NAC- not all it's cracked up to be!
I have been watching this post with interest and having been to Naples on more than one occasion I feel well placed to add comment. It appears that all posts about NAC seem take the same path- individual asks for advice on NAC, said person disappears into the background and post slowly deteriorates into a slagging match between one or two people that had a bad experience and the NAC cheerleaders!
I too like Jabi and many others feel annoyed at the way NAC is portrayed as a perfect flight school. Of course we all know this is not true, but the first sign of any bad press and the post is bombarded by the usual suspects. Guys and you know who you are- give it a rest, we all know you had a great time in Naples, but come on let others express there views without you constantly shooting them down!
I would like to start by saying that Naples has never been a bad school, its just never been the great school that many portray.
Firstly the aircraft- they are maintained to a fair standard, although at times you have to border this on the legal limit. Whilst @ NAC this year, there were a number of planes with minor defects, which although legal are not particularly comforting.
For instance, there were 152 & 172's with holes in the engine cowling, tyres on the bare minimum, rivets missing from airframe, shimmy dampers not working, instruments- faulty or not working e.g. primer, VOR etc
Sometimes these faults would be corrected if pointed out, on one occasion a maintenance guy came out onto the apron, tapped in a rivet or two and walked off. Other times, the student was told to like it or lose the slot, the impedance was definitely put on the student, and as you know if anything goes wrong the PIC is solely responsible. Half the time these were PPL students who had no idea of the repercussions and funny enough no one @ NAC felt inclined to point this fact out- be warned, if in doubt DO NOT FLY!
I met one student who had just done his check ride and afterwards he told me about the problems he had prior to the test. He had booked the plane the previous day, but just before he was due to pre flight he was told the plane had been switched on him, he was given an alternative, but commented this had problems with aileron control and he asked to be switched back. I dont know all the details but what ensued was a slagging match between him and the owner, the owner telling him that he had no choice and to fly the plane allocated. After much debate he refused to fly, which eventually resulted in him being put back in the original plane and successfully passing the flight test.
If for the record anyone would like full details I will ask him to post here at a latter date, believe me he left as disillusioned as I did, but that's another story and I will leave it for him to tell.
Aircraft availability can at times be very poor. My personal opinion is that NAC have grown at such a rate they can no longer sustain the throughput of students. This in itself is not a bad thing, but they have failed to grow with the expansion and add to the fleet (discounting the hilarous!). If you get a cancellation to your schedule it is very unlikely you will be able to book another slot in the forthcoming few days. I met a number of people that failed to complete the PPL in expected time frames and two or three left with about 32 hours over three weeks!
If you intend to train on the 172 or PA28 it is very unlikely you will finish in the specified time, therefore your best bet is to stick to the 152s.
The other big problem is guys over hour building. I can comment on three or four people that have failed to gain the necessary hours and have either left disappointed or have taken there business elsewhere. This has been for a number of reasons- planes in tech (unforeseen!) which happens a lot, backlog of PPL training in which case you fit in around their schedule. I also found they would change the schedule the night before and then fail to call the student to inform them. This happened on a number of occasions, not only to myself, but many others. The student turns up in the morning expecting to fly, only to be told, we had to change the schedule, didn't you check it last night?!?!
I can tell you on one or two occasions the students let rip- surely its not asking too much to call the student when the changes occur, surely you'd expect this from any other service provider and at the end of the day you are paying them, do not forget that!
Many people are treated like kids, not paying customers!
I've never known such organised kaos in all my life. If you want to speak to anyone at the front desk, you are told to wait and you're generally still waiting 20mins later. Guys- you really do need to invest in a little extra help, almost everyone I met commented on the attitude of staff at reception and the hostility they received.
One point I do have to mention is that the instructors at NAC are mostly top notch and there are some great guys working @ NAC, most are foreign and over on the J1 visa building hours. This doesn't mean to say you are getting inferior training, but personally I would have to say that the quality of UK PPL training is on the whole better and this is after the fact I completed the first half of my PPL in the UK and the second half at Naples.
Overall, I would like to iterate that I've had a whole spectrum of experiences at Naples, some good, some bad, the most recent of which has definitely put me off returning. If anyone would like some more info feel free to pm me and I will discuss further.