I'm currently doing 0-fATPL at PTC. Info below might help:
Good Points:
1. Excellent Instructors
2. Most favourable weather in Ireland for training. (Only 6 days lost due to poor weather in 2004)
3. Small regional airport so not much commercial traffic but as there's no radar it's still interesting when you're in the circuit or practising an ILS and Aer Arann are on the way...(you'll see when you get here....pedantic controller....)
4. On site maintenance. Shamrock Aviation are based here and deal with most of the GA maintenance in Ireland as well as a lot of Welsh and other UK based aircraft. 50 hour checks are completed in about 3-4hours and C of A's usually take 10days. Any other little things are usually dealt with immediately.
5. Becoming increasingly recognised as a REAL-LIVE Irish professional flying school by the airlines. PPJN mention them as a supplier of pilots to Aer Arann. We've also had students go to Air Asia and Ryanair.
Bad Points:
1. This is Ireland. It's slightly more expensive than doing it abroad, especially the PPL.
2. Once again, this is Ireland. Although only 6 days were lost due to weather last year, this year hasn't been the best. Not sure of the stats, but certainly a couple of weeks have meant VFR was out.
3. Location. There'll always be someone to give you a lift to college, but if you live in Dunmore East or Tramore and wanna get into Waterford City, costs EUR25/30 in a taxi. If you have a car, obviously your freedom level increases dramatically.
Also, accomodation is EXTREMELY expensive from June-September in Dunmore East. We're talking EUR600-EUR800 PER WEEK. Seriously. This is compared to the same figure per month for the rest of the year. If you're starting 0-fATPL, the CPL or the Multi-IR, I'd advise you to start in September to give the best chance of the acccomodation budget being realistic.
Apart from that, not a lot to complain about. Obviously the usual caveats apply. Keep an eye on your account. I get weekly and monthly print outs of my spendings from Ops at PTC and there's never a problem, but this is a flying school after all!! (Kidding)
Rosters can and do change for various reasons so if you've a flight booked, make sure you call to confirm EVERY TIME, as you won't get called to be told an aircraft has gone tech. Be assertive!
PM me if you need anything else.
Simon.