Well known school vs small flight school??

[AlexanderH]

Hi all,

I did add this question onto the end of my last post re ormond aviation but I thought I would make a new thread anyway.

Do airline companies judge you by the calibre of the flight school you attend? ie would it not be better to have qualified from a well-known and recognised school than a small school that nobody has heard of in the middle of nowhere?

[BubbaMc]

I would say no. It's not about where you got your licence, rather what you've done with it. Small schools can be a great place to learn.

[SweetChariotXV]

I think it does matter which school you go to. I'm not saying you need to go to a big well known school that costs alot, but you should look for a school that has a good pass rate and has a history of students that have since found jobs. Allow me to emphasise the word history as no jobs happening at the moment!

What is also very important as far as I'm aware, the airlines like you to have done IR and CPL at same school. Bear that in mind.

I can't speak of other schools as have no experience of them, but I can speak of BCFT in Bournemouth, which is a fairly small school, good price in my opinion, good experienced instrustors and teaching (quite a relaxed atmosphere), and above all generally has a good pass rate (if you discount the numptys that don't put any effort in.)

But work out what's best for you, location, price, etc. Visit the schools as you are gonna spend alot of time and money there, you want to make sure you personally have a good vibe of the place.

[OneIn60rule]

Is to try and not do many different licences/ratings in multiple areas.

The benefit of a small school is the ambiance.
The benefit of a big organized school is "standard" -
this is assuming they have a good standard amongst instructors.

I can't speak on behalf of an employer for any airline but I would say just from my point of view that it's not wise to be going to many different schools for various ratings/licences.

(An example would be to shop heavily for the lowest price on a multi engine rating, going over seas to do it and then going yet elsewhere for an IR rating and so on... it just doesn't look neat on the paper does it?)

I will say though that there is nothing wrong with doing your PPL with a small outfit and then to do your ATPL with any other school and finally the remaining ratings/licences with another school which offers all ratings.
Likewise there would be nothing wrong doing a PPL with a large school then moving on.

Good luck and enjoy the future.

1/60

[AlexanderH]

Ok. What schools worldwide currently have the best reputation? In other words, what are the Oxfords, Cambridges, Durhams of flight schools around the world?