Hello all,
Very interesting to see how much interest there is on egnatia. for a first time user of pprune it is facinating to read such passionate comments from registered members, moderators and spectators alike. It considates how seriously the aviation industry is taken by so many individual's today.
For anyone that is interested, I have just gained a JAA licence in Greece at Egnatia and as I have heard so much of pprune over the past weeks that i felt compelled to register and leave some comments about my findings.I hope they may be of use to any one considering flight traing in the near future.
I am, as so many are, an aspiring pilot, who one day hopes to be in a position to apply for FO positions within the air transport sector, whether it be with national carriers or corperate operators.
I had spent years perusing through the back pages of several popular flying magazines, I had also sent emails to many FTO's to digest their set-up's and prices and I too had been caught short of a decision as to how,where and why.
I trust you will treat my following comments as gospel and can only ask you to appreciate that I have taken time to orchestrate this post to be as neutral as possible with respect to the sensitivity linked with members scepticism regarding such subscribed posts.
Here we go!
The school is based in an international airport (LGKV, 3000m runways) Taxying out to holding points/ landing in front of heavy jets (73's,320's & 330's) is an experience dreams are made of. Listening to the pro's mess up a position report or wrongly repeat taxi instructions only reinforces the realisation that the big boys are meer mortals like us.
Flight/ground training is provided by an experienced team of career instructors whilst progress checks are frequently carried out by the 5000 hour CFI. All have become very good friends as well as respected peers.
The fleet of aircraft are all VFR/IFR diamonds(DA40 & DA42). They speak for themselves.
The school itself is housed adjacent to the main terminal and is in very good order complete with rest areas, kitchen,vending machine's and wi'fi connection as well as the usual facilities you would expect.
Respectable complex style accommodation was provided in an area called Keramoti which is a coastal village town 15 minutes drive from the airport. A beach,numerous restaraunts and bars are within a 5 minute walk as well as a half hour ferry ride to the island of thassos.
A company vehicle runs a daily shuttle service at 0815am although some students hired cars.
The airspace in Greece is wide open for GA traffic. I personally visited several Islands during my training and concluded my course by flying myself to Thessaloniki international (2nd busiest in Greece) for my return journey back to the UK.
Happy day's
Gmac
