Hi 767Bill
I have just done my PPL and some hour building in Johannesburg. I did my JAA PPL at FTC in Johannesburg and unfortunately they went bankrupt shortly after I completed my test. I considered going to Progress to do my SA CPL but decided against it for various reasons:
South Africa is perfect for hour building and the training is excellent but with getting an ICAO CPL you are seriously limiting yourself and will cost you more money in the long run to convert to a JAA CPL. As I was told by the UK CAA, if you have an ICAO CPL you still have to do the ATP groundschool and all 25 hrs of practicle training so not a good investment. If you want to work in SA for a while to build up your hours you can but instructing is probably your only option as most charter companies expect you to have more than 1000hrs let alone a few hours on a twin/turbine. There are companies out there that will take guys straight out of CPL training but they are mostly guys who went the sponsorship route or are South Africans. It is virtually impossible to get a work permit here (believe me Ive tried EVERYTHING) especially with flying as there are so many pilots out there and so few jobs.
However having said all this, with the multi IR I would look into this. I know Oxford converts an ICAO Multi IR into a JAA Multi IR for roughly 3000 pounds. I would factor this into the cost of the ICAO Multi IR and see if its cheaper.
I know a couple of people who have trained with Progress and have got mixed reports. They all say the training is good, but the accounts department and accomodation have a lot to be desired. One of Progresses big selling points is that they allow students to go solo on there twin so your not logging P2 but P1. These are the hours you need.
All a little long winded but I hope this helps.
Ciao BL
Hi Again
Just something I want to add here. I dont know if youve heard that if you do your hourbuilding outside a JAA approved country - say Austrailia, New Zealand or South Africa - only 50% of your hours count if you do an intergrated course whereas if you do a modular course all your hours count. ??????????
??????