Egnatia Student's Report.....
Good afternoon to everyone here from the sunny Greece.
First of all i would like to introduce myself with honesty as from i have read many doubts exist about who is who and what their role at EGNATIA AVIATION TRAINING is. So my name for your convenience is VIC and yes i am a male. Im doing my ATPL ground at the moment with EGNATIA after finishing my superb hourbuilding around the beautiful and too HOT greek islands.
Many of you are wondering about prices rather than quality at first... i did the same as i want to be honest as i said. After spending a fair amount of money for gaining my PPL in the UK (exeptionally good quality) i was in doubt about my future as all those well-known 'pilot friendly' banks and managers were just unable to help me... im poor and i like it at least at the end of my licenses and training like most of us who are doing the same ill be saying that i have earned them with many sacrifies. Now for everyone like me comes the point of the DECISION MAKING! Honestly what are we looking for? less expensive QUALITY, flexible and secure training!! After managing to do my own extensive research i had the opportunity to meet with both the EGNATIA'S director and ask for as much info as i could.... this conversation was something unusual to my eyes as u dont expect the directors answering your questions. By the way till now and since i have been here these two gentlemen are doing the same and always willing to help. That confirms the EGNATIA'S flight instructor posts about an open doors company and always welcoming questions complains and all that by having a discussions with the directors and instructors accompanied by a COLD FRAPPE coffee. ( seriously u need it).
After extending my writing and sorry if u find it boring, im moving on with my personal experiences good and bad at EGNATIA. A very modern and friendly environment, for me that is important as during our aviation training apart from our home-study conditions which we can modify we need a school fully equipped and with always ready to help instructors. Internet access is unlimited with WI FI (if im right ) technology. Anyway i bring my laptop and im always connected or i use the school's pcs. The library is there to assist and can be used anytime with a very flexible book borrowing system. Now comes my first complaint as i would like the school to expand the library even more. A fter a conversation with our HoT ( HEAD OF TRAINING) DR SMITH he reassured me that orders for more books and tapes have been made and he is willing to ask the students for more ideas or prefferences fro this. A relaxation area with nice and comfy sofas accompanied by a cafe area and a huge screen tv is there for those lovely moments of pilots conversations and of course for times we need or want to watch our favourite programme or something avition related. trust me theres many of them at the school as well as magazines!!
Moving to the apron oohh yes the apron every future pilot's favourite word ( assuming that the old ones are bored of it).Theres four DIAMOND DA-40 ( with more to come) and the stunner EGNA.. thats the twin. Very clean well equipped , maintained and pretty new aircraft. rosteringwise now there is so much flexibility that i have managed to visit every single greek island in 28 days. an advantage is that with prior notice to the school it can be arranged to keep an a/c overnight to wherever u go ( usually weekends). The magic comes as LGKV is an international one and many times it happens to line up before or worst behind an AIRBUS 330 or a boeing 767. the reason for sayin behind is worst is not the wake turbulence but just the jealousy!! ( thats why we are here though , to achieve a right hand seat in one of those).
Instructionwise now our Hot dr Smith is well known very friendly and after spending a week in the classroom with him i achieved a 90% score on the HPL consolidation paper. ( CATS ATPL GUIDES, CATS ground instructors and new methodology which is a EGNATIA-CATS combination of ideas).The in-house course is full time 9:00 - 17:00 everyday and its being done by projection explanations notes and discussions. Till now very happy with the ground school and a proof to myself is my progress. Our CFI chief flying instructor mr GEORGE GEORGIOU has so much experience as the nickname i gave him was the ' moving library'. He is strict and if the examiners expectations with a number is 7 his its 11!! Thats exactly what u need to become a competent pilot. He is straightforward that after flying with you he will tell u tha t u either CAN or CANNOT be a pilot. From my point of view this is excellent.I know situations where the school had to make decisions about pilots ( stay or not stay ). Theres no aptitude testing for us prior joining as many big schools do but if in doubt you wont stay. As i have seen this happening reassures me for the quality of the training. Guys and Girls lets be realistic not everyone can be a pilot and as the school at the moment needs to build up their image and concerning about their product result which is us the pilots they wont let anyone without the abilities to continue just for them to make money.
The reason fro the school being so cheap has been expalined from mr Hall in another reply and i hope its been understood!
Coming now to the rest of the staff the rest of the instructors are well trained very friendly and i cannot give a certain opinion about their flying as it had never happened for me to fly with one of them. The admin staff now are also friendly persons always there for us and they wont say no to things like even taking us to the supermarket. Responsible for our flight plans roster and slots they do all the boring things for us and always smiling! With Maxine the admin manager with can discuss any proble u may have and it will be resolved ASAP. STEPHANOS (MR PC EXPERT our it manager) and christina at the reception will handle our 'pilots' strange characters with patience and they will do their best to accomodate us cheer us up and arrange our fuel and general declerations for when going away!
Thw accomodation now it has nothing to do with halls of residence and it can be a single room in apartments or shared. here now i ask for help on how to submit some fotos of my room ( let me tidy up first) so u can see how it looks like.
finishing off now i have to say again that noone asked me to write this and i am not EGNATIA'S member os staff or instructor!! U are welcome to come see the school talk with us and have some fun too !! why not? Even though i have tried to write a lot i know i have missed many things so do not hesitate to ask and when able i will reply. Im even willing to send pics from oour trips and way of living to ur emails. Ask me and u will get!!!
Thanks for reading this report to all of u and to those who are already flying i wish the best LANDINGS and to everyone good luck with your future!! Im happy with EGNATIA and im confident that i will be till the end!
P.S: i forgot to say that people from major airlines and not have been around checking the school and doing some research. Dont know what that might mean but if i hear smth i will pass the message!!!
GOOD DAY
Last edited by pilot-320; 9th Oct 2006 at 14:55.