Hi all
I was there from end 00 to end jan01. The deal with the cars is a bit of a mixed blessing, to say the least. We had the use of two big tanks, a Cadillac DeVille and a Lincoln Town Car, as well as a 300-series Mercedes and occasionally, a Japanese "compact",which was usually an instructor's cast-off. If the American cars were tatty and smelly, with no functioning aircon (an act which should require the death penalty in Florida), one or two defunct electric windows and one or two breakdowns per month, then the instructor's cast-offs were absolute death-traps and unfit to drive more than the distance from the accomodation to the school. The CEO of the AVIATOR, on which school EFT piggybacks, hires the cars to "stoodents" at $100pw(then), which we usually split five or six ways, to make it affordable. Gas is cheap so that's not an issue. The downside is that, after so many highway breakdowns due to non-existent servicing, the school banned students from driving to Miami or Orlando to pick up incoming students/leave off outgoing students. An arrangement which suited Ben 'n' Trevor until the Aviator Boss presented them with the repair bill for retrieving the latest roadside casualty. Trips outside the local area were promptly banned, much to the chagrin of the students, who were trying to save on the considerable expense of going to and from the airports, which are at least 90 miles away from Fort Pierce. Just think of how much the Aviator boss was making from the studes at $100pw per car (average of four in service), given their dereliction, age and lack of maintenance.
Also, the accomodation thing deserves a second look. We were in apartments about five miles from the school, paying $500/month or part thereof(watch thisone,very important). The school (aviator) block-books the apartments for less than $500/month and pockets the difference, by leasing them for 12 months at a time. If you make enquiries at the booking office, to book one independently, they fob you off declaring a minimum lease period of 12 months, so most people give in and pay up. They were also vigilant against students living more than three per apartment, although we managed to make it work by being equally as vigilant. The Boss's wife dealt with the car-hire (her only apparent function) and chased students with the determination of a hungry bounty-hunter. Other students were housed in rented houses nearer the airfield, often sharing with the instructors (ie, helping to pay the instructor's rent.Given their penury, not a bad idea). Living in Vero Beach only worked when one shared with instructors and commuted with them, but it was furthest from the airfield and left one without a car off-duty.
The fact that EFT piggybacked on Aviator meant that EFT had/has priority for aircraft, given that, at the time, American students were scarce. The downside was that the aircraft were worked flat out, day and night and the maintenance staff were worked hard, daytime only, to keep them going.The alleged eight Duchesses never, ever came to more than five, none ever had a working radar or heater and only one, in their own opinion, was ever good enough to be used as a test aircraft (6047w). Ben and Trevor were, in fairness, always available when problems arose, but tended to avoid dealing with housing or transport issues.
Unless things have improved,I would take everything to do with EFT with a grain of salt. There was, to my mind, more attention paid to extracting money from students (not even a basic sim trainer) than putting student fears to rest over housing, transport and money consumption. In their defence, the actual flight training was first-class and most of the instructors very,very profeesional and competent. One should ask them very thorough questions before shelling out money.
PS: the Aviator charged the students 3% to pay by foreign Visa card. Use Amex if you have it.This is something that B 'n' T don't mention in the brochures. Also, the cost per hour of the Be76 was, for European students, considerably more than US students were charged. Go and get your FAA MEP first and build hours cheaply, then sit for your JAR MEP.
regards
TDD