Odyssey - are you a troll?
Atlantic are small fry compared to OATS who are the largest UK school.
Whilst being an admirable FTO Atlantic are nothing special. They have a good reputation as a training provider. As do OATS.
In my opinion the sensible training route right now is Modular.
So I'd start by taking a look at the schools which are out there:
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/175/srg_fcl_ApprovedFTOs.pdf
Ideally I would look to find a good school locally which can provide PPL CPL and IR modules.
Thereby ensuring I am most familiar with the local area, procedures, aircraft and staff on the day I tackle my IRT. Continuity of training will look good in my logbook, just one school and maybe one instructor will have total 'ownership' of my training and this will motivate them to do well by me. They will be well placed to give me a glowing reference.
If I make an effort to get on well with everyone there and work hard they might look to hire me as an Instructor when I finish should there be no airline vacancies.
Personally right now, living where I do and knowing what I know about training I'd do my Groundschool with Bristol via distance learning and brush up course. I'd do my PPL and CPL at Aeros in Gloucester.
I happen to know Bristol gets consistently good reviews on PPRuNe and I've met some of their students. I have heard good things about Aeros for many years and they seem to employ some good people.
There will be equally good training providers on your doorstep if you do some research.
I can see from their websites that this will cost me:
£1900 for groundschool + £750 for the CAA
PPL £5,200
CPL £4,000
Multi + IR £12,000
I'll need to build about 100hrs after the PPL before starting the CPL so I would go to the US and spend about £5,000 doing this.
I'm going to need medicals, transport, materials, food, stationary etc etc.
Lets call that £2,000
We find:
£2,650 + £5,200 + £4,000 + £12,000 + £5,000 + £2000 = £30,850
Now to be prudent we must add a 20% contingency to allow for failed exams, flightests and extra tuition required giving us a back of a fag packet budget for Zero to Hero of
£37,020
Now. The OATS APP as discussed on this thread is £61,500. Unless you live near Oxford you need to add £3,000 for accomodation costs. You also need to add your 20% contingency to the course cost. This results in a comparable budget of
£76,800
With savings of nearly £40,000 my decision is clear.
I would also, personally, be happier training at a smaller school where - if I want - I can have a word with the CFI without going through a course manager and associated bureacracy. I would be happier being taught from scratch to completion by probably the same bloke.
There's nothing wrong woth OATS they offer a fine product and they are very popular.
But under todays climate I wouldn't pay the premium. Same goes for all the other Integrated providers (CABAIR and BAE - named for balance!).
Cheers
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