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Old 11th Mar 2007, 18:27
  #14 (permalink)  
Icarus_
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My knowledge of this school is very limited, but I offer whatever I know. The following includes my observations and also some second hand information which I have obtained from a friend who trained there (I hope he does not mind me quoting him, but I do this only as an attempt to help those who may be considering this school).

First of all, it is a newish school, having been all over the local papers as being "The first JAA approved FTO in Malta", I have down quite a lot of flying in Malta over the last few years, and personally I don't know why they bothered to gain JAA approval as the Maltese do things the Maltese way and scr*w all the others. The school certainly appears to do things their own way. The man in charge there, who I have spoken with on the phone once or twice is a prize clown, a man who has been there and done it all, got the t-shirt etc etc . . . needless to say I would (my personal opinion) not go there if I was looking to do my PPL or any other flight training. But that is just the man in charge, they may have good instructors, you never know.

As I've said, a friend of mine trained there, and did not receive much help in the way of ground training and says he did all the PPL theory on his own, but still got charged for it. A lot of bad is said of their aircraft, Tecnams, I've never flown one but they offer trial flights so why not go and try it out, if it suits you then consider training there. As with everything in life its down to the individual to make up their own mind, what works for some may not work for others, my only direct contact with the school has been in a telephone call with the man in charge. My freind on the other hand spent some months there and backs up my impression of the man.

I am happy with where I am training, but they are not cheap (DO NOT ASK ME WHERE I AM TRAINING, I WON'T SAY), but things here are not perfect here either. It is not cheap here (where I am) but I made a decision at the beginning of my course, after speaking with many experienced pilots, that QUALITY IS NOT CHEAP and you have to be prepared to spend some money in order to receive QUALITY training.

There will of course be people who have had good experiences at EPA and I am not saying that my friend regrets ever going there, he does feel however that a little more money spent at another school would have made his PPL training more enjoyable, afterall flight training should be fun.
Unfortunately there seems to be a few schools out there who get their priorities a little confused and neglect the student, who at the end of the day is a customer and deserves to be satisfied.

As stated before, I visit Malta on business fairly often, and can say that you should not be fooled by the EPA web site that Malta is the "best" place to fly, or that they are the "best" in europe, go see for yourself of even better, spend a little bit more and go to an established school that has a good reputation and don't spend your hard earned cash just to be some new schools guinea pig.

Good Luck

and if you've read this far, well done!

ain't anonimity great?