Muddy Boots
I have been rereading a few things, and have to correct a serious mispprehension that you seem to have.
Those are the schools that charge 30k less and have a/c that go u/s suddenly, can you come back tomorrow... (Which is what my PPL experience was)
This is not your PPL any more! These are not registered training facilities, they are approved FTOs, closely monitored by the CAA. Some of the small schools do extremely well in the CAA inspections.
I have known a few FTOs, as there have been 6 in Bournemouth (including one still run in a nissen hut, by men in smart shirts, with a good reputation) in the time I lived there, unsurprisingly with the qualities of the airport for training. Apart from one specific aircraft, bought by a now-defunct company under difficult circumstances (when JAA first came in all companies suddenly needed complex singles for CPL completion, and Arrows were like rocking-horse manure) I have not known any to have problems keeping their fleets running. The small companies keep their student numbers to manageable levels (and turn away students rather than overburden their system) and therefore avoid any more delay than the large ones.
In fact, looking back to when I did my training (with the defunct FTO), at the then largest, best-known FTO of 3 or 4 in Bournemouth, we had the least impressive fleet - PA-44s instead of Be-76s and an Arrow as old as I was as compared to a brand new Arrow III or a Beech Sierra.
The small company always has something to prove, the large guys can sit and wait for the money to roll in by inertia!
Nimbus
Sorry, but that makes no sense at all!
Hedges,
The thread started by Muddy Boots seemed to be a fairly decent and objective discussion with many former and wannabe OAT students contributing both positive and negative comments about their experience. It was then merged with your very one sided tirade.
Where did you get the idea that only former and wannabe OAT students should post? As you said Muddy started it, but he did not specifically request that, nor would that be normal for a PPRuNe thread.
You suggest that you were expecting negative comments as well as positive. Why do you not accept a post that is entirely negative, and complain it is one-sided? Muddy's post is completely one-sided itself, entirely positive! Why is that post more relevant than Hedges's (which at least had the virtue of being almost entirely a description of his experience, rather than repetition of what he had been told but could not really know at his stage)?
I will most likely choose Modular
If you have a CPL/IR then surely there is no decision to make. Integrated training seems a poor enough choice for a self-sponsored
ab initio pilot, but it is ridiculous if you have significant experience, let alone a CPL/IR! You only require the ground exams. Why consider an integrated course?
By the way, quoting Oxford's pay level of £34k for instructors as a reason they are so expensive does not take account of the fact that this is normal for well-qualified instructors. The people teaching you will not be the same as those PPL instructors on any CPL or IR course.