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Old 18th Aug 2022, 21:08
  #24 (permalink)  
richpea
 
Join Date: Aug 2022
Location: UK/Kuwait
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I finished my CPL and MEIR at Smart Aviation Poznan in May and would recommend the school.

Positives:
Smart Aviation has a great fleet of Tecnam single and multi-engine aircraft, all relatively new and with up to date nav and avionics packages. The cost of these aircraft per hour makes Smart an incredibly cost effective option, even if you want to do the entirety of training on the multi (which I did).
Instructors at Smart are generally excellent. Very effective educators with an abundance of experience and skill (as well as healthy senses of humor). The sim instructors are experienced airline pilots (but they don't pull any punches, so don't expect to have your hand held in there!)
Training at an airport like Poznan, controlled and with busy(er) airspace, is a big step up from what most modular pilots are used to and is a real benefit when moving on to MCC etc.
For me, being a native English speaker, there was an added bonus of having to get accustomed to communicating with air traffic services who were not native English speakers, this is an important skill that will definitely be a help later in my career.

Added bonus:
Poznan is a great little city, very picturesque with good restaurants and bars, some interesting things to do on off days, and accommodation is a reasonable price. I really enjoyed my time there.

Things to be aware of:
When you choose Smart you need to be aware that you are trading something for the incredibly reasonable price, that is administration. As others have described/complained about, the organization of aircraft scheduling and awareness of where trainees are in their program is not always brilliant. That said, most of the trainees on my course finished their licenses in between 6 to 8 weeks, which is what the school quote, and is a very reasonable timescale. It is up to the student to make sure that they are on course, and you do have to spend a certain amount of time pushing the instructors and chasing office staff to schedule your flying. However, given how reasonable the price is, I'm not sure that I can particularly raise this as a negative, but rather an expected. If you want to attend a super organized flight school where everything is tightly scheduled and done for you, with a dedicated front office that will hold your hand, Smart might not be the place, but I suspect you will be paying much more money for your licenses. If you don't mind having to do some organizational footwork and some chasing up of people to get your flying time booked in, then Smart Aviation is an excellent choice, and great value for money.

If I was choosing again knowing what my experience at the school was, I would choose to go there again. In fact, I will probably be back to keep up my currency if I find myself needing to. I would highly recommend Smart Aviation, especially for the right kind of person. If you are expecting all singing, all dancing, everything on a plate, with dedicated student services, you may want to think twice about Smart as an option... but then I would also suggest that you should be expecting to pay a lot more for the kind of service you are expecting. If you want somewhere that is excellent value for money (and that probably prepares you more for the reality of a career in aviation as far as admin is concerned!) then Smart Aviation is a great option.
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