I have to agree with Blinkz about two months being a little ambitious. I got my PPL at Prestwick in four months, but that was over the summer months.
Flyingnumpy - learning to fly at a larger airport does help you develop confidence and experience of operating in the type of environment you'll find when you go commerical. Your R/T in paticular will be of a higher standard. ATC will treat you much better and are more likely to grant your requests if you come across professionally on the radio.
Another comment about Cumbernauld. I've always been concerned about its suitability for teaching circuits. In the event of an engine failure after take-off, there's just nowhere to go where you'll have much of a chance of landing safely. The runway is also very narrow, and whilst this forces you to keep to the centreline, it doesn't offer students any room for error when flying in strong crosswinds. From memory, there are also local noise restrictions in the circuit, which may limit the type of circuits that you can fly.
Regarding the instructor at FAS, I agree that you shouldn't necessarily judge him/her by his/her having failed the FI test a couple of times. Your comment about two of their instructors training in America personally causes me more concern, although I know that this is a very emotive subject that is best avoided on Pprune!
Last edited by Sassenach; 1st March 2005 at 14:12.