FTE (Jerez) Grads - Who has got a Job?
 

Calling all FTE Grads. Any of you got a job yet and if so did you have to pay for a type rating?

Marks out of 10 for FTE would be........

At the very least 12 ;)
A lot of FTE taken by BA Cityflier & BACon

I will be the first to break cover then……….Off my course (we were the penultimate course to graduate in 2006) 4 have gone to cityflyer... one started in feb and the other 3 who went for BA started in march. That leaves 6 of us to go..... I know one guy is off in Malaysia doing instructing, one is in Ireland building hours to instruct, one is in Spain trying to crack the Spanish airlines, two have interviews with Logan air this month and I have an assessment with ryan air some time in the not too distant future........

the course before me most of them were bacon the self sponsored guys two are with cityflyer one at Gecat and I know one hasn't got anything but is waiting for the school to sort out flybe or logan...

course 48 I think most are with Flybe, one with cityflyer and one other is instructing.....

Oh marks out of 10 for FTE well I honesty most of us will bitch about the food and stuff but at the end of the day it wasn't too bad.... I managed to get fat on it.... or was it the beer!!! There is a good camaraderie at the school or well at least there was and I enjoyed many a night having a couple of scoops underneath the andalucian sky. The standard of ground school is good with many of the course averages 92% + and a high standard of flight instruction with well looked after planes.
Problems with the place really are the sims.... the hawker 737 haha which is a tad old and I must stress is getting replaced with a real 737 sim at the end of the year, but for the MCC it was more than adequate! The main problem I found with the school was a disparity in the way they treated the airline tagged students compared to the self sponsored guys and also the ambiguity that surrounds their recommendation process..... they seem to think once we have graduated we dont talk! However I hope that this will be sorted out with the reshuffle that seems to have occurred!

I spoke to a self sponsored guy from 52 who graduated this year and he said that they haven’t heard anything from the school but the Thomson guys who were then earmarked for flybe have now signed their contracts for Thomson (good bunch of guys too, I’m glad it worked out for them).

Good school though and the andalucian women are sexy as hell ;)


hope this helps im sure the other guys from the respected course will add bits too.

C47: 1 has just finished his type-rating, 2 have job offers, and the other 2 have things in the pipeline.

Overall: Good training, good reputation, brilliant location, but recommendation process is a shambles and could do more to help people get jobs.

C41. 10 on course. 9 had jobs within 6 months. 1 paid for type rating with ryanair.

Chaps,

Thanks for your replies. I have applications in with OAT and CTC at the mo but am seriously condsidering FTE as the package seems good value. At the end of the day I want to get a job out of the investment. I think OAT is poss overpriced and CTC have a good gloss!

Hmmmm decisions decisions!

Course 46 Integrated
2 Thomsonfly (self sponsored students who got selected whilst at Jerez - no money up front for the type rating, but a contribution towards the cost is taken out of the salary for the next 5 years)
1 BA (on a SSP salary scale)
1 Ryanair (paid for type rating)
3 still looking.
The final modular course also graduated at the same time and 1 guy is with Thomsonfly and another is with Eastern.
Regarding the marks out of 10, a bit tricky really as I've got nothing to compare it against. Most aspects are very good, some aspects could be a bit better but that's life really. Having since talked to people to went to other schools, I'm still quite sure that I made the right decision by going to Jerez (but that is just personal choice). If you are looking at a variety of schools, visit all of them and see where you feel the most comfortable.
:ok:

In what respect are they unfair, and who are they biased towards?

In the cadet to management meeting (that are normally held every month!) just try and get a direct response off the person who decides this or did decided this, on how the process is conducted........ he will tell you it’s a simple process where they use the BA criteria (above 85% in the ground school and first time passes in the CPL and IR)! But its not…!!!!! another former student has already commented on how some people are put forward to BA ticking all the boxes in the above criteria whilst others aren’t!! Also if this is the criteria why are some students recommended with fails in CPL or IR and/or a partial in the other, whilst others are over looked? I know life isn’t fair,,,,,,,,, but for time you spend deciding if you should pay 93,000 euros to train at the establishment I wish the establishment would give you transparent recommendation process for you to work towards! Oh and I too think they are ever so slightly biased towards airline tagged students and they don’t seem to care if you ace or fail ground school…. The recommendation process (bar BA) all goes on the flying

Oh and one person who graduated with course 50 has just got Jet airways….. well done!! I dont think they have to pay for TR.

If you are interested in training in FTE....definitely go to the school and talk to some of the senior courses they will give you a feel of how things are!! BUT as someone who is currently still at the school said recently... "I would chose here again but only as an airline tagged student"

To give you a realistic assessment x/10 would require me to have trained at other institutions. I would nevertheless like to point out a few aspects of the training as follows:

(1) The overall quality of the training is quite respectable (groundschool very well organised / flying fairly well managed) with the exception of the MCC. It is great to see that someone has finally realised that the use of a Hawker HS737 simulator is inadequate for conducting the MCC and appreciated the need to “concentrate on Business and Project Development” (Many congratulations on this awakening! :) ) At the end of the day the course was completed without any delays.

(2) Ground instructors have been very friendly and helpful. Flying instructors, generally helpful and supportive (with some exceptions). Rest of staff also very friendly and generally helpful.

(3) As within any institution, final decisions tend to be made by a board. Although this board claims that all decisions are based on “BA style” criteria, this is not always the case. Having discussed the recommendation criteria at length with different “managers” it is evident that no 2 can agree on the same statements. To answer “future captain” they are unfair mainly in the respect that their requirements are not clearly stipulated and no one is clearly told what it is they assess (after having asked).
How can you strive without knowing what your aim is? – because it appears that acing Groundschool / passing the flying and MCC does not suffice. Obviously it would appear that it is all a matter of opinion and that each manager will adapt the criteria to his opinion!

(4) FINAL POINT: Ask yourselves this, do you really want to invest money into an organisation where more importance is attributed to 3 people’s opinion rather than your performance?
And for those of you who think that this is a generalisation and a load of **** please provide me with some sort of explanation as to why there are SO MANY “exceptions” out there?

I remember hearing someone didn't get put forward to BA because they were deemed a training risk despite this person having passed CPL and IR first time. They had partialed 1 of the other 3 flying tests. Hardly a training risk. I want to add that this person had no personality problems or anything like that. Absolute shocker!

All you can do is take it on the chin and move on.

But sometimes there is a lot of luck involved. Sometimes the best candidates fail flight tests due to bad luck and the weakest pass due to good luck. FTE @ Jerez is a 14 month interview. The senior staff profile individuals and recommend them to where they think they will best fit.
Pay your money and take your chance! - its life

Recommendations
 

Those of you who made it to the airlines can appreciate the fact that being able to fly the perfect NDB approach or knowing everything about air law are the least important bits in being an airline pilot.
Everybody knows one or two guys in their airline who are very good pilots technically speaking but don't really fit in or even worse than that - no one wants to fly with them.
Where does this put the CRM and the safety of the flight?
Recommendations are based on overall impression.
The impression you made on the guys in Jerez is most probably the impression you are going to make on the guys in your airline.
Add to that the fact that recommendations are a matter of supply and demand at the time of graduation.

How was the Jerez experience??
 

So how was it for everybody? i had a good chat with the Chief Instructor, Bill i think his name was ?? but he seemes a spot on, modest guy. He said basically, if you ace all your exams and the flying, you will be recommended for a job. Seems to meake sense to me!!

What really appeals to me about Jerez is that it is purpose made campus (formerly BA training place apparently) and everything is included, apart from your shoes! Of course, a school coudl just offer that to get more students but they seem to have a good reputation and im sure the chap who wrote the book 'To Be an Airline Pilot' has done wonders for the schools name.

How well did everyone do, any gripes with the place??

All info is welcome and appreciated!

hi guys, just wondering really what age would you recomend to actually apply for a place in FTE.. because i want to do it now but i don't want to get turned down and even if i did could i apply again????? oh and what is an airline tagged student??
thanks for the help

fte
 

Hi,

I did Modular Course, and it worked very well. Dont think its available at the moment. One thing I might just summise from my observations, while there.
The Recommendation is an informal opinion made by 3 or 4 Individuals. Nobody could figure the 'Recommendation' process out. You may all say it is similiar to a BA Process, based on Groundschool and Skills tests.etc. Should that be the case, please asks yourselves two questions:
1. Would you be prepared to part with a lot of Euro to become another potential victim of politics? and potentially seriously damage your Job Prospects........
2. Does FTE hold its reputation(which is a well respected one), based on this 'recommendation' process, or is it based on the High Standards of instruction/tuition?
(3...................Why do they bother with their selection process for entry, if these are the cases)

I, was not involved in this 'recommendation' scenario, as only did some modular training there, and from the start they will not recommend Modular students, which I knew and can understand. I found instuctors brilliant.

In relation to Flight Directors Comments, airlines often rely on these 'recommendations' as they have nothing else to go........apart from the odd personal recommendation, from fellow pilots, within their Airline.........
Is one CAA First Time pass the same as Another?

There are essentially 3 categories of FTE recommendation: The first two are very similar

Full Recommendation - What this means is that the airlines with which FTE have contacts with, i.e. Thomsonfly, FlyBe, BA, BA Connect, GB - when they are looking to recruit low hours pilots then FTE will put forward the names of these students with a full profile to the airline. This will often guarantee you an interview. After that you're on your own.

Partial Recommendation - Everything except BA, or turboprops only

No Recommendation - What it says on the tin. I know of people who have come here on the advice of parents and they aren't even interested, others with too much money and aren't prepared to put the hard work in. But when you are out there you can generally tell who those students are.

Then there are a few other airlines (such as Jet 2, First Choice (as was), Thomas Cook) that the school doesn't have any influence or formal links with but if you apply to them and mention FTE then they do rate your training more highly and your odds are improved. The rest is up to you.

After graduation support is limited, most courses have to do all the applications themselves. And with regards to airline tagged students, with nearly 50% in FTE being tagged - they are at an advantage in the recommendation scheme, in that as long as you perform well enough then should the initial partner airline back out, you almost automatically get a full recommendation (not always but almost).

'After graduation support is poor, most of my course are having to do all the applications themselves.'

What you really mean you had to apply to airlines yourself no secretary?

FTE Modular Recommendations
 

Headinclouds.
Quote;
"I, was not involved in this 'recommendation' scenario, as only did some modular training there, and from the start they will not recommend Modular students, which I knew and can understand. I found instuctors brilliant."

This is not true, I was modular, and myself and another mod, were both recommended, and we both have jobs, one as a direct result of the recommendation.
Yes there are some politics involved I think, but overall it's not a bad process and they are highly thought of in the industry.

I was integrated and did get recommended. However, I do know for a fact that modulars were being recommended to Thompson for the 757 with 2nd series, 2nd attempt IR passes.

The whole thing is a lottery.