Flight Academies in Greece

[deepintothesky]

Hello pilots and future pilots! I would like to become a pilot but reading this forum the past 1-2 years i found out that there are many traps arround.
I love Greece,im on holidays there now also, i am intrested to find an academy in Greece however if i find something better/cheaper i wouldnt mind to go to an other country. I am a european passport holder so visa is not a problem for me. I can go anywhere in Europe.

I found a lot of things written here in pprune about some academies.. some bad things and some good things. It helped me filter the academies that i will send emails asking for more information.

Greece is a paradise but i cannot fully trust people when it comes about money! That is why i want to pay as i fly.

I found 3 academies that i am mostly intrested in,

F.A.S. ( FAS Rhodos Pilot Academy : Flight School in Greece, Professional Pilot Training (http://www.rhodospilots.gr) )
Olympus Aviation Academy ( Olympus Aviation Academy - Pilot Training - ATPL, CPL/ME/IR, PPL (http://www.olympusacademy.gr) )
Jetstream ( JETSTREAM Aviation Academy - Aviation academy Approved by EASA GCAA DGCA (http://www.jetstream.gr) )

While i love nature and small places, i don't know if i could live for 1 year in an island (F.A.S.). I have visited Rhodes and its amazing but i don't know how it is in winter time
I never visited Tesaloniki (Olympus Aviation Academy) though but i heard its a nice city. What about the academy though? Ιt's not old academy but already people completed CPL/ME/IR courses, i spoke to them on facebook and they told me they are really happy with their choice.
I don't know a lot about Megara (Jetstream). The airport there doesn't look big to my eyes(sorry i don't know a lot about airports) and its not international airport. I also read that this academy "focus ALOT more on their TRTO and not the FTO". (i read this in these forums)

I am not going to pay anything in advance to any school but everything "pay as you fly/go". I have read here many stories that people wrote for schools arround the world. I don't know if they are true or not but it made me feel a little bit insecure.

I am more into choosing Olympus Aviation Academy however i want to visit them first.

Any advices about the schools i mentioned above?

I have checked most of the other schools in Greece however they are either too expensive, or too cheap.

[Watt001]

Hello, I also wanted to go to Greece to work as an instructor. I contacted several schools, I also got one offer, but after a basic research, I found out, that the conditions were absolutely terrible. I should have paid them money as a guarantee of the contract which was refundable after one year. Too bad.
Now I fly in another school outside Greece and I'm really satisfied. If you want, you can send me PM, I can give you some contacts.

[deepintothesky]

hello. thanks for your reply! which school asked you for money in Greece? This country is becoming the "florida" of europe in my eyes. don't get me wrong! I mean many new schools, some good some bad.. I filtered my results as good as I could and im between these schools now. the rest didnt fit my needs or they were either too expensive or too cheap.
I think I am going to visit olympus in tesaloniki to see the school with my eyes because I like their pay as you fly program and I spoke to past students or active students now and they do verify it. and I heard its also fast school. I heard f.a.s. is also fast but I don't know if I can live there during winter time.


I would like you to tell us here which school asked you to pay because some of us future pilots hope to get their first job at the school we get the license (as instructors).

also yes you can send me by pm contacts :)

thanks a lot

[Watt001]

Hello. I don't recommend Hero aviation. They ask you to pay 5000 in advance which they will give you back after you will have flown 1000 hrs or 1 year. It is their guarantee. But what is your guarantee from their side? and also, the pay conditions are totally poor. All these information are also at their website.
I'm sending you a PM.

[deepintothesky]

I wouldnn't go to this school anyway! paying by yourself to instruct is totally unfair!!

thanks for your info and generally people here in these forums posting helpful information.

[mad_jock]

guys really don't be so stupid.

Any company which demands a bond off you before you work for them is screaming out that they have problems with instructors walking due to the way they are treated.

As soon as you hear there is a any form of up front bond tell them to ram the job where the sun don't shine.

[deepintothesky]

I have no experience into job looking for pilots but yes this doesn't sound good about the school you mentioned..
anyway I will visit olympus and probably f.a.s. also to see what is going there.
what I have learnt in these forums is never pay upfront :) and that is what I am going to do

[mad_jock]

There is all manner of stuff been reported on here about things going on with certain Greek flight schools.


If your not Greek I would stay clear if I were you.

[deepintothesky]

hi. I think you are not right about that. therr are also famous schools in greece where everything runs well! they are too expensive for me though and I think it doesnt worth it to pay so much more just because they are wellknown. I have seen also many new schools the past year. so its pretty unfair to judge 15 or more schools because of 1 or 2 or 3 bad.. don't you think?

[mad_jock]

not if your not greek and your spending lots of money.

And they are so famous I have never heard of them.

Its a hellva gamble flight training cheaper can end up extremely expensive.

Your better getting training where your wanting to work. So if you not going to work in Greece there isn't much point training or holding a license from Greece.

The greek legal system is quite bizarre and if their is a dispute you have lost your cash and the schools know it.

[deepintothesky]

mad_jock i believe you have a deeper problem with greece for speaking like this..

you said "Your better getting training where your wanting to work. So if you not going to work in Greece there isn't much point training or holding a license from Greece."

you are an atpl holder and you are saying that someone should get his license where he wants to work? what kind of pilot thinks like this? I want to work in europe,asia,arabic countries.. what should i do now?go in each country and get atpl? you are not serious!

Holding a license from Greece? Its EASA and you should know it.. :ugh::ugh:

George Clooney and the marbles of parthenon made you think like this? :mad:

[mad_jock]

no I don't have a problem with Greece or for any country for that matter.

No you have to look at where you realistically think your going to get work for the first time. After you have experience it doesn't matter so much.

And not only am I a EASA ATPL holder I have another 3 in the collection. The EASA licenses does me all round Europe apart from French operators. The other 3 depends what reg I am flying. I don't keep them current with medical LPC etc.

You get them off the back of your original license. Which is another thing not all EASA countries licenses are equal in the eyes of a none EU country. Being trained in the UK my license conversions have been all a LPC and a local Air law exam. Other guys I have worked with, with in theory the same EASA license had more hassels/ hoops to jump through than I did. English language exams, type technical papers etc. The Scandinavians didn't have problems either. The med country pilots did, which caused much amusement with Italian waving of arms and hands.

Oh and if you have a greek license you won't get work in Turkey.

[deepintothesky]

You can't be serious!!! There are many Greek pilots in Turkish Airlines.

Again its not greek license, its not italian license, its not spanish license.. and so on.. ITS EASA! :mad:

God, you say all these and you are an F.I.

Better do a research how many greeks with greek license work in Turkish Airlines.. Even cypriots work there.. Hey with greek license.. basically once again its not greek.. ITS EASA. :mad:

[mad_jock]

Again its not greek license, its not italian license, its not spanish license.. and so on.. ITS EASA!

The innocence of the clueless.

Yes I was a PPL FI and I am now a line training Captain holding area approvals in Europe, Middle East and Northern and Eastern Africa.

But I bow to your superior knowledge as I obviously don't have a clue how it works.

Anyway its your money you will only learn through experience. Might be an expensive lesson though.

[deepintothesky]

sorry mate but you are dangerously uninformed. search about easa before you type all these things that lower yourself!

[mad_jock]

dangerously uninformed

I know all about the theory of EASA.

What I am talking about is the practicality's of how it functions in real life.

Just because you have a EASA license doesn't mean you will get the job. It means you are legal to operate all the EASA regs without further license conversion. It has no relation at all about the likely hood of your CV going straight in the bucket depending on your location and method of training.

Don't worry I know for a fact that if I applied to a French or German operator mine would go straight in the bucket as well.

[deepintothesky]

I can't say more because I respect your experience while I have no experience at all. but again, with easa license you can work anywhere in europe. and ofcorse italy spain greece etc they all have easa schools. having graduated from any school doea not guarantee you any job..having good knowledge and skills though will help someone for his career.

I know people who graduated from wellknown european shools and they are jobless.
I know on the other hand people who graduated from greek schools and they work now in qatar. and im not trying to promote greek schools.. same probably happenes with other schools.in other easa countries
but for sure when a school is certified by EASA then you get a license completely the same as someone else in a "big" school.

study study study and in my opinion if you have knowledge and graduate from a small stinky school then you are fine.

knowledge is what matters in my opinion..

you might get invited in an interview easier if you graduate from a big school but thats only because coorperates with the company and not because you paid double money!!!!

[mad_jock]

An easa license allows you to fly any EASA reg. There are thousands of ICAO license holders flying in European airspace everyday.


knowledge is what matters in my opinion

not in mine, its networking, mates and luck unless your on a cadet scheme.

Part of that luck is your CV not going straight in the bucket before people have read past your training history. If it goes into the bucket at the training history that's just bad choice of training method/school.

And BTW I do that with all integrated CV's from the big british three so again it doesn't work quite the way you think it does.


But anyway wannbies always know best, and as its your money I have no problem at all you spending it how you like.

[speed_alive_rotate]

Does that mean you bin all CVs from the big 3? I don't go to any of them, I am just curious.

[mad_jock]

Straight into the bucket, 6 years ago we wouldn't see a single one to fly my auld :mad: heap of a TP. Now there are literally hundreds of them.

They seem to go Ryanair first then it takes 3-6 months to get the knock back from them. And then its mail shot the world.

And every CV looks exactly the same. Identical hours, the occasional different hobby but basically its the same CV time and time again with a canned cover letter.

[Bealzebub]

There are thousands of ICAO license holders flying in European airspace everyday.

In fact there isn't a single one! Licences are issued by individual states or supranational authorities and virtually all of them are signatories to the ICAO. There is no such thing as an ICAO licence ergo there can be no such thing as an ICAO licence holder. Each state or authority sets out the requirements for validation or conversion based on its own requirements within ICAO best practices and recommendations.

[deepintothesky]

mad_jock let me understand, why you throw into the bucket the CVs from the big schools? i also prefer to go in a smaller school to study and the reasons for me are too many. Its not only that it costs less but its more personalised training i think. I mean you are trained by someone who knows you and you are not treated like a robot.

[mad_jock]

They are trained to manage a fully automated efis flight deck with a FMC.

Not a crappy old steam instrument none auto pilot TP.

And apart from anything else there is nothing at all to differentiate them all.

They don't want to fly a crappy old TP they want to fly a fancy jet. They only reason why they apply is because they have run out of fancy jets to apply to and are just wanting to fly anything which is multi crew.

And its easier for us if we get pilots with more developed handling skills which a 1000 hour instructor has.

And the other thing is they are all exactly the same, no life experience, nothing that leaps out at you, just the same format with the same everything on them. If you were going to take one you might as well just fan them out on a wall and throw darts at them to choose the ones for interview. Phoning the schools for references doesn't help because they will just go into sales mode and try and sell you cadet programs or send you someone else who is meant to be "the best of the year"

Yes yes, Bealzebub very droll, Ok ICAO compliant licenses, there is of course the none compliant licenses as well flying in European airspace but of course they are not flying commercial aircraft and are on national licenses such as the UK's NPPL.

[deepintothesky]

i have to show you respect for the last post sir! absolutely correct! reminds me of the movie 21 (21 (2008) - IMDb (http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0478087/)) :)

[speed_alive_rotate]

I am part of an integrated coarse, however it is not one of the big 3, take it you are referring to CTC, FTE, OAA. Do all integrated students get tarred with the same brush?

[mad_jock]

They all have issues with lack of PIC skills. Which even if your going in as an FO you do need in the none shiny end of aviation.

Some of the European intigrated schools have a different philosophy with regards to hour building and send them off on international tours which the students get to choose where they are going and get sent off after being authorised some times for 2-3 days.

Quite how they do this legally I don't know.

There is also issues with training for test, its not uncommon for them not to have a clue how to fly a DME arc and have never done one.

You get a pilot in from say Airways Exeter and they will hand fly an arc and never a fart in fear.

[maxed-out]

A lot of other modular schools also teach the dme arc.....ndb/vor and are tested on them. Even the "dodgy" spanish ones sir! :cool:

[mad_jock]

I am sure they do. And good on them for teaching the full syllabus and not just training for a test with the idea that a box of tricks will be flying the machine round the pink string in future.

[saiaung]

hello,please let me know about olympus aviation academy and skies aviation academy.because i wish & interesting to join those school.please answer me.thank you.

[appfo09]

Egnatia Aviation in Kavalla- Greece is another option to go !!