FTC Africa

[james brown]

Can anyone advise me please, I am a newcomer to this site. I have saved hard for a while and am ready to splash out on a CPL/IR through the modular route. Searches have brought up this place in South Africa. Has anyone any experience of them they could share, good or bad please? They say they do the lot for £34k inc accomodation. I already have one or two reservations, eg they want me to pay into an Isle of Man account in a different name, something I'm not prepared to do. Also what is the area like, I've heard bad stories about Jo'burg. Been to Cape Town and didn't think that was too bad. And finally what about their Groundschool. I asked for pass rates but they seem reluctant to pass them on, coining excuses about people not being in. I thought that was info they should have at their hands.

Thanks in advance

Jim

[Flying Boat]

Jim

My advice is to steer clear of them & trust your gut instinct.

My experience was not too good (groundschool mainly).

You may get a few more replies to this question.

Do a search with the PPRUNE search engine & after reading pros & cons, make up your own mind.

If you decide to go, don't pay anything up front & carry a flexible return ticket with you.

The school changed management around June/July of 2001, to help you with your search.

Good luck with your training.

FB

[Tubbs]

Great facilities and instructors good when i was there, but the management is not friendly to humans and not aware of customer service in the conventional sense. The representative in UK was allegedly a bit dodgy and i know of at least 3 people that lost money to FTC in 2001 having paid a certain amount up front.

In summary:

great country
great people
good flying
cheap food / beer / fags

but,
don't pay a substantial amount of cash up front under any circumstances
don't walk around Midrand alone at night
don't look / speak to / upset or expect any help from the management of said company

I would be happy to go to FTC armed with the above information.

Best of luck whatever you do.

[sk8erboi]

My opinion is don't go near them. They are desperate for your cash and don't care what happens to you once they have it. You mention the IOM account, well I wouldn't fancy your chances of getting any money back if it went wrong. I hear from people there that the staff are not being paid on time, surely a bad sign. Don't stay in their accomodation, it is a rat infested tip. A couple of pounds more gets a lovely private B&B. Do a serach, thats all I can say, you will hear from a lot a dissatisfied customers. For that cash you could get the same here if your careful.

Good luck

[Bucket]

Take an enormous ammont of care with this school. They have got serious cash flow problems; for the third month running all of the staff have been paid seriously late and when they were paid it was with cheques. The IOM account sounds unsound. Accomadation is a joke. Get yourself a flat or share a house with other students for better value. Key flying instructors are leaving or have left. The groundschool is working under greatly diminshed circumstances and not enjoying the support it needs from management; same of course seems true for the flying staff. How sad. A shadow of its former self by all accounts. Senior management in denial with a head in the sand attitude to ALL problems. I had heard that they were down to one aircraft recently. All the rest where in maintenance. Yeah, yeah. Outstanding bills perhaps? For the sake of your bank balance and sanity, steer clear.

[df1]

Jim,

I can't comment on the school from personal experience, but I know a handful of guys that have had problems there.

I was in SA recently and its an absolutely fantastic place. The people are great and I never really encountered any problems with regard to crime etc (although you must take all precautions!!). I'm already making plans to holiday there (Cape Town is spectacular!).

My experience of training in SA is similar to what many appear to have experienced with FTC. So, forgive me for saying this, but there is a hardcore of individuals providing training who are out to sh@ft the customer. I've flown in a range of countries but nowhere compares to SA for its uncrupulous. I was shocked. (This is my honest opinion, but I don't doubt that there are a number of good schools in SA).

Beware (I am sure you are) of the way your accounts are proposed to be run. Paying into an offshore account may preclude you from certain rights as far as consumers go. Explain that for accounting purposes you need to show that your money is being spent on flying - with appropriate receipts.

Finally, be extremely careful if using an independent recruiter as I and others did. A gentleman who offered his service as a recruiter to a number of schools in SA has certainly got a lot to answer for, although he appears to have vanished! Investigations go on.

Please be careful Jim, and for the sake of delaying your training a little throroughly investigate your chosen school.

And if you do decide to go to SA, give yourself a trial period there, where you and your pride won't be too badly hurt if you want to come home.

All the best.

[silverknapper]

I would certainly advise caution here to be honest mate. I went out for PPL/hour building with a view to doing groundschool there too. Got the PPL ok, but with about 8 different instructors teaching me. When I attempted to hour build though I found it frustrating as aircraft I had booked overnight were suddenly taken away. Also new PPls aren't allowed to fly the new aircraft that they really sell in the sales pitch.
Having seen what people went through at the groundschool changed my mind though. The notes are apparently poor and the course seemingly lacked structure. This was according to guys on the course and their opinion was not very high, therefore I decided to come home.
Above all though I found their attitude to customer service very poor. Don't pay into the IOM account. I did and they were constantly badgering me for money when it was already in that a/c. It got to the stage that they wouldn't hand over my PPL as they thought I owed them money. I didn't they just hadn't received a bank statement. The owner then blatantly lied to my face about what happened. I had been informed by other staff that he had locked it away. The accomodation is a pit too, rats everywhere. And the car you get isn't really yours, it can be taken by people going to the night school, leaving you stranded.
The place has so much potential, it is just badly managed. I did enjoy my time there but saw many who didn't. At least think hard about it. I have heard the same stories of staff not being paid so there must be something to it. And the old adage about flying training is true, NEVER pay up front.

All the best

[Tiger Bob]

SA has a large number of schools - most good but there are always a few bad ones.

My advice is:
1) Do not to pay up front for any training except maybe a small deposit to secure a position. If you pay as you go you can leave at any time.
2) Make sure you are not committed to the accommodation supplied by the school - this is another way of making you stay
3) Do proper research - use the www and ask for references. Follow these up
4) Make sure you are in the environment that suits your character. For example - there are schools that are run on a semi military basis which probably suit a person just out of school.

[Vortex Thing]

Iwouldn't touch them with someone elses barge pole. They are unsrcupluous, unprofessional and going broke. Like the man said, 'Maybe not today, maybe not tommorrow but someday soon and for the rest of thier lives.'

South Africa is wonderful, the experience is great but go to a school with a desreved reputation. 43 Air, Lanseria Flight Centre, Central Flying Academy and many others are all fairly well establsihed operators who are not JAA.

This may initially appear to provide a problem and if you are completely new to avaiation I would much recommend the safety of USA or Jerez to go straight to JAA. However the option remains to get a South African CPL/ME/IR and then convert on return to UK.

As the holder of a professional licence you will not need the CPL course only a test and you need to do 15 hours in JAA airspace (10 can be in a FNPT2 or 5 in a FNPT1) and then 170a and test.

This could save you a bit of cash, means that you have the ability to work in Africa should you choose to stay and try and raise some hours (SA license accepted pretty much all over Africa).

It will further mean that you have contributed to not supporting the rip off merchants FTC who really do just take your money and F**K The Client.

Hope you choose well, it may cost you your life if you don't.

VT

[gabu]

Thanks for that boys I was considering FTC at the end of the year/early Jan. Looks like I'll be giving them a wide berth.

[Tiger Bob]

Like any country there will always be a percentage of businesses that are crooked. There is only one way to ensure that you do not loose any money and that is to make sure you never part with any substantial amount without getting the flying. A small deposit to secure a position is enough and then pay as you go. Never pay for everything (including accomodation) up front. This means if the school does not suit you you can then move on without any substantial loss.

NEVER PAY UP FRONT!!!

Another tip is to get references. All schools have alumni. Find out from them what the true situation is. If you feel uncomforatble then move on - there are a large number of schools that will give you the service you want so don't waste time on suspect ones.