FTC-SA students

[WX Man]

I'm looking to contact any past/present students of FTC in SA. Oh, and some prospective students of FTC SA, because I'm thinking of going there!

Please either contact me by email ([email protected]), or just PM me here and I will get back to you.

T.I.A.!

[USE THE RUDDERS]

WX Man,
Check out the African forum,plenty of info there

[Irishwingz]

Hey strawberry head

check out African now as theres a big thread running on FTC

[g-baby]

Ignore what Vortex Thing says - I had a good time at FTC (did my PPL but am looking to go out in Sept to do more towards my CPL) - the course, the planes and the instructors are all good...

[Flying Boat]

g-baby it is obvious to all that you are a close friend of the gang or even one of the gang.

FTC is not worth the trip.

They have a limited number of average quality aeroplanes and too many victims needing to use them.

As you said, you did the PPL, the only possible course that may produce the satisfied customer. How long did you take? How many times did you have to change your plan for a return trip home due to 'not completing the required fields' in time?

You were based solely at the airport, the groundschool is attrocious, 4-5km away. The ATPL groundschool is a heavy course (6 months!) with self study as a major part (especially as they never finish the groundschool lessons).
Accommodation is vital for private study, the accommodation from August 2002 is diabolical it is not condusive towards serious study, the old accommodation was.

I enjoyed my spare time in RSA, just not the time spent with the school.

The only redeeming feature they have is the enthusiasm of some of their flying instructors, you should have heard them in private, away from the aeroplanes. Don't forget we are the instructors ticket to an ATPL, of course they are enthusiastic in the air.

Do not give people the chance to be trapped.

For further evidence look at all the FTC threads, including the latest African thread regarding the SA ATPL ground school! Not good reading if you work for FTC

:suspect:

[g-baby]

Flying Boat. Are you one of those people who expect to buy a license??
If not how can you expect to pass in a certain time?? People take vastly different amounts of time to learn how to fly competently and, together with the weather, creates apossibly much bigger time frame.
Thing about FTC is that they won't pass you purely becuase you have paid. Which is why a qualification from them is worth something.

Anyhow, had more to say but this pprune website keeps losing the thread.

Does this website not have a proper adminstrator??

[Flying Boat]

No one will pass you purely because you have paid.

If I am good I expect to pass quickly, if I have a mental blockage I expect to take a bit longer, however I expect a professionally operated organisation to monitor my progress & adjust my programme accordingly, trying to fit me in wherever they can, flying up to 3 times a day if possible.

If it is impossible to complete a PPL in 4 weeks, as advertised, mainly verbally, inform students it will take 5 or 6.

Skilled instructors will assume almost the worst of a student & plan their course accordingly, then they can speed up the training when the student responds well. If all students are assumed to be air aces before they enter an aeroplane, not one will finish in the promised time.

The people that make the course structure at the CAA or JAR do not arbitrarily pull a figure out of the air for the minimum hours to train. These figures are generated due to years of knowledge about student's capabilities.

Regular flying will improve the students' skills much quicker than a break of one or two days, but there are too many people chasing too few planes with the possibility of bad weather to help on this score.

What about the sponsored non-european students that took over 100 hrs for their PPls, was the training not structured well or would you say either they were not good candidates (but the money was) or the instructors were no good?

FTC used to catch victims with the phrase 350 flying days a year, if lessons are called off due to bad weather in the afternoon, they cannot say that was a full flying day. I knew of over 1 month of cancellations due to weather when I was there, Grand Central is a purely VFR airport so the smallest vis problem and the IR rated instructors cannot fly, wheras if Grand Central had some form of radio aid, not GC, for a procedure (impossible due to Jo'burg's proximity) they could do lessons and bring the students back. If you, as their champion, are telling the world that weather is a major problem for FTC then they obviously are not such a good choice for JAR flying training, are they?

Perhaps FTC's answer is to move from Grand Central (back to Lanseria), reduce the size of the organisation (reduce the salary & maintenance costs) and rediscover what gave them a good reputation years ago.

Doubt it though!

............................................................ ...........................................


I can't be bothered to carry on with this old arguement being revisited over & over again, I am now going to read with interest but only reply if absolutely necessary. I've now got better things to do than play Cowboys & Indians with FTC.

[pugzi]

G-babe
I take it since the thread was "FTC- SA students" that you actually went to FTC as a student? Silly question, but you seem rather defensive of FTC. Maybe you were the lucky one of hundreds from the UK who was treated right, did feel comfortable with the management, didn't have money"missing" in your account, or charged imaginary fee's. Maybe you had the weather FTC prmoised, and the planes promised. Congratulations.
Face it, the stories of bad versus good about FTC are about 100 to 1, sorry, that is a fact!. Read the threads and count if your not satisfied.
And by the way, i was a student and an instructor for over 2 years at FTC, I certainly qualify for for a comment to be made.
Leave FTC with a wide berth.

[sk8erboi]

g-baby

Give it a rest and stop talking nonsense. Why are you asking moderators input. They are here to make sure this doesn't get out of hand. Nothing said so far is false. There are a lot of strong feelings. More to do with the owners arrogance and attitude than anything else. If you got on well then well done you. I take it you didn't stay at the pleasure dome with the rats and the un guarded compound next to a township. Or tried to use an airplane or book a slot within 3 weeks. You sure you were at FTC?
You say you are going back for CPL. Good luck. Three went to get it in feb/march, 3 came home without it. But then i'm sure you'll be fine.

PLease could we bring the african FTC string here Scroggs. It has a lot of bearing to wanabees in my opinion. Cheers

[FlyingForFun]

I'm not an FTC student or ex-student, hope you don't mind me commenting because I've been watching this thread with interest and intrigue since it started.

I looked (am still looking, in fact) at several schools for my CPL, one of which was FTC. Whichever school you look at, you will find some students who were absolutely delighted with it, and some who can't find a single good thing. That is universally true, and you have to bear it in mind whenever you're looking at a small sample.

But the one thing I noticed about FTC is that there is a disproportionally high number of people who have bad things to say about them, and these people are generally more vocal than I'd expect the average dissatisfied customer to be. I don't know what's going on at FTC, but it was enough to put me off.

Don't pay too much attention to what either g-baby or flying boat say individually. Like I said, you will always get one or two people who are extremely satisfied/extremely dissatisfied with a school. But do a search of these forums, make a list of the number of people who were not happy with FTC, and compare this with other schools. Then make up your mind whether to listen to g-baby or flying boat.

FFF
-------------

[Flying Boat]

FFF

Fair Comment!

:)

[African Drunk]

I think one of the problems FTC had was promising things they had no intention of doing and this created some bitterness amongst students. I am not the schools biggest fan but in fairness they have done a good job at providing cheaper training for some of their students.

I believe FTC should simplify the operation to make less money and take training goals one step at a time instead of trying to do everything below standard.

With the good instructors and new the a/c they have, potentially it could be a great set up.

[FougaMagister]

Been to FTC, and I agree with the majority of posts here and on the African forum...

WX-Man, for more info, check PM

Cheers

[centre]

Well, I agree with African Drunk. FTC is a relatively new school and judging by my last visit things are getting better quickly. I found that their main focus is (quite rightly) the flying. One thing that I am happy with is that the quality of learning. And from what I heard to money situations, a lot of the issues from students left over from the old FTC.

As to FlyingForFun's comment about the volume of negative comments, this does surprise me. People with grievances find somewhere like pprune to air them. Satisfied people don't actively look for ways to tell people how happy they are! Furthermore, many posts are from fictitious characters "representing" other schools. Furthermore, a single person can login under as many different names as they have time for. And judging by the number of posts from FlyingBoat, he must spend most of his time on pprune. Get a life, Flying Boat!! You began a long time ago to sound like a stuck version of the Crash Test Dummes! You also sound suspiciously like some of the other people on this forum.

So let's keep anything said on this site in perspective shall we?

[Flying Boat]

Centre, try not to get too worked up.

The money problems are from last year (2002), as are the rest of the problems aired, 'the new FTC'. I hope they improve & eventually get an award for excellence!

FFF is very close to the truth, even though a small percentage of you don't want it to be said.

There was a young boy in our group that would moan about the school, threaten to get his daddy to sue the school & then sit down with the owner & sing their praises, is that honest?

Yes at present, you may get your qualis from FTC but the way & time you take to get there is/was not giving aviation a good image and flying training in general.

I will sing the praises of anyone that is good, however your definition of good may only be an average in my dictionary of standards. For example AFT is very good in their support towards students (my experience), I have heard of some good reports from Bonus, Bournemouth & Bristol GS. PPRuNe is full of good things if you look. To be fair to FTC, JAY, John Knowles & Brad Geddes are very good flying instructors, my definition. (EDIT)

Got a life thank you & getting better, don't spend too much time on PP but am fairly quick in my computing skills.

Not going to get into a petty slanging match, as it is in perspective.

Good luck.

FB

PS i am a single name contributor, so there is a major worry that FFF & others could be right & you are wrong!!

[FlyingForFun]

Satisfied people don't actively look for ways to tell people how happy they areHave to disagree there, Center. Just take a look around these forums for comments on Bristol Groundschool for the proof. (Not that BGS are relevant to this thread, since they don't offer flying training.)

Other than that, you do make some good points. I still leave it to the individual to look at all the evidence before making up their own mind.

FFF
-------------

[sk8erboi]

I am a single name contibutor and don't work for any flying schools. The only false posts I have seen here are from the owner of FTC, aka oscar. You are talking rubbish centre and chucking in stupid ideas like that should be beneath even you.

Had I had a good FTC experience I would tell people. I have learned from peoples mistakes and would like others to do the same. When I eventually gain my CPL i will tell you what I think of the school. However having wasted money at FTC this may take a while...

[baby hormones]

hiya,

I went to FTC twice. PPL and hours building. Jay, Brad and John were my instructors, brad is very good The main thing i found with FTC is that most of their instructors are good, but the management team/ accounts is very poor. They do not have a clue what is going on. My advice is it is a good experience if you do go, but you MUST, I SAY MUST keep on top of them, otherwise they will screw the hell out of you. Get your account every day and keep an exact log of what hours you have done/ tests etc...

Hope this helps

baby hormones

[Token Bird]

You better be careful, Flying Boat. GJ may threaten to sue you. You know it happens.

TB (less vocal these days - wonder why)