school. The laid back feeling at a club is nice but if you are serious about your training then it is not for you. I know things happen at a club that in order to have a ground school there must be a certain minimum number of students, if there are not enough then no ground school and you have to wait for next time.
Ask the school for your training program and if they can give you a structured program on paper and not just a few words go for that school.
I would recommend Progress.

[Elpheba]

@ DDMow, Yikes! In my rush to save on accommodation, i'd totally forgotten about transportation. I'll definitely be getting a map of the area as soon as I know what part of Jo'berg will soon become home!
I've checked out SAFTA and its not half bad, plus its affordable. Woo!
But am still shopping around.

@MainPeanut, time is of the essence, especially with my budget! So i'm not too keen on Clubs.
So far I've gotten some pretty good responses from schools I've contacted so far especially with regard to training and a price tags!!!
They're really good schools though am holding off on making a decision, at least untill I've exhausted all possible avenues.

[TermightJim]

Hows it to everyone

Been watching this thread with great interest. Well there are two schools, in my opinion, depending where you live. Lanseria Flight Centre up north or Sky Raiders if youre down Rand Airport side. Both good, both provide accomodation and both have nice fleets. LFCs fleet comprises Cessna and is older but its not that big a problem. Sky Raiders is a newer flight school but has a Piper fleet and are in very good nick.

[gaxt]

Hey Elpheba???
i was going through this forum and i know its a few months down the road but i am in the same dilemma you were in...i guess it is a good thing because you may be able to help me based on what decision you made and your experience so far.

I am a kenyan as well and i would also like to pursue my aviation in South Africa or the USA preferably SA..i'm tight on cash as well and will definitely need accomodation.

HELP!!!!

[nyathi]

Lanseria Flight Center at Lanseria or SAFTA :ok:

[FL999]

Hi Everyone,

just thought i'd follow up on this thread as it's been a while and a lot has changed within the realm of flight training in SA. I'm currently considering going for a CPL in SA and am looking around for some info regarding the various schools. Im currently looking at 43 and Progress and am considering a move to Progress as it is significantly cheaper than 43. Some recent insight on the schools would be much appreciated.

Thanks!

[DaFly]

I have done my CPL IF ME at Progress 12 years ago. The big advantage that we had over the 43rd students was the fact that we had 5 minutes flying time to the nearest VOR & ILS.

Back then, the CPL training was very bush oriented, since most fresh CPLs would get their first job flying charters. We landed on a grass rwy with only one row of lanterns on the left side.

The pass rate, both for the theory exams and the practical flight test at Progress used to be a lot higher than that of 43rd.

[negus]

FTC in George. On the Garden Route between cape town and PE.
Flight Training South Africa Pilot Training Garden Route (http://www.flighttraining.co.za). If you look through the chapters you'll find some good gen.

[Aladin]

Hi All,

Did my CPL/ME/IR @ Progress.
I have to say that the standards at Progress are very high...higher than at 43...Basically at Progress u learn to fly the hard way...Landing a Semimole on a 800m grass runway with trees at the end is rather daunting.
Also they let you fly the seminole solo which no other school would allow you to..this really builds up confidence and show how much trust they have in their students... While at 43 you will do your "solo" navigation with the instructor sitting at the back!
Another good aspect about Progress is that the aircrafts are relatively new and they invest in new aircrafts, not 2nd hand. The seminole(ZS PGI) is brillant.
Gud thing with 43 and Progress is that accomodation is on base and you have the whole airfield for your training. Progress is 5mins (by air) from FAPE...so no prob for IF training.
Not all Progress Pilots end up with Charter Companies...Kenya Airways and Precision Air do send their Cadets there...As soon as they leave Progress they fly the B737 and ATR72! :D

[Twinotterguy]

Both are very good flight schools, but I would recommend 43 air school. I did my training there, good accommodation, great instructors: most of them are trained at 43 itself, Lots of aircrafts which means an airplane is always there for you to train so you wont have any delay involving engineering problems or unavailability of airplanes, Port alfred is a very small safe and peaceful place and good places for outings are there also. Recently Boeing has partnered with 43, I am not very sure about the new programmes.

Downsides at 43 are, sometimes the weather wont be on your side and the price is on average 80-100 thousand rand more than average SA flight school pricing. Its more or like a traditional college style school rather than a average flying club/school, sometimes you wont have freedom for example sometimes you need to attend ground-class strictly whereas in some flight school you dont need to attend if you think you can self study, you will feel like you are at a college/university. But the flying is great.

I dont know much about progress but I heard at progress you will gain more personal attention from the instructors, also challenging flying and feel more like a flying school but the school can be overcrowded at times and delays in trainings.

[Georgina Oduol]

Hello.
I am Georgina. I am looking for good flight schools in either midrand or Johannesburg. Please kindly advise.

[TwinJock]

Ok, here we go again! Georgina, I strongly suggest a search on pPrune, followed by a Google search! Your question has been answered and discussed, many times before.

Good luck.

[super 27]

I am very proud up to now to have done all my traning at PFA Progress Flight Academy back in 95.Now I am currently flying the Airbus 320, and I can tell you gents it is a high standard level of training.:cool: