Some useful info in here amongst the usual drivel from a minority. I think it's perfectly fair to discuss FTO's on here and is one of the main reasons the forum was created by WWW and the PPRuNe Towers team.
However, in my experience you can do all the reasearch in the world on an FTO but the sad fact is you get the luck of the draw at most places. Fact of life in this game that some people will go to one FTO and get through first time, with fantastic service all round and others will go to the same school two months later only to feel like doggie poop on the FTO's boot. I have experienced both ends of that pineapple, most recently on the good end for a change but was sharing a dinner table with guys who hated the place so it just goes to show.......
Check accomodation, aircraft costs, hidden extra's like sneaky groundschooling charges and the experience of instructors. If they are all twenty something Jack The Lads then chances are that although they may be professional for their experience, that experience is smaller and less valuable than a career instructor in his forties or fifties.
I have found that a prompt return of call from the CFI is a good indicator of interest. Meet the CFI when you visit too. I have arrived at one particular school (who shall remain anonymous) only to be shown around by a secretary who didn't even know the difference between a PA28 and an ATR. Not her fault obviously but needless to say I never trained with that mob!
With regards to this topic I would say if you could find an airport closer to sea level you might stand a better chance of getting finished on time and in budget. Great experience landing in choppy conditions up there but that's if you can get airbourne in the first place. 90% of the time after October that's not gonna happen I'm afraid. But still, neither school appears to be short of students so, despite what DoleBoy believes, I doubt very much whether this particular peice of pertinent info will affect their business in all honesty. Tough cookies if it does anyway.
VFE.
Last edited by VFE; 14th Mar 2004 at 18:27.