Flying Academy in Czech Republic...opinion !

[kalimdetanger]

Hi everyone :

I'm a Senior student and in few months I'll began my formation as a pilot in Europe...Since last summer I was searching cheap and good schools in Europe, and finnaly I found Flying School , a school very cheap and apparently good. I want some opinions, especially students or ex students in this school

Thanks :)

[ChickenHouse]

Had some time at FlyTeam in Hungary, then moved to Flying Academy. Nice place to learn. Neither Hungarian, nor Czech language are easy to understand in first place, but if you are on site, learning gets you quick on the bar with the fellows. It is good audio training to get used to the bit hard sounding languages, helped me a lot when starting to fly here.

[FlyingAcademy]

Hi kalimdetanger,

We are happy that you are considering us for your pilot training. To expedite the process of getting first hand information from current trainees and alumni, we have sent you in a PM a list of students that you can talk to.

Always you have the possibility of visiting our facilities from either Prague or Brno, talking face to face to FIs and students, so that you can see for yourself what we have to offer.

On top, you can be reimbursed for your trip to visit us.

If we could be of any further assistance in the process, please let us know.

Best of luck,

Radim Olbrecht
Head of Training
Flying Academy

[labeo2011]

Hello, as a former student from FA Brno I can say that you did the biggest mistake to join this academy. The academy does not treat you like a student and you will not learn anything from your ATPL properly and with quality to pass the exams due to lack of adequate presentations. Normally according to regulations of EASA for the ATPL preparation is 6 months of 5 days per week in a row. Flying academy has an agreement with the CZ CAA to prepare you within 20 days of "distance training" for all 14 subjects. The preparation is very poor for ATPL theory and the ground instructors skip the most important information which the student MUST know. Therefore after ground classes you must go home and hit your head in order to understand what you are studying, the meaning of the question or the subjects and to find the answer, such as mathematical subjects. For example, general navigation, flight planning and so on. Many new students are getting into the trap as I got due to their aggressive advertisement on network and cheaper prices to attract international students. The point is you have to understand what you are studying with the proper help of the instructors which you wont have in FA. Don't look price when it concerns your proper knowledge and training. In other words Flying Academy gives cheap prices, poor preparation and understanding, and if you have doubts for anything you must pay extra hours for private lessons in class. You are on your own pal. Good luck.

[FlyingAcademy]

Dear labeo2011,

Thank you for sharing your opinion about our distance-learning course ATPL(A)-650 theory.

I’ll start by making some things clear:

1. The distance-learning course, according to EASA regulations, has a minimum of 10%, which is 65 (sixty five) hours, of ground preparation with lectors. We, in Flying Academy, are doing 180 hours, that’s 3 times more than the minimum. There is no agreement with the Czech CAA other than the approved training manual from which we are teaching our trainees and is included in our EASA ATO license.

2. The 5 days a week for 6 months is not distance-learning. That type of education is received in the Integrated ATPL(A)/Full Residential and that’s a different story. It's 750 hours of ground preparation - including the PPL(A) - done on premises.

Now, I’m not sure how your expectations on a distance-learning course were so misaligned with the reality, but again, you enrolled in self-study approach for the ATPL(A) theory.

Regarding the additional help, our on-premises Ground Instructors are answering to the questions of any students and that’s not a charged service. Indeed, if you will need any one-to-one tutoring for any of the 14 subjects, this service is additional and it’s paid.

In the last couple of years we have been asking for written anonymous feedback from our ATPL(A) students and your type of feedback never came to us.

Still, just like in the airline world where your plane flies as expected and the instruments are showing everything OK, but we are constantly “en-garde”, we will take your feedback seriously and we will pay even more attention to making sure expectations are set properly.

We know that we can’t please everybody, especially when the pool of people being trained by Flying Academy is in a three-digit range, however, we really do give our best to making sure that people will not become frustrated.

In case you would like to talk to me, don’t hesitate to contact me via email or phone

Best of luck in your career!

Radim Olbrecht
Head of Training
Flying Academy

[Muhammed91]

Hi
Also looking at the flying academy I'm interested to know how many of your pilots have gone on to work for major airlines and there career history I was looking at Facebook pages fte Jerez put up pictures of there pilots when they get job something you don't seem to do or are your pilots not getting jobs after training
I'm looking at your zero to atpl which you are giving joc with my start date will be about October/November
Like everyone here this is the biggest decision of my life so any information you can give us all on this thread will be fantastic
Thanks

[Muhammed91]

Hi
Sorry I said 0 to atpl I'm actually looking at your integrated atpl course

[RedKing]

Hi, I see that FA's representative looks through this thread, so I will ask my question here directly. I have the Ukrainian (non-EASA) PPL and 48 flt hrs today. Now I'm thinking about continuing of my study. But due to many reasons I cannot do my timebuilding in Czech Republic. So I have the following mega-combination planned:
- ICAO PPL (already in hand).
- ATPL theory from Bristol GS.
- FULL TIMEBUILDING in my home town (on Tecnam 2002JF and Aquila A210).
- CPL/IR/ME from Flying Academy only.
- Medical with FA's assistance.

Will it work? Will I get the EASA ATPL (frozen) after all this?
Thanks in advance!

[victorway]

i have a Canadian cpl/ir, no atpl.
i joined a long distance easa atpl theory program, which at a Greek school that has a branch in turkey Istanbul, i have finished all ground school requirements wrote all 14 SCHOOL exams for the recommendation letter.
now im set got my ground theory certificate and all required papers, unfortunately i cant write the official civil aviation exams in turkey because its a non-easa state, so i should write them in Greece. my question is
can i write the exams in any EASA member state, provided that the school agreed already?
is it possible, if yes, do i need a student visa to write the exams at the civil aviation center? provided that im not attending any learning center at the writing state? the reason im asking this, is because i have a valid schengen bussiness visa, and im thinking of going to CZ, flying academy.
thank you very much for your time, your help will be highly appreciated.

[Pilot Otto]

Hi FlyingAcademy,
There are certanly some issues with customer support/consulting in your school. I have a great interest in your modular CPL(fATPL) program: both theory and flight training, but each time I contact you through various email/website forms I have initial response very quickly, but then consultant just disappears... :ugh:
What should I do? I really have a great interest, but what should I do? How can I reach you?

[FlyingAcademy]

Dear Pilot Otto,

I apologise if our team of Flight Training Consultants did not follow up with you after your initial contact. Let me please assure you that we're treating each request with a high priority so I'm surprised that for some reason they fall short of your expectations.

Please write to me a PM so that I can answer your questions regarding the modular ATPL(A).

Thank you,
Radim Olbrecht
Head of Training
Flying Academy

[Transsonic2000]

I can confirm the post by "Pilot Otto".

There are certanly some issues with customer support/consulting in your school.Yes, that's right! Been considering Flying Academy (CZ) as well and been in touch with customer support or "your personal flight training consultant" as they call it. It seems like the person doing this job has no idea about aviation, it appears like she's some sort of secretary with no aviation background, just providing standard information following some kind of routine checklist. I'm somewhat disappointed because communication is ineffective and time consuming. As already mentioned in the previous post, initial respond is fast but then communication slows down and it stops. This is not the way how to do any business folks! If you don't change this you'll miss out doing business with some prospective customers who will go somewhere else.

[FlyingAcademy]

All, due to the very high amount of flight training requests we receive per day, indeed we have different levels of Consultancy. Please rest assured that the more you evolve the discussion regarding your training with us, the more experienced the person you are talking to is, the last level being CPL pilots.

As we are a flight school that is constantly listening to feedback from current and also prospect students, we'll be looking into our process to make sure we'll be able to serve you even better in the future.

Thank you,
Radim Olbrecht
Head of Training
Flying Academy

[Pilot Otto]

Thanks Radim. I've sent you a PM

[PilotinCommander]

I do not recommend any of you to go to this school! Cost will be higher than expected,quality of the training is not good, lots of scheduling problems, unprofessionalism etc!

If the cost is important for you, I can assure that at the end, the cost will be the same like other schools. - So dont get into the marketing trap!
If the training is important for you, dont expect too much here! The program is self study as mentioned by Radim. Dont expect anything from ATPL courses.
If scheduling and/or time building is important for you, absolutely no go there! - According to scheduling, if you are the 4th or the 5th one to fly at a certain day, you will go home for sure without flying.
And finally always be suspicious and check your balance at the end of each flight!

You should expect additional fees here:
- Arrival and Departure fees in each flight ( It is not written in their website as well )
- CTR fees ( If you stay in CTR, you have to pay a lot - and during your PPL, you will stay in CTR a lot for training purposes )
- Landing fees
- Communication fees in each flight
- Extra briefing/debriefing fees ( you should expect this a lot even if it is not needed, and normally briefing of 15 min before the flight and debriefing of 15 min after the flight should not be charged )

[flybywiree]

Hi guys,


Flying Academy has a good website and a good advertisement team in Prague, so it attracts some students. But they don’t reflect all the reality.


The school has a better facility comparing to some other schools in Czech Republic.


You can start the PPL any day you arrive. This is true. Because there are many instructors but with very less Flight Instructor (FI) hours. Except 1-2 instructors, the rest has completed their FI training over the last 1 year. So they have a little experience of teaching. Some of them have even just becomean FI. You may be their first student.


The aircrafts are really old and having problems. You can fly with no Turn Indicator, no Attitude Indicator, no Heading Indicator, broken radio, no GPS…The students are sent to flights in these conditions many times and this is normal for Flying Academy Management. I have many photos indicating this.


The school is located at an international airport. Before you start your training, it sounds like an advantage. You can experience the aviation phraseology in a better way. You may take off after RyanAir or WizAir with your small aircraft. Brno is a D Class Controlled Airspace (CTR), so your every movement in the CTR is controlled by the Tower like you will experience in an Airliner. However this comes with a major cost. The full stop landing and Touch&Go cost for Cessna 152 is 120 CZK (for C-172 it’s 160 CZK) and communication fee is 160 CZK in Brno. If you start your training in an ATZ (uncontrolled airspace), there will be NO communication fee and the landing fee will be 10 CZK, maybe 30 CZK at the most. You will be able to enter any CTR whenever you want during your flights and you will have the same experience with much lesser cost. In Flying Academy you will pay 1,500 USD extra after 150 flights due to landing and communicationc osts! They are hiding these costs in their web-site and offers.


By the way, in Brno Airport, there are discounts for minimum hours spent within 1 month. If you exceed these minimum flight hours within 1 month, your costs are reduced up to 65%. However Flying Academy does not reflect this discount to the students. I leave it at your judgment.


There are delays frequently for the flights due to lack of management and disorganization. If you are scheduled as the last flight of the day or the one before, all students know that they will not fly due to delays. Your day will be wasted with waiting. With the disorganization, they can put you on a flight after sunset even if you don’t have the night rating J


This disorganization applies for serious issues as well and get worse. In the last summer, some university students came to school to complete their PPL in summer. But the school forgot to sign them up for the theoretical exams. Imagine the next exam is in 1 month, and the time that these students lost. These students had to go back to university with 1 month delay in order to complete their PPL.


Also the school forgot to sign up Instrument Rating students for English Exam of CAA.They had to wait for a whole month with doing nothing and spending money for accommodation and food.


Another thing.. After you complete your PPL, or Night Rating or CPL; they need to issue the license for you and this process requires just a couple of documents. They always miss some documents and may call you to come to school for each document. Your medical, next time for your Power of Attorney, next time for your License.. If you go back to your country and you think meanwhile your license is being issued, you may receive a call/e-mail which tells you that they forgot to take a document from you and you can’t give this document because you are hundreds of kms away. So enjoy your time off J


The school lost Medical License, PPL/CPL License, Logbook of students during license issue as well J


For all the important things, you need to communicate with a guy named Peter and you can be sure that not even 1 student in the school likes him; not even the instructors. He basically doesn’t care about any of your problems and he even gives you even more. His life achievement is unknown J


The school doesn’t have a good relation with the CAA and consequently they are having problems to arrange checkrides. IR students waited 1 month for checkride in the summer of 2015.


CPL students waited approximately 2 months for the fix of Piper (for MEP).


The school has only 2 aircraft and 1 full-time instructor for the IR Training J It is the biggest obstacle here, amongthe others. All the students are stucked on this stage.


Even though it wasn’t in the contract, the school charged the IR students, as a surprise J, with briefing and de-briefing costs (10.000 CZK) after they completed their training. The students already paid for the Instructor Fee. When you are paying to an instructor, you expect from him to teach you. And in order to teach, the instructor needs to open his mouth J But basically the school charged the students for having the instructors to speak! There were many arguments after this and the management’s final word was “We don’t care, even it’s not inthe agreement”. Now I see that they started to put this cost in the contracts of new students which is ridiculous.


The school is also charging the students with IR English Training (50 hours). You don’t need this training and they don’t give you even 1 hour of this training but they charge you with 10.000 CZK. Maybe the new cost is more now..


They also charged the students for the Pilot Insurance with 5.000 CZK. It wasn't in the contract. They didn’t give anybody certificates. We assume that they made a profit from here.


At the end of the training, the whole training cost will be more than the other schools.


Finally ,the accommodation facilities of the school are exactly 1 hour away from the school. It is stated as half an hour in advertisement which is not true. Everyday round-trip will be 2 hours which is very long for a city like Brno.


It is really hard to embrace Flying Academy as your training center. Unfortunately it is more like a commercial center.


Make your research carefully and decide wisely.


Wish you best of luck…

[jamesgrainge]

Thankyou for your review. It is very helpful to separate the good from the bad using the likes of this site to inform people. Great job. Good luck with the rest of your training.

[Sameer Aryan]

Dear Flybywiree,

Thank very much for sharing your experience about Flying Academy with us. You don't know how much money you have saved me by doing this. I was like 95% sure to go and join FA for my hour building and IR/MEP. But now no chance that i will even think of it.

By the way I m in UK. So will try to find something better here now. But thank you once again and wish you best of luck for your future training.

[RedBullGaveMeWings]

Sameer, give a look at Bartolini Air in Poland. That's the place to go in Eastern Europe if you ask me. That's not quite Eastern Europe, but they're worth every penny.

[Sameer Aryan]

Hi RedBullGaveMeWings,

Bartolini Air in Poland has two websites when you enter in google. which one is legitimate? BTW thankx for advice.

[maximus610]

Hi RedBull,

have you done your training at Bartolini or it's just another "I know a friend who did it there.."?

If so, could you please share more info about your experience with them? It seems that a lot of Bartolini's info here is outdated.

Thansk

[portos8]

I would check their Facebook and contact students there, best way to get a update on the current state of the school.

https://www.facebook.com/Fly-in-Poland-174314219379888/

I did parts of my training there, though years ago so things might have changed.

[PilotVecihi]

Do not come this so called flying school and do not waste your money. You will not learn anything and you will spend more than you planned. Think wisely and please don't! In 2014 it was better but nowadays it is a total disaster. You wait for check rides you wait so much extra money and you do not wish this certainly!! :=

[FlyingAcademy]

Dear @flybywiree,

Thank you for your feedback, with the positives and the negatives. Before I continue I’d like to mention that 95% of graduates from Flying Academy who went to airline interviews in 2015 and 2016, got in.

I’ll take into consideration especially your feedback where we need to improve. However, I’d like to mention a few things, to make sure you have a complete understanding about the situation:

- Regarding the inexperienced instructors – We always have a higher number of FIs with a great number of hours and a limited number of pilots who just recently became FIs. We honestly consider that everybody deserves a chance and it's the least we can do to overcome the predictable situation at the end of the training when nobody wants to even give new pilots a chance of starting their pilot career in an airline, a charter company or a flight school because you’re “unexperienced” and so they become stuck. We believe in keeping the dream alive and helping as much as we can the new pilots who are promising and have outstanding performance during their studies. Please have in mind that we do standardize our pilots to be able to follow the same set of procedures when training pilots. If we think that only the hours of experience are important, applying the same logic it means that nobody can fly an airliner with a fresh CPL, nobody can fly in IMC with a fresh IR and no instructor can teach with a fresh FI. Why do we bother in creating new pilots then?

- Regarding the airplane problems – As you’ve probably seen, our planes fly a lot. Because they are mainly used for training, the lifespan of the instruments is really much lower than normally. We do have a set of MEL without which we can’t fly a plane (i.e. no night flying/IFR flying without Attitude Indicator while time building can be performed in day VMC without it). These are only temporary situations until the parts are being received and installed on the aircraft. Regarding the HI, broken radios etc, I do have to intervene and say that this is not happening. Security during flying classes is extremely important for us, we value our students and you probably know the procedure of announcing a squawk. Also, please mention one single plane that doesn't have GPS from our fleet, since I am absolutely sure that this is an overstatement of yours.

- Regarding our base in a CTR – 90% of our trainees go for Airlines. We have the experience and can say that this is a major advantage of learning to fly like a pro. Indeed, when flying from a controlled airport you encounter costs. However, we are talking about as little as around 4 Euros for a landing, 6 Euros to leave and reenter the CTR. Comparing to the rest of Europe, these costs are minimal. Indeed, if you want to be a PPL holder and fly in the weekend only, I agree that flying from an ATZ with a grass runway, no taxiway, no briefing office and the closest you will be to an airliner is when you look up in the sky, it’s a much better option.

I need to disagree that the landing and communication fees are hidden as we mention to all trainees approximately how much they should expect. Bare in mind that we cannot control landing and communication fees especially when a trainee is doing the time-building module of the program and maybe deciding (on his/her own) to fly to a major European airport; the costs for that would be even hundreds of Euros. Because of this, when future pilots want to join us we just set their expectations that they will encounter landing and communication fees during their training of approximately 2.250 EUR for the 0-ATPL program. We tell this to each and every trainee before they start. Why would we hide a cost which is not ours?

- Regarding delays – I agree with you that in the peak months some delays do appear due to the late arrival of the aircraft (just like in the airlines). We’re constantly trying to find new ways to optimize the schedule, to motivate pilots to respect the schedule and return when planned in order to minimize delays time. Regarding any scheduling of flight after sunset when NR is not available, I am confident that this was an isolated and simple human error. As all our trainees have the night training, the person doing the schedule thought by default that you have it as well. We apologize for the inconvenience.

- “Forgetting” to signup trainees for exams – We don’t forget to sign people up, but there are moments when we use all available slots in that respective month in the CAA. The more in advance a trainee plans his/her exams (PPL, ATPL, IR EN etc), the faster we can confirm the slot with the authority. It is a procedure that we cannot 100% control, since it is not fully depending on us.

- Did we lose your Medical certificate, PPL/CPL license, logbook or that’s what you’ve heard? If such a situation exists, i would like to know about it.

- Regarding the bottle-neck you’re talking about on the IR Training part, that was solved as of the second half of last year. We identified the problem and we fixed it with maximum urgency.

- Regarding the relation with the CAA – if there was any backlog in scheduling the check rides, it was due to capacity. We have allocated 2 to 6 slots/week so yes, due to the high amount of trainees, sometimes these slots are not enough. We know about it and we’re working with the authorities to increase the capacity of the CAA. However, once again, this is not a situation that is 100% in our control.

- Regarding the briefing-debriefing costs for IR (10.000 CZK ~370 EUR). This is a minimal cost in the IR training as a result of the feedback we received from the Instrument Rating Instructors (Airline/BizJet Pilots), since trainees need extensive briefing before each of the IR flights. In order to not charge per hour (27 EUR), we’ve made a package for the entire training of 50 hours (the cost is now about 4 times less than paying per hour for the service). We have made this decision especially to help our students to plan their budget. like this, they do not need to count hours and to estimate fees. They are transparently shown to them.

- Regarding accommodation in Brno – we have several places where we accommodate trainees. We use them on a first come first serve basis and we communicate this fact upfront. If you were so "far" from the airport it means you opted to stay in the city center. Please remember that the airport is connected with the city with a bus that goes every 30 minutes and it's just a 25 minutes ride. In Prague, we have the airport connected with the tube, an advantage that not many flight schools have even in Western Europe. If this accommodation was no longer suitable for you, a simple email to Customer Service might have solved the situation.

Again, many thanks for your feedback. As mentioned, we’re always open to hear what trainees have to say, in face to face meetings, emails, phone calls or even a public forum.

If you want to add anything else, please do send it to me. i can reassure you that we will treat feedback seriously each and every time.

Best Regards,
Radim Olbrecht

Head of Training
Flying Academy

[kilomike_19]

Sorry to tell you sir that your school has been humiliated in this post. It is good write a four-paragraph response, but hundreds of people have been advised through this post and there aren't going to your school.

Good luck :)

[coinbase]

Flying academy is just a wasting of time and money and its true

they have the best customer service just before you signed the contract
once its done you will see the worst customer service in your life
they find any way to make you pay extra money
they have few experienced instructures and the rest of them are just student who upgraded to instructor ,so you might be theire first student ,they will give you less knowledge and skills
you will have to study everything by your self and seek explanation from other student or friends
INOP is very common in most of aircraft ( altimeter oil pressure fuel gauge etc )
you will be the only one responsible for all mistakes that customer service are making
and there is no department to complain to
i advice any one who is planing to come to flying academy to come and make a visit and see
what is really happening here befor taking any decision

all the best to every one

[Apitu]

Would be nice to share your experience with us, not only writing a post and that's all. I, for example, talked with 2 guys an their experience was ok.

[PilotVecihi]

The things you dont know about Flying Academy and you Wont realize until you sign the contract and hidden costs and disgusting facts

1) Money
Although it seems quiet cheap when you make a first glance at it, the fact is not like that. In my case I paid 10.000 US $ more than my contract. So how did this happen? Let me explain to you. In contract they don't tell you about extra spring training, landing fees, departure fees, arrival fees, communication fees, low pass fees, CTR fees, IR approach fees. Yes you heard it exactly right. They charge you even for a ordinary low pass and IR APPROACH FEE. So think about it, IR is nearly all about approaches like ILS, VOR, RNAV, NDB. And they charge you even for that. Besides you make a simple low pass and they get your money just like that. In simple contract you pay for 85 PIC HOURS. But when you advance in your progress you realize that you are supposed to fly 100 PIC HOURS To become commercial pilot. So you fly more to complete it. But nobody tells you about this because they also know that you will already fly these hours to complete the training. Sometimes they just tell you that you must take ground briefing or extra ground lesson or they won't let you fly. So you take these lessons and you pay more. In the web site school says that they will help you with visa process and guess what ? They charge you for visa assistance too. In conclusion you will spend so much or will be unable to finish your whole training due to this bilateral contract and monetary policy of the school management. So if you think it is cheap I assure you it is not and you will pay much more than you assume.

2) Safety
This is extremely vital and Flying Academy s.r.o BRNO/PRAGUE does not seem to worry about this as well. You will fly with planes which don't have or inoperative artificial horizon, heading indicator, turn coordinator, fuel indicator. Your doors will get open during your flight.Yes you heard it right my fellows. They are either all or partially not working. And when you complain them about these particular and highly vital elements they will tell you it is ok. According to regulation yes you can fly VFR for example with inoperative heading indicator but don't forget you are paying for these and it is safety first in aviation. Even though it is written in manuals of planes , even Czech check riders can cut off the gas during exam which is really caotic. Welcome to caos flight in Czech Republic. Generally it is not fit to fly due to weather in this country but the system pushes you to fly. The decision must be on your call but the school does not care about this and if you cancel your flight due to weather conditions they charge you for extra. Think that you will feel yourself pushed to fly even the weather is bad.

3) Time
You will spend much more time than you normally planned to finish whole training. Why? Due to lack of planes you will wait for flying. You will wait for your plane to arrive. You will wait for your instructor to show up. You will wait hours but you won't be able to fly because the day is over or the plane should go to hourly maintenance etc. You will finish your training and start to wait for your check ride. It may take weeks. Yes my friends this sounds unbelievable but unfortunately it is a boring fact. For my situation it took exactly 83 days waste of time doing nothing but waiting just for my check rides(PPL, IR, MEP, CPL). Because Czech Civil Aviation Authority has only 3 guys to make check rides for all country and Flying Academy is not the only school in there. Besides time wasting is not limited with General System. Assume that you want to take written atpl exams. School will tell you there is no seat avaliable which is a total nonsense because my colleague just scheduled himself via his own communication. Then you can't take part in exam and you will lose at least one month. Make sure that you can't finish this school less than 20 months.

4) Training
In Flying Academy Brno/Prague the ground training is a total disaster. You should study more and more to understand what is going on because you will not learn much during their lessons. The instructors are so new that when I first started here they started more or less at the same time with me to their aviation lifes. It can sound normal but they are not experienced and some of them are really empty and you will realize during either flying or on the ground when you ask something to them. I am not even talking about ATPL ground lessons because it is just signing the paper that you show you are not absent. It is like a conference. Besides they don't have instructors for IR, MEP training. There is only one guy trying to do as much as he can but finally of course it is not enough. So people are cumulating and you not only don't get a proper training but also lose time eventually.

5) Organization
The system is a cumulative of arrogant ignorant people. I don't say all of them are like that. There are really afew people who are really nice but they can't solve a problem because there are hand tighted. The people who are supposed to give your dispatch, plane bag etc. stuff like this are just put there to exam you about your patience. If you keep calm and say nothing make sure that you have ice in your veins my friends. Sometimes they act like you are a slave working there and they are the bosses.

6) Weather
Weather sucks. It is so simple. The only weather fit to fly is from May to September. Besides there will be bad weather days or weeks during this summer time too. So think about a pool which do not have water. I guess you see what I mean.

Conclusion
Flying Academy maybe has the best web site ever. It is so seducing and charming. But the truth is Flying Academy Brno/Prague is waste of time and money seriously. The only thing that matters for them is money. The only respect and nice communication you will receive is the process from beginning to signing the contract. Please think twice my friends. If you really think about taking your aviation education in Czech Republic you may think about Fair, DSA and other ones. Also there is Bartolini in Poland and CAVOK in Hungary and you may count as much as you want. Maybe they have bad sides too, maybe they are worse. The point is you have to be careful about choosing your aviation training. Please just don't make it Flying Academy Brno/Prague or you will make your own report like this :)))

Have a nice day fellows. Safe skies...

[IFly0toATPL]

Pilot Vecihi, I don't know why you would say all these things. I am doing my 0-ATPL with US experience with Flying Academy and I have only great words to say about them.

[PilotinCommander]

I agree what Pilot Vecihi says! You can be a student of this school, and it doesnt mean that you will not face those issues mentioned above! Or maybe you will be the former employee there to write a positive comment about it! We used to get those comments from students(actually employees in FA) from Romania! Anyway, if you are a normal student there, ask yourself that why you are going to pay more than as you signed in your contract? Why they dont tell you the insurance? And why they dont give you the insurance contract after even you pay for it? Ask yourself that why you have to pay lowpass cost even you are already paying for CTR fee in Brno and which is already %60 discount on normal price.Oh sorry I forgot to tell that FA doesnt reflect you that discount, so you can pay actual costs for A320, B737... No worries, if you dont keep your rights, Radim has a right to use it nicely

[IFly0toATPL]

I am sorry to see people that are so unfair and bitter... I don't understand, guys, why you think someone has to be an employee of the company to actually like this school? I just happened to have positive experience. I think that the girls that work in the company are nice if you treat them nicely. If you treat them with lack of respect, they will probably treat you the same way. I consider that fair.
Also I have no complains about my instruction, my ground classes, my flights. I am not saying they are perfect, but I don't think any school is. And compared to the UK prices of schools, for instance, Flying Academy is way cheaper. I always pay for what I know that I have to pay.
I have other friends who also had positive experiences with this school. It is just sad to see that people with positive experiences do not express themselves as easy as the ones with negative feedback.

[PilotinCommander]

Unfair and bitter? It seems you know everything what happened those guys who had a bad experience! Did anyone has a complain you anything about girls in the office??? We are talking here the way of business as FA doing and Radim's, Petr's, Leos's etc attitude.

And you said that you had an US experince but you have no idea about the former employee who were the student in FA :) For money wise compare apples with apples. Prices in UK could be high, and we are trying to say that FA in CZ is not cheap as they mentioned. At the end you will pay minimum 48-50K (MINIMUM) without living costs. Its your money and its not my business.

Ohh Radim also tried to find the guys who wrote a negative comments in the school, right? He also held a meeting for it :) Anyway, we are trying to help people who has limited amount of money and the people who wants a little pain in the a.s, and the people who know how to earn money for their family and themselves! So dont tell me that we are wrong! I was with him 18 months and i am pretty much sure about his way of doing business. If you have 1 cent in your pocket, Radim knows it and he will take it! Even he will charge you anything he wants which is not in the contract, and he will ask you to pay. If you dont pay, he will cancel all your flights and you are stucked. I am not sure if you can stand for your rights, but if you can do it, prepare yourself for hearing bad words from him. Finally, i hope you will not face those issues in your training and you will finish your training as planned and within budget as signed in the contract at the beginning.

PS: what Radim wrote in this topic are 70-80% playing with words and lots of conflicts, it was again marketing. Just see his attitude when you have any problem with his school! I am pretty much sure, soon he will learn why we signed a contract and why not only me, also he has to obey and follow the rules in the contract.
I am not judging you, i am trying to say that take into your account what people had/has bad experiences from them.

Money wise or experince wise doesnt matter, i prefer not to fly with an aircraft which has high oil temp indication. I prefer not to fly broken suction gauge, i prefer not to fly with wrong heading indicator... I dont want to risk my life because of stupid faults. And i dont want to pay more which is different than in my contract. I started this school like you, good webpage, cheaper than most of the schools, seems experienced and friendly approaches etc... But at the end it was totally different. Again i hope you and anyone will not face those issues that a lot of people had before. Good luck!

[FlyingAcademy]

It is easy when you write online hidden behind a nickname, but in this case we know who you are.

Therefore, let's take a look at facts:

@Pilot in Commander

Enrolled to 0-ATPL with US experience - the most efficient and comprehensive training program you can find for EASA license.

Start date: September 17, 2014
End date: May 5, 2016

No flights in the period: December 13, 2014 - September 19, 2015 (9 months of break). This means that you actually finished your 0 experience to ATPL frozen, CPL, IR and MEP training in 19 months, but in 9 of them you chose not to have any flights, against our recommendation.

There were 11.1 hours extra agreed for your training, which led to the first attempt pass on all your check-rides accompanied by the first time pass on your ATPL exams on the 14 subjects. Congratulations on that!

The minimum of hours in the contract was 218, including the check-rides. The actual number of hours flown in aircraft was 229.1.
Also, you did decide to fly a large part of your time building in a more expensive aircraft than the one quoted in the contract.

Amount paid: 985.296 CZK (36.458 EUR)

@Pilot Vecihi

Enrolled in the 0-ATPL program - entire training conducted in Europe.

Start date: June 8, 2015
End date: July 21, 2016

This means 13 months, from 0 experience to ATPL frozen, CPL, IR and MEP. This is a way shorter time than the average for this type of training and this is what we offer to our students, if our recommendations are followed.

We had recommended some extra training hours, but you refused to fly them. However, due to failing the check ride twice, there were 9.6 hours extra needed for training, out of which 3 hours were on the PA44, multi-engine airplane.

The minimum of hours in the contract was 218, including the check-rides. The actual number of hours flown in aircraft was 227.6. Moreover, after completing the training with us, your English has substantially improved, reaching the professional level needed in the airline industry. You succeeded in passing the ATPL theory on the first attempt, which is not very common in general, but very common in our school.

Amount paid: 1.164.484 czk (42.811 EUR, including VAT when applicable)

You are both claiming that the facts are not aligned to what we promise. I would like to invite the readers of this thread to take a look on our website and to compare the prices:
Flight School Flying Academy (http://www.FlyingAcademy.com)

Even though you threatened me with writing bad reviews on this forum, I still decided to give you both recommendation letters. I believe your actions are just to blow off some steam at the end of a very demanding training and I feel sorry that this is the way you decided to thank the school which invested time, effort and resources so that you will fulfill your dream.

I'm happy and proud that from the thousands of pilots trained in the past decade, the majority of our alumni are happy with their achievements. Let's please note that we have over 400 enrolled students as we speak in our bases from Miami, Prague and Brno.

As I was writing in the recommendation letters that I gave to both of you, I believe that you did a great job in your training. We got used to getting great news about our students being hired in the airlines. Another one of our trainees was hired today!

We trained you to become very good at what you will be doing as professional pilots. With the training received completing your skills, I am sure that you will soon give us the good news that you received a job offer.

I wish you all the best in your future career!

Regards,
Radim Olbrecht

Head of Training
Flying Academy

[PilotinCommander]

Sorry Radim, wrong assumption but its ok �� And for all people who read this comment: I didint get any recommedation from anyone from this school, i dont need it either...
As it seems here, not in school, you like to give detailed information, so please provide us requested information below...( Same questions asked at school, but you dont show this attitude, so you are also improving, good news :)

-Do you think that signing a contract is a legal documentation between you and student?
-Do you think that you can change rules in the contract yourself whenever you want?
-Do you think that, can you ask money from student which is not mentioned in the contract?
-Do you think that, some students are not going to read AIP CZ to check actual costs of airport? ( could you please give information about 60% discount on CTR? And why dont you reflect this discount to your students?)
-Could you please give information why you are charging approach,departure,arrival,low pass costs? I couldnt find information in AIP.
-According to the rule and according to mails from your side mentiones that 15 minutes briefing and 15 minutes debriefing should cost free. So why you are charging to these?
-And please give us information 0-atpl in CZ cost with all hidden, sorry, extra costs? Think that i will just take off brno and land in brno. Please include ctr, lowpass, approach,brief,debrief etc... And please try not to forget anything. Just imagine a student will finish everything in normal hours, not failing on anything.

At the end, its nice to refer your website, but only 1 remark. Pricing in website is updated a lot after we signed a contract. So for example, let me give you explanation for you to understand. If i signed a contract in 2005, will you again give reference to your updated website in 2016? You finished your training in 2005 but you see we updated our webpage un 2016?!? :))
-Could you please give information about how many times you changed actual webpage on pricing? And when you changed anything your website, signed contract between you and students will destruct itself in 5 seconds? What a mission impossible!

I am happy that finally you seem to have better attitude without telling bad words because of critism. I wish you to have this attitude in the school if someone wants to critise you.

Have a nice sunny day in Brno today :)

[kilomike_19]

Oh please... stop! This thread killed your dirty business. I was already to apply for your ab initio training but I received some pictures of one of your C152's with INOP labels, one in the ADI for example....

[skyboy83]

Mr Radim

Finishing a 0-atpl programme in only 13 months is a great achievment and congratulations about that. I thought that this could only happen in the sunny weather of greece.

Could you please explain us why @pilot vecihi paid almost 43.000 euros for your programme when at the same time in your webpage you tell that 0-atpl programme costs less than 36.000?

[maximus610]

Guys, are you kidding, you choose one of the cheapest option from zero to hero and still complaining about this?

And who on earth promised you to finish the training in minimum hours, are you geniuses?

About the flight schools, generally: all the schools are a simple business who try to sell you some rotten cheap tomatoes, average or very high quality

but expensive. You get what you paid for.

I once was in a similar situation, more or less, but eventually assumed all the consequences and gave the best I could give to achieve my dream and

made an excellent skill test even it took me slightly more hours.

So, get a grip, stop mourning and take on all your failures and try to behave with more professional attitude.

[maximus610]

The AI is not required for day VFR.

I might be wrong but I've never seen an ADI(attitude indicator with flight director) on a cessna 152.:confused:

[flybywiree]

Hello,

Once again, I see myself and other students stating the unfair treatment of Flying Academy.


We are talking about very simple facts but in return we can't get a solid reply.


Students can't get 65% discount from the CTR costs. It is a direct cost to the student. Why are the students paying 100% and Flying Academy is getting the 65% discount out of this?


Briefing and debriefing costs.. Students are paying the instructor fee and Flying Academy wants you to pay briefing costs even it's not in the contract.


90% of the instuctors have very few hours of FI experience. Okay, Radim is giving jobs to the new graduates but what about the students? How they will learn when they are flying with the new guys all the time? This is just the cheapest way for Radim.

Flight Schedules.. You are scheduled and can't fly at the end of the day. All day is wasted. Disorganisation..


There is a funny thing acoording to me. If you don't have minimum 6.000 CZK in your account, the computer system does not allow you to fly. You need to pay first.
Let's say there is a student with no Night Rating. He is scheduled for a flight after sunset.
Since the computer system can detect a low balance, how can't it detect this? :) Everything is based on money :)


Students are sent to flights with broken indicators. I have photos indicating this.

Radim wanted all the students to have Pilot Insurance. They deducted the costs from the accounts but in return not even one student got the Insurance Certificate. They made a profit here.


Students were charged for IR English but in return didn't get even 1 hour of training!


Unfair treatment among the students. Especially for checkrides!


If you need visa assistance, they are sending you papers and charge you with 250 Euros. After you arrive there and need a temporary residence, no one is supporting you in the Czech authorities. Again they just give you papers. This is called visa assistance.


Recently they made rule.. If you are required to have visa in the Czech Republic, they want you to spend 25 hours per week at school or fly at least 6 hours per week. If you are studying for ATPL, you will waste a lot of time. If you can finish your ATPL theory exams in 6 months, which is a very good duration, you need to fly 144 hours. Or you waste your days at school doing nothing. I had my Czhech lawyer friend to call the Czech Authority and she learnt that there is no such rule.

It is true that Radim held a meeting in the school to find those students who made comments here. Think about the reason :)


Guys, if there is a student happy with the training, I am kindly expecting a clarification about these simple facts.


Otherwise it doesn't mean if you are just happy for no reason, or FA is cheaper than UK.


All the best..

[IFly0toATPL]

Ok, this time I really cannot stay silent: did you ever go to a supermarket and ask why they do not sell you the product that you are buying for the same price that they buy it for? I mean, people, any school is a business, not an NGO! They have no obligation to sell you something for the price they are buying it for. Just like they have no obligation to inform you on the reasons why they sell something for the price they sell it for. You can buy it or not. It is that easy.

As for reasons why to like this school: for the best quality-price ratio. Very fast pace of the course, very good and motivated instructors (yes, even if they are not very experienced, I do appreciate their way of teaching). I love the international environment, the dedication of the employees and actually I like their planes and the fact that whenever I reported an issue it was fixed as fast as it could be fixed.

As I can see, it is the same group of 3-4 people who create issues and problems in the school too that are constantly complaining here as well. People, just grow up and stop trying to talk badly about the school that made you who you are professionally. Really, just because you complain about something twice it does not mean that people will believe you twice...

[flybywiree]

Based on your supermarket example, it is clear that you didn't understand the discussed issues here.


Nobody here has complained about the costs on the contract. If the hourly cost of flying is 100 Dolars, I am okay with it and of course the company will make a profit from here.


The issue is the unfair costs which are clearly mentioned above. Yet there is no clarification regarding to them, including you..

[PilotinCommander]

Yes, i mostly go to supermarket but i dont pay the product in the bill if i didint buy it during shopping. Or i dont pay just to like butcher smiled me. Here is a forum and everybody express their opinions and their experiences. You and other employees of school just want to have positive comments, and for negative comments faced immediately professional replies! Let you guys tell you something! This school was really huge bad experience for me and it seems same for couple of other people too! And i have a right to write it everywhere about my experiences. My comments are still same and your examples are still funny!
- contracts are legal documents, not like buying products from supermarket.
- changing something in the contract, needs both parties agreement
-Hidden(extra costs) are not fully written in the webpage, at the end you will pay more than 2.250€.
- before telling someone be a professional, tell this to your school and boss to be a professional. He has legal responsibilities and if he wants to play with them, kindly saying that it is not good for him and for his school.
-this is the first time i see a guy who really likes to fly with broken indicator.
-i was about to believe when you tell that they fix everything you reported before flying. Did they also tell you that if you write it in aircraft logbook, they will not let you fly for a long time. Because of you, they have to ground the aircraft, and money is important, be professional please.
-be professional please
-please be professional
-professional be please
-be please professional
-please professional be
-professional please be

Pay a lot more, put your life at risk... But please be professional, butcher still smiles you!

[IFly0toATPL]

PilotinCommander, you are correct: everyone is entitled to express their opinion, including me. I have no idea why you are diminishing my positive experience. I have the right to state the truth, which is that this school is a positive experience for me. My contract was not changed in any way and I have always received what I paid for. This is my experience and I have the right to express it. Since none of us is coming with anything new, I do not understand why we cannot stop this conversation and leave it to this: you expressed your opinion, I expressed mine. Beyond this point, I don't see a point to continue since we clearly have different views.

[Gi_Fr]

Hello guys,

I wanna share with you that I passed my PPL with the Flying Academy and that there is nothing wrong with this school. I don't know why it is that some people here are writing bad about the school, but I had a very good time there and I still will continue my ratings at this school, but that is my honest experience!
I cannot Judge for others or place comments for them, but as far as I know and other student pilots I've met at this school(and there are alot:)) I never heard any of them having problems with this school. So my advice is ignore all the negative things you hear about this school and go check it out yourself!
I had and still will have fun there and there are alot of nice people there, in the office and in the air. I cannot say they are they best, but I got my PPL with them so they are the best for me. The instructors may be young yes, but they are highly commited and I received good instructions!
So thank you guys from the Flying Academy and keep up the good work!

Have a nice day people and many happy landings.

[serhat_gun]

Dear Radim,
I have told you if I ever write a review about your school I will post my name under it, I have been very busy with the recent developments in my country, however it's very unfair that you have mentioned my financial details openly in public forum so I must write a short answer.. stay tuned.

[pilot320neo]

I agree with all negative comments of this school. It is so hard for me to understand how people write positive feedbacks here. It seems Radim asked couple of people to write positive comments here. I finished my training in this school with lots of arguing, and its pity that a lot people seems have the same issues. Radim's mentality is to earn more money and still he doesnt give a sht of legal documentation as some people mentioned it above as a contract. He never care about it. During my training, student FI's tried to teach me too and it was so funny and at the same time so pity for me too. But that was the reality... Unfortunately, aircrafts were not good enough too. I/We also had the same problems like inop instruments in the aircrafts.( no safety absolutely ) I would like to give an opinion to the students in this academy: Please check your myfbo every day and get printscreens into your computer or ipad. Because for example, they will charge you today(25.08.2016) something for 20.07.2016. They charged me these kind of transactions a lot and they told me that i did it last month. But actually i didint do it. Whatever you say, they are always right and if you dont pay it, they threaten you to not to fly anymore. Dont stay in CTR, if you have to stay, then please count your minutes, otherwise they will charge you more and more. And please everytime read AIP before paying anything. If you are not sure on anything, you can always ask CAA or you can ask CAA checkride examiners when they come to school. Dont believe to school, always check everything from AIP and CAA.

[Rami72]

I have no idea what is going on in Czech Republic branch but I write some feedback about their US branch. I did my CFI/CFII training there.

First of all I would like to say that Chief pilot Daniel did a really good job and it was a pleasure to work with him.

Second thing that I like that front desk ladies were very helpful. Specially Sandy helps us a lot and made our staying and studying in school enjoyable and easy. Also Sandy did a great job of getting a check ride schedule for us. Examiners were so busy but somehow she did it sooner than we expected. All students really appreciate her help.

Last is Oanas help was very quick and exact. She is a definitely great person to work with. We did not ask Oana many things because everything was done as it should on first time.


One thing that I was concern about is groundschool. Sometimes it was 4-5 of us in a classroom and we had same class but price was same as a private lesson. I don't think that price should be same in this case because we can take for this money private lessons and cover a lot more information for the same period of time. Maybe it can be a good idea to create some ground classes for people who get same ratings few times a week for a different price.

Aircraft rental prices are good many people come from Europe to their time building in Florida because of the weather, if you want to fly everyday this is a good place to go.

[IFly0toATPL]

Guys, don't you think you are taking this a bit too personal? I mean this school is not all about Radim. I personally did not interact much with him. Maybe it was because I am minding my own career and my own path and my own goals.

Do you at least realize that you sound nothing like professional pilots? That you have the wrong attitude and the wrong approach to things... Just saying from the perspective of somebody who has positive experience with this school.

If they make mistakes? - yes, we all do. We are all humans. But when I addressed something, it was acknowledged and corrected.

If you sometimes have to wait for the plane to come out of maintenance? - sure! They fly a lot and they fly with students and they will need care and maintenance. So of course they cannot focus too much on details, because then you would complain that you have to wait too long. What I mean is that you would find a reason to complain either way...

I was never approached by Radim or by anyone before joining this school. I was the one approaching them and other schools. I chose this school, they did not choose me or any other student. We, as students, are the ones choosing the school. I am proud of my choice and I believe that anybody who is unhappy with the choice should just make a better choice. However, I believe that neither of you is doing so because you do know that any other school has issues and that nobody is perfect...

Bottom line, nobody has asked me to write positive things, just like, I guess, nobody asked you to write negative ones. I am doing so because I feel like we are talking about different schools. Our experience is so different... Maybe it is me, but I cannot see the things from your perspective no matter how much I try. For me, Flying Academy is the best choice and I want to share my opinion with anyone interested in reading it.

This school has helped me become what I want to become when no other school was offering me the same training, the same flexibility, in the same time frame for the same amount of money. I am getting the best out of what I am paying for. The rest, is hard work and the right attitude. That is everyone's individual contribution.

[flybywiree]

I believe it is you (Radim and most probably Bogdan) took this discussion personal here. As seen, not only me but also other guys here stated the reasons why we were not satisfied with the training in Flying Academy. In return, you didn't reply to those reasons, didn't make an explanation. Moreover you made personal comments.. Because we are stating the bitter truth and the only escape for you is to take this discussion away from these solid facts..

[PilotinCommander]

Yes so personal, i paid my fee myself, not my dad! Of course it will be personal, its my money! Radim is the owner of the business and of course he is responsible! I am not going to give business lessons here to anyone, i am not going to give who is responsible of what about legal stuff. It seems some people think that, they can pay 100.000 euro if their lovely boss ask them to pay. Because its their own dream, own path and own goals. Radim is really doing good things for those people!!! Not for a people who always mention objective comments. As it seems some people think that being professional is related only writing positive comments! So, you are really professional, well done! And Radim is doing perfect business! Well done!!! I will continue to write all negative things as much as i can, not only here also already written all forums! I dont need to be objective because you are already doing it for everybody and you are so professional! Say hi to your boss!

Very very very best of best regards,
PS: Can some professional guys tell me about how come only Radim can change contract himself without asking an approval of other party? If he does so, what are the legal responsibilities? Additionally, if he charges you different fees as he told you before signing a contract, where are your rights if he charges you after signing a contracr?

Very very very best regards

[Dutuindu]

hello,

I actually created an account after seeing some of the comments In this topic. Everybody is here for the same purpose in the end. Then what is the added benefit of name and shame which might hurt you in the future?

Each and every school, no matter what you will pay, will have its flaws. It's nothing new in this world and will continue to be like this. The moment a school stops to develop and improve is the moment you have to get out. Sure enough there are some things to say about this school, but if you don't like it, you are free to make your future steps somewhere else.

It's not unusual to have contingency plans in place for different options or whether you are going to pay more than expected. There are so many variables that you can't avoid to revert back to some back up funds. As long as you just plan for it then all of the above becomes a bit more easier. I do agree that the school could communicate a bit better at given times but this is something you will see everywhere.

In the end, I am still with the school and so far all is going according to plan. I am sure I will be confronted with things in the future but as long as it is communicated and have back up plan in place I am not too worried about it.

One last advice, don't name and shame and call each other out. It shows a lack of professionalism and airmanship where you initially signed up for.

[OKSUP]

Hi guys,

Just got my PPL this summer and from my incredibly high experience of 58hrs with Flying Academy I can say I'm satisfied overall.
And I can post my first stuff on Pprune now that I'm officially a pilot :p

Instructors are young and are not airline pilots yes, so what? Yes it could be cool to have airline pilots instructors, but I believe the most important when you're learning something, is to have a good feel with your instructor.
If you don't like the guy and the way things are explained, you won't enjoy and you won't learn much, no matter if the guy is a 777 captain with 15,000hrs.
That said, I heard fellow students saying some instructors are not good. Well you can always ask to change I guess.

I had several instructors for my PPL, some better than others, but I mainly flew with one of them, Max for those who know him, and I wouldn't have passed everything easily if it wasn't for the good vibes during instruction.
PPL completed after 45.1hrs, passed at first attempt. Theory passed after repeating twice meteorology only, English and RT passed at first attempt too.

I spotted mistakes twice in my transaction records, but the 2 ladies at the front desk are really nice and help you when they can (Prague base, Letnany, I don't know much about Brno).
Same goes for scheduling, especially now for my TB, I check availability online, I call, they book, boom I fly, easy. Yes if you're the 5th person of the day, usually you will have delays. Well, book a week in advance and book for early mornings. Flight Radar 24 is your friend too, it may not be exactly accurate, but it gives you an idea as to when you can expect your airplane to be back to base.
Flying Academy has good coffee to wait otherwise...

Safety is good, never heard of major incidents. Airplanes are maybe oldish, but they fly well. It's maybe a personal choice, but I prefer older planes, I tried a Tecnam P2008, it's a nice little machine, but it feels too much like an UL for me. Whereas a good old C172 or even a C152 feel more like airplanes. But again, that's just my personal feeling, I like old school machines.
I passed the PPL in around a year and only had once the left magneto making some noise.
Recently during my TB I had the attitude indicator bouncing all around, but VFR day, who cares. Incidents are reported and planes go to maintenance when needed, as far as I'm aware of.
2 inops in 1 year, I guess it's acceptable?

As for the hidden costs, well guys, just make yourself an Excel budget simulation and factor-in all possible costs. And I mean everything, I even count the car fuel and depreciation to drive the 40km to the school!
We are all supposed to have a minimum of aviation costs knowledge, otherwise we are not really passionate...So you should know what are the costs of flying. You know you are going to pay landing / com fees, RT, English fees, licence issuance fee etc. I hope you knew before the school told you that these things are not for free??
So just ask the school don't wait for them to tell you. Ask how much is the landing fee here and there, are low-pass charged, how different is the night charge blablabla etc. if you don't ask yeah they might not tell you, they're sales people, it's their job to sell and not to answer questions you don't ask. I work in Procurement, the basic rule is to dig info from sales people, they won't give it to you if you don't ask!
So far I'm above my cost estimations by 600 EUR, I guess my simulation file works quite well.
Ask your instructors where they want to fly, check the AIP of all airports you will probably fly to during your training and just add this to the average flight hour fee.

Again, just sharing my experience, and mostly for their base in Letnany, I don't know about Brno. So far so good for me.
I'm probably not going to do my ATPL theory there because for English speakers it's in Brno only, and not in practical times for a guy like me who works and live in Prague.
But I guess I would continue with my IR/MEP/CPL flight training with them, mostly because of my good experience with their instructors.

[AlliAlmulla]

Hey guys am really confused after reading all these replies. Am planning to study in FA but I need a clear answer about the price of Modular ATPL and + the Departure and landing fees from any student or anyone who got their license from FA and I want to know is there arab students?

Thanks

[g1000pilot]

it will cost more than 50000 euro , and yes most of the students are Arabs .

i suggest you to check another school , you will suffer here

[flybywiree]

You will not get a clear answer from Flying Academy. Whatever the price they will give you, during the training you will face with more cost.
Everything is clearly stated in the previous commnents.
Good luck..

[MILLS92]

Hi everyone,

I have been looking around online trying to find reviews for this training centre, its kind of a shame that this thread seems to be the only thread that has some.
Obviously i have read enough to be concerned but I would like to know if these strong reviews are warranted or just maybe jaded students, i promise I mean no offense ,the reviews just seemed almost exaggeratedly alarming. I am considering taking an integrated atpl here. Has any one else had any experience here that they would be willing to share?
I would really really appreciate any input.
My budget is around £50-60k and finding somwhere that offers atpl and mcc and joc for that price in europe seems rare.

[africanflyer747]

I was also advised to give this school a miss,2 friends of mine asked for quotes for courses.They were given a price but when wanting to sign up for the courses,told they would have to pay a higher price.
Not very good way to do business.

[PilotinCommander]

How many times should it be written here!?! Stay away from this school!

[TomTomClub]

I dont trust ' em anymore.
You dont receive an answer by email.
And noone pics up the phone.

The website does not show any pictures of a building, studying rooms nor any instructors.

But thats my minimum a flight school Must meet.

Thanx

[Marcoslm600]

Flying Academy The worst place for Flight Training

Cheap but you will learn nothing and will have problems finding a job later on. because of low quality of training

I agree with all negative comments of this school.

It is so hard for me to understand how people write positive feedback's here. It seems Radim asked couple of people to write positive comments here.

I finished my training in this school with lots of arguing, and a lot off people have the same issues. very unprofessional personnel working in Flying Academy.

Radim's mentality is to earn more money and still he doesn't give a sht of legal documentation, quality or safety as some people mentioned it. He never cared about it.

During My training.

Student Flight instructors (means cheap for the school but low quality for you) tried to teach you, it was so funny and at the same time so pity. But that was the reality...quality of training was bad.
Aircraft's are old and in a bad condition. I also had the same problems like inop instruments/Radios, aircraft's paperwork not correct.( no safety at all ) safety is a serious problem at this school. During the years they had some serious incidents/accidents and problems with the CAA

They have a booking system called myfbo, for example you put 5000 euro on that Myfbo and they charge the flights and everything from this 5000 euro keep in mind on this account there has to be always a positive amount of money. so far so good you think. But now flying academy suddenly charge you thinks from 6 months ago ore thinks you dint use or cant remember so you lose track and may pay for things you never used or do. You think i will speak with the school and ask or not pay.

No chance. Whatever you say, they are always right and if you dont pay it, they threaten you to not fly and stop your training. On the end you will pay more otherwise you get stuck.
What i want to say here is that they try to fool you in the beginning with their emails and website about the prices to get you in.on the end you get stuck and paying more

Dont believe to school, always check everything ask the CAA If you are not sure on anything.

It was the worst mistake to come to Flying Academy. I left the school and went to another flight school in Czech republic to finish my training

Don't fool yourself with a nice looking website look at facts.

[taky]

No wonder why there are so many negative reviews about flying academy here.

It was one of my biggest mistake of my life considering flying academy.They will will be so nice and friendly till the date to get you enrolled. Once you make the payment they will be even not talk to you anymore.

I left my training half way and started in another place from zero so lost around 4000 euro for nothing.

I am writing this just let you guys know that its gonna be your biggest wrong choice to consider flying academy. I wouldn't recommend this place unless you don't care about your money then go ahead.

[Gnoe]

Can somebody recommend an alternative? Preferably one which offer Integrated as well.

Thanks in advance!

[taky]

Try Bartolini in poland.its one of the best ATO in the European countries. positive student satisfaction, better training facilities and so cheap and so on.
flying academy will steal your money with their hidden charges and then when you trying to talk to someone in management they will avoid you.

[Gnoe]

OK, thank you! I do consider Bartolini because I have heard only but positive. Shame they don't offer Integrated track.

[incantator]

Bartolini provides training for EU passport holders only.

[atalayokan]

The school is not so bad neither the aircrafts. The time you will do the training will be fast, in other places is slower . But the things which the school will **** you up are others behind the scenes - THE EXAMINERS. Do not go for Austrian license because the school is based in Czech republic they have huge argues with Czech CAA and you will get delayed with the Czech examiners will be their excuse - no it is not like this. Czech examiners will come on time and all will be fine. Why I talk about that they will ask you to change your license to Austrian - because they will bring private examiner who will rip you off with the price but this is again not the case. The case is that the examiner and the school they work together and if he wants he will FAIL YOU INTENTIONALLY .

NO MATTER HOW GOOD PILOT YOU ARE. I SAW THIS !!! at the beginning the examiner was nice and good after that he got jealous because he was not able to get all the money for himself due to the school brought other examiners from Austria and he started dealing with the school and filing the students.

Remember during your skill test there are no cameras, nothing - all depends on the examiner. I regret i Changed my license to Austrian and went through this ****. DO not listen to the others, also Austrian licence is super expensive. Will cost you more than 1000 EUR for one piece of paper which in Czech rep. is 4-5 EUR. If you are Russian speaking you will get the best examiners because the whole administration are russians and they will give you examiners to pass. When you are from other country you are not their people so they will screw you with examiners to fail you. Failing means - more hours, more skill tests, more money. This is how the school work !!! Working with examiners behind you. The training is OK - level went down after I finished but was OK. My recommendation is to stay with Czech license and do not spend money for nothing. Good luck

[staffpilot]

I know some guys at Austrian, former coworkers. But I never heard of this thing that examiners try to let you fail. Before you spend your money at Flying Academy go and try other schools first.
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[millexplorer]

Flying Academy robber is an infamous school. You go for a 7,000 Euro PPL license, but you pay 12,000 Euros. They make a lot of hidden payments. They make 3 flights, then they say there is no money in your account.

The education quality is very bad, the planes are very old.

In particular, I tell Turkish Citizen friends, don't believe the Turkish speaking rogue person there.

[CrushedEarwig]

Has anyone been through the school in the last year? I have seen a mixed bag of responses but then I have seen the same at every school I have looked at.

Cheers

[BlueSkies2021]

I personally would not recommend this school

[Amirmul]

Hello, Do you an review for Flying Academy in Van Nuys or Corona for a time-building with a PA-28 ?

[iuliame]

The absolute WORST flight school in entire Europe! Usually I dont like to write bad reviews about places but here I really have to. People, for your own sake, DO NOT choose this school for your pilot career, I didn’t listen to the bad reviews that were written here, and now I deeply regret it. I did my PPL in this school in the period January 2022-march 2023, process was delayed due to the fact that I was working in order to earn the money that was later on flushed down the toilet by this totally bull**** school and its greedy people. I will tell you STRAIGHT FACTS about what they did to me. This school operates from an airfield with a grass runway, in slope, that can obviously not be used after rain, snow, etc. I thought this was going to make it cheaper but it didn’t. In May 2022, the instructor who was my main one (an absolutely amazing and professional guy, I am totally grateful that I had the opportunity to fly with him), said I am 90% ready for solo, and I will need one more training flight, solo check and then solo. He went on holiday for a month (nothing against this, it is his full right), a time in which I was flying for nothing, as other instructors won’t release me for solo for some reason. My friends (also studying in scamming academy) advised me not to fly until this particular instructor returns from holiday. I took their advice, and when he returned from holidays I don’t know how it was possible to have, one flight, solo check, and then solo, after not flying for half a month almost. On the day of my solo, we landed in Brno airport and the nosewheel was trepidating. Turns out the damper was broken. We had to waste time (and money), to return to the airfield where it got fixed. After discussing it with the school, they gave me a 30 euros discount (which was not enough) for this thing. Again, wasted time and money when they forgot one pair of headsets and we had to go to the airfield in Brezi to pick it up. It is absolutely unbelievable how I got scammed with my own money, with the money I spent on PPL I could’ve bought a flat! Their fleet is a graveyard, always inop equipment, etc. I had fights with them regarding money, and their answer was always ”You don’t pay you don’t fly”. The myFBO where you can see all the money that you need to pay is total crap and they write there whatever they want (for instance they charged me for refueling in Letnany when I never flew from there). Some of their ground instructors are very rude and arrogant, and for the information, if I do not know certain things it is not because I scratch my b***s the whole day, it’s because I work until exhaustion to pay your salary through this school. Sadly I don’t think I could report them to a financial authority, as I am not from the Czech Republic, but what I can do is inform people about this disgusting school, for them to avoid the mistakes that i did.