Nat. flight centre, weston, dublin

[dihedral]

Thinking about doing my PPL in National Flight Centre, Weston, Dublin. Hoping to have it done by late sept this year. Is there anyone out there that has experienced any kind of flight training in weston and can comment on the experience out there i.e state of aircraft, availability of aircraft, quality of training/ground school etc. Any comments would be much appreciated. Cheers.:)

[dublinpilot]

Hi Dihedral,

I didn't train there, but I do hire from NFC, and my experience is mixed at best.

Unfortunately as I didn't train there, I can't really comment on their training, other than to say that I've heard both good and bad things.

You might be able to get a more informed response on Irish Aviation BB (http://www.irishaviation.net/forums)

If you want to train at Weston you might also consider Sky-Trace. I did a lot of my training with Fergal (when he was in the old Weston flight school), and couldn't say enough of good things about him!

Hope this helps!

dp

[VORTIME]

Avoid like the plague. They are the most unprofessional outfit run by the (in my opinion) the most ignorant person I have personally ever met. It is difficult at the best of times to find a good training organisation (I found NAC superb by compassion, albeit most are...).

Things have changed recently, but if I were you, pack your bags and buy some cheap dollars.
Your questions
state of aircraft - very surprised they are airworthy. There was always a problem, including one day with no vacuum, one radio out, transponder "that never worked" and flaps not working. With the knowledge I have now, I won't even feel safe in them - just take a look!

availability of aircraft - I had to book ahead weeks in advance always. Then the juggle you between instructors and aircraft and by the time you arrive, neither are available as "regulars" have tip-ex'd over your slot. I became a regular and they even did it for me - so trust me it does happen.

quality of training/ground school etc - most intructors don't like giving grounds school. The "part-time" weekenders are much better - they do it because they enjoy flying. The rest just want to clock hours - nothing more.

Any comments would be much appreciated.
Things may have changed and by all accounts, visit the field and see for yourself. I wish it was better, I really do - but have no positive comments at present - and more experience there than I wish to remember.

VT

[dihedral]

Thanks dublin pilot and vortime. Thats not the first time I've heard something like that. Its unfortunate that there isnt more schools around in the dublin area creating competition for Weston resulting in better standards and cheaper rates. Its a standard EUR 145 per hr to do the ppl in weston reagrdless if you offer to pay everything up front. rip off. However such is my situation I thnk I have no option but to do it there. Cheers for your responses>

[N Reg Aztec]

As an ex NFC guy myself I consider myself grateful that I realised how bad things were after about 5 hours. Could have been a lot more time / money down the drain.

Rather than comment on the negative at NFC I would just point you in the direction of SkyTrace (also at Weston).

I have no (financial) links with them but have found them to be very professional and availability and aricraft quality is generally very good.

Both Mike and Fergal have always been fair and approachable and put the required effort into pre and post flight briefings.

Send me a private message (or email) if you want any more specific info.

[dc1]

Vortime. Must agree with you completly on this one. I've started the PPL recently and have to say its a very unprofessional set up out there. The instructors are decent enough blokes, but i dont believe in spending EUR 147.00 per hour to have my head wrecked.

You do have to book weeks and weeks in advance to get a weekend slot (for those of us that work 9-5 mon-fri) and even then theres no real point as when you arrive (like you said) your name will have been tipp-exed over, you will find yourself having to fly with an instructor you've never flown before, who doesnt know your ability, areas that need to be worked on etc so straight away you waste a little time getting a rapport with him.

Its bad enough this happens,but they dont even have the decency to let you know if your "pre Booked" lession has been changed so therefore you can arrive out there and find theres all sorts of delays, and youre fobbed off with some feeble excuse because the flight centre hasnt the most basic of organisational skills to have in place an instructor and aircraft which you could have booked weeks in advance.

Granted you cant always expect that when you turn up for a lesson,that the instructor you booked and an aircraft will be available. Delays can happen, instructors have the weekends off, however when it a case where you're almost always guaranteed that youll be sitting around for ages, watching the clock, waiting for any random instructor to become available and then pay a fortune to do it really takes alot of the enjoyment out of the whole experience.Itmakes that period of time you worked hard to save the money and went without things seem much harder.

Anyway, now that I've finished ranting just one final thing; For anyone thinking about National Flight Centre in dublin as a FTO to do their PPL in carefully consider what I said because it is a real hassle with those guys. And I cant see anything changing. Why? Because there arent many places around offering flight training. And for that reason alone they dont have to bother their arse suiting anyone else but themselves.

Bring on the competition, and National Flight Centre:please get your act together, for christ sake!

[Horsepower]

NFC has always had a reputation for being a dump.

Unfortunately, the three excellent flying clubs at DUB are no longer in a position to provide PPL training because: circuit training has been banned there by the IAA; there are sometimes significant ATC delays to GA because of the one-runway operation; and it's becoming increasingly difficult to gain access to aicraft for reasons only known to Aer Rianta. :mad:

The means that people are forced into the hands of KOC and co., who really couldn't organise that proverbial p!ss-up. :yuk: