Flight Schools around Stansted

[airbourne]

Can anyone enlighten me as to the location of any flight schools near Stansted airport. I would reckon anywhere within a radius of 40-50 miles would do. Does Duxford have an FTO?

[Luke SkyToddler]

Andrewsfield is right on the edge of the Stansted CTR and it's an excellent little flying school, did my FI there with Carol and thoroughly recommend it ... lots of Stansted-based airline captains like to go and have a drink in the aero club bar on a friday night as well, so maximum potential sucking-up value :ok:

[wobblyprop]

Could also try Stapleford. I've just completed my cpl/ir there.

I can also vouch for andrews field. I did my night rating there and know some of the people who fly there regularly. All seem a friendly bunch esp the hardcore friday nighters.

If you want to do your cpl/ir stapleford might be a better bet as it has an FNPT2 sim which you can do upto ?35? hours of the ir in. Half the price of acutally flying the twin.

When i spoke to carol about the cpl/ir at andrews field, i think by her own admission, the twin is/was a bit of a problem during the wetter months. Best check with them to see how they're going.

Send me a pm if you want more info about stapleford.

[airbourne]

Thanmks for that. Theres a chance I may be goin to Cambridge with work and Ive got about 30 hours. I reckon I'll finish my ppl in Ireland, but if there was a flying club nearby, would be nice. I'll go to Andrewsfeild and see if I can get introduced to a nice hosti which are very plentyful around STN. :ok:

Its been a few years since Ive been in STN , but I seem to remember seeing an airfield somewhere along the M25 as i was driving to London. Is that Andrewsfield or Stapleford?

[Mobieus1]

Stapleford. There is also North Weald on the other side of the M25.

[WX Man]

Did you do the test at Stapleford, or did you have to fly to Cranfield for it?

[wobblyprop]

WX Man,

Yes, one downside is the fact that you have to go to Cranfield for the IR. The CPL, however, they come to you

[Number Cruncher]

Do all IR tests have to be done at Cranfield, or can you do it at base aerodrome as long as the facilities are there?

[wobblyprop]

No, you can take your IR from wherever there happens to be a CAAFEU (CAA Flight exam unit - i think)

I think there are some at the following airports

Cranfield
Oxford
Bournemouth
Exeter
Prestwick

Probably more.

[RodgerF]

I think Leeds has a unit. One of the Multiflight bods could confirm

[two speed prop 3]

Bristol has one but I think Exeter might have gone(don't quote me on this one).:=

[benhurr]

Yep Leeds has one

[Lynx Boy]

I can also recommend Stapleford. I have just finished my CPL/IR there. The staff are very helpful and the instructors will go out of their way to help you (specifically starting early in the morning, finishing late and working through lunch).

The sim there is approved for 35 of your 50 IR hours. This is good and bad. Firstly, it means that most of your flying is not dependent on the weather. Also, although you will sit your test from Cranfield, every exercise you fly in the sim is from Cranfield, so you are very familiar with the procedures by the time you sit the test. Finally, on the plus side, it is cheaper than doing all of your flying in a real aircraft.

On the downside, it means that when you finish your IR, you will only have around 21 hours of multi time (6 from ME rating and 15 from IR). When stating your experience to prospective employers, they are much more interested in "real" aircraft hours than those in the sim.

However, I think that the benefits outweigh this negative. Overall, the standard of instruction is high, particularly on the IR course. The Head of Training also still flies 737s two days per week for a major airline so knows all current procedures and the Chief Sim Instructor has been flying for 60 years and used to be a CAA IR examiner.

Any further questions then send me a message.

Good luck. :ok:

[AH64 APACHE]

Whjat about staplefor for an CPL/IR renewal? Can you do the IR renewal in the FNPT2 - which by the way is excellent value for money - just think about the economics - what employer is really going to give you a job with an extra 20 hours of 'real time'? You might as well save the money and spend it on something else to make you stand out.

Also do stapleford have a Multi like a seneca and can you do CPL/IR on a single?

[wobblyprop]

You'll have to call them about the specifics, but they are pretty flexible around your needs.

They have definately done IR renewals on the sim.

[AH64 APACHE]

What club down there does all of this?

[wobblyprop]

There is only one. Stapleford Flight Centre

stapleford (http://www.flysfc.co.uk)

[Luke SkyToddler]

Yep I too did my IR at Stapleford and while I've got nothing against them personally there's no way I'd do the same again for one simple reason ... the airspace around the south east!

Comparing the freakin nightmare I had on test day (I got the normal CFD-CAM-CFD, but had an absolute nightmare with controllers, first of all in the airway en route to cambridge getting sent about in all directions before even getting to CAM expecting the ILS, and THEN having to carry out about 6 unscheduled laps of the NDB hold at CAM with the examiner watching every one :{ ) I was so knackered by the time I even got onto the ILS I very nearly lost it altogether. If you speak to the IR candidates who've gone and done their tests out of there they just about all have some similar horror story to tell.

Comparing that to some of the stories of people who've done their tests up in Scotland or over the west country and it just sounds like a breeze by comparison.

Yes the IR instructors at STL are very very competent (is Eric STILL there by the way?) and I'm sure so are the instructors at the other Cranfield based schools, but they would have to be in my opinion, to get their students through the massive disadvantage they're at by virtue of their location.

[AH64 APACHE]

Do they have a FNPT2 down there?

[MorningGlory]

Guys,

Let me just clear a few things up here; after having completed my cpl/ir with Stapleford Flight Centre this year, I am now about to sit on the RHS of a shiney new jet with 250hrs.

This in my opinion is 100% attributable to the quality of training, facilities, the people who work at Stapleford Flight Centre.

Please do not listen to the rubbish that springs up on this site like; you get 20hrs multi in the ir 35 sim, so what? Same at every other school in the country, and believe me 20hrs or 100hrs in a twin piston will make sod all difference to an airline!

The School is professional, the instructors are professional, the facilities are excellent, and it makes me laugh reading about one cry baby winging about doing the ir at Cranfield, so what? Its ten minutes flight in the seneca from stapleford!

Personally I think its the best school in the london area by a very long shot, and they even provide a B737 MCC now which is second to none.

If you want a cpl/ir at a very good price and with a very good chance of getting a job at the end go to Stapleford and ask to see Colin Dobney.

MG. :ok:

[Luke SkyToddler]

Nice one mate :ok:

I'm not a cry baby or indeed having a winge about anything.

Read my post again ... I liked Stapleford and I thought the instructors were very competent. And I'm afraid that the fact you reckon you're flying a jet now don't mean jack diddly I'm afraid. For every lucky student out of every flying club type environment, there are always 10 others who have to eat sh!t and instruct or hang around for a year or two to get their break.

I would say STL has a strike rate of graduates walking into jobs that is no better or no worse than any other large 'flying club' type environment. In other words my son it's still nowhere near what the big integrated schools can achieve, so lets not get too puffed up and full of ourselves here.

I stand by my statement that if I could do it all again, I wouldn't do an IR at Stapleford, Cabair or any other flight training organisation that is based in that general area. I was merely making an observation about the relative difficulty of conducting IR training in and around the London TMA, compared to some of the less congested airspace elsewhere in the country. I feel entitled to do that, having done a fair bit of IR and multi engine instructing myself, and having spent most of the last decade instructing in some form or another, both in the north and south of the UK and abroad.

[MorningGlory]

First of all I'm not going to get into a row about this. But what I will say is this; If I offended you then I apologise.

I dont reckon, I AM about to sit in the RHS of a jet, and I dont see many other schools with students doing that right after training at the moment. However I realise that I am one of the lucky ones.

I do however stand by what I said, which was that I have no doubt that my success in my training and subsequent success in getting the RHS is attributable to the people at Stapleford.

I am by no means suggesting that others schools are not as good, simply that my track record there has PROVED that they ARE a great school, regardless of the busy London airspace; and I also understand that IR training elsewhere may have less congested airspace, but I or the guys I did my IR with never had a single problem with it, so I dont see why anyone else would!

[ESSEX BOY]

Surely once you get a job you may have to fly in or near a congested area of controlled airspace ... ?

I have recently finished the CPL/IR at Stapleford, managed to get first time passes in both and would certainly recommend them to anyone !

I know one student that went to Bristol for the IR. Then completed the test at Bristol and passed ... got a job on a corporate jet at Stansted and has just lost it because he can only do approaches at Bristol and the military airports around that area ... appparantly very good at doing approaches etc at Bristol but no where else !!! :\

I do feel sorry for the guy. But the point im making is that you should be able to fly in any airspace / and do any approach !

I think Stapleford prepared me well for this and it did prove to help once finishing the MCC course ...

Hope to follow in MG's shoes ... good luck all !!!

PS. Apache ... They do have FNPT2 - available for IRR

:ok:

[AH64 APACHE]

With regard to the above debate - surely it is down to who you are, what you have done and whether you are in teh right place at the right time as to whether you manage to land a job or not. I am sorry but whilst I am sure that flight schools are responsible for making sure you have the training etc and making you ready - ultimately it is you and not the flight school who will be sitting in the interview seat answering questions about why you would make a good pilot.

Oh and I thought stapleford did not have any twins down there?

Any twin trainers down at southend with IR renewal capabilities?

[MorningGlory]

Of course they have twins.. how else would you do a multi IR. You could renew your IR in the sim there and do your multi renewal on the a/craft.

Good luck wherever you go mon ami..

[nasib]

ESSEX BOY

"I know one student that went to Bristol for the IR. Then completed the test at Bristol and passed ... got a job on a corporate jet at Stansted and has just lost it because he can only do approaches at Bristol and the military airports around that area ... appparantly very good at doing approaches etc at Bristol but no where else !!!"

Really! And which military airports would those be then?

Nasib

[ESSEX BOY]

YES ... Really (military and civilian airports in that area (Yeovilton/Lyneham))

Im not sure of the exact routes from Bristol, but surely you do have do an approach at another airport ??? But thats not my point !

The guy had fairly low hours and paid for his own type rating, it may have just been the individual, but according to the cheif pilot he was very good at Bristol.

The point was at some time in a commercial career you will have to operate in busy/ier airspace ... and it was an example of doing the IR in less 'Congested Airspace' as previously mentioned.

Surely after commencing approaches at Birmingham, Coventry, East Midlands, Cambridge, Southend, Manston, Wattisham and others you are going to be more prepared/competent ?

I maybe wrong, i only done the IR at 1 school (Stapleford) and can only comment on the first hand experience i had of a very good school in and around 'The Stansted area'

At the end of the day you end up with a Frozen ATPL where ever you go .. surely the main points are the quality of the training and the price ?

Good luck all ! :ok:

[nasib]

Since I work for Bristol Flying Centre as an IR instructor, I have no intention of entering this debate regarding the benefit of one school over another or one type of airspace over another. People will make up their own minds on this.
I simply expressed surprise about the comment that someone who did his IR at Bristol can only make approaches at military airfields. For your information Yeovilton does not have any instrument approaches that can be used by civilian aircraft except PAR’s which are not used for the IR test, therefore Yeovilton is never used. Lynham has only been used as part of an IR test once in the last three years.

Airfields used out of Bristol include Cardiff, Exeter, Gloucester, Filton Bournemouth, Yeovil Judwin etc. These are quite diverse airfields in and out of Controlled Airspace handling all types of aircraft up to Boeing 777’s.

Nasib

[ESSEX BOY]

Thought i may have touched a nerve with a Bristol instructor. Perhaps i should have worded it better ... 'airports around their' rather than military !

I had no intention of a debate, as i have said it was an Example !

and only a reply to the suggestion of staying away from the busier controlled airspace by going to the 'West country' or 'Scotland' ...

as you said people will make up there own minds !!!

no offence meant !!!



:rolleyes: