Someone mailed me earlier with a list of questions and I have decided to give my replys here so that you can all read them.
They related to questions I'm sure you all have about EFT - just have a look and decide for yourselves but PLEASE don't flood my inbox with questions. I have a lot to do at the moment workwise.
(Big Grecian might be able to better explain the 200 hours FAA versus 100 hours JAA rules a little better, but below is my take on it anyway - cheers mate and see you for beers in the sandpit soon I hope!)
Cheers.
"Hello
The 200hr ME course is great but remember that if you are planning on using those hours in a JAA environment that you can only count 100 of them.
The reason for this is that the FAA allows BOTH PF and PNF to log flight hours due to the "safety pilot" condition(Big Grecian????) . (All flights are class as IFR and therefore one pilot is always checking the other's progress - however, JAA doesn't recognise that position so therefore you can only log the hours that you were PF or P1 in JAAspeak)
Customer Service - short and to the point; they deliver what they say and contrary to opinions on the forum, they will help you out as much as they can. Mike Cohen is a nice guy but if you whine, he will get annoyed. Just be straight and be prepared for him to be direct with you - but he will help and in particular will go out of his way to help if it is his fault.
You will also have to deal with TJ Mete who is in charge of visas. She will constantly shout at you and treat you like you were five years old. Just shout back - loudly! I think she likes the debate but deep down she's ok.
Efficiency of scheduling vs unnecessary delays - any delay will be necessary. Usually due to something broken that has to be fixed and is on the aircrafts MEL. Remember that as an airline pilot in the future, you will be sitting on the ramp for hours sometimes, usually because of something small.
Probability of finishing the Prof.Pilot program in 6 months - not going to happen. You will probably get all the training done - but it takes a seriously good student to be able to do that. You will fail some stuff and have to retrain but that is just the life of a student pilot. Remember that you will have to instruct there for a year too!
Maintenance practices and aircraft reliabilty - maintenance practice is by the book. No exceptions. I have gone at the throats of other posters on the forum because of stupid claims that Ari's airplanes are not checked. They are constantly. Every hour is logged and then the planes are checked every 100 hours as per FAA requirements. I have seen many a tearful student being told "NO" when asked if they could let the aircraft run to 101 or 105 hours. The guy simply will not take the risk.
The aircraft are as reliable as any other BE76 Duchess. But like all piston craft, they are cantankerous and moody. They don't break down very much but you have to treat them nice. (You'll know what I mean when you start flying them - don't jam throttles forward etc. these are true pilot's planes)
Quality of Instruction - second to none.
Experience of International Students - it varies. Some love the place. Some hate it. It is usually down to culture. And language. The guys I know who like it have a great time. Me included.
The chief instructor is ex-French air force and one of their top instructors is Danish.
Management practices - hardline, but fair and they are very efficient. But don't whine. This is a flight school and whining is a no-no. The more you progress into your training, the more you will realise that some problems and delays are a fact of flying life.
That's it."