Very good point el @. Latin America is not a homogeneous region (there is a huge difference between a country like Honduras or Nicaragua and one like Chile and Argentina). Asking what training is like in a broad area like Latin America is like asking what training quality is like in Asia.
The problem that I have tried to highlight is that if someone is on a limited monetary and time budget, like most ab-initio students, then some countries can be quite taxing in patience. I expect that the situation is considerably more organized in places like but not limited to Mexico, Chile, Brazil and Argentina, where there is more of an established flight training industry.
My friend feels quite happy because for him learning to fly was a post mid-life ambition, a hobby, and so since he was living in Managua anyway inconveniences and delays didn't matter too much. As I had mentioned, his instructor taught him all sorts of skills that most established US schools would scare away from because of the litigious society that it is. His instructor exposed his student to dirt strips, low altitude navigation, instrument flying and other piloting skills that would never be covered at many other schools.
One of the problems in many Latin American countries is that foreigners are restricted for holding a professional pilot licence-- in other words, a CPL, ATP or Instructor Ratings. In Nicaragua, DGAC being a small entity has started to issue these licences to foreigners with the limitation stating that the licence is only valid for private flying.
And as crack up has mentioned and as my friend knows all too well, getting the licences locally means little if you hope to find a job in the region-- just very unlikely.
Last edited by Panama Jack; 30th Jun 2006 at 03:11.