Originally Posted by
woofwoof
Moggiee
Ive searched some of your posts and you do appear to have some sort of 'downer' on non UK fto's
Maybe if there is a genuine reason for this, you could post some detail to give other wannabees who are about to spend considerable amounts of time and money the benefit of your experience to give additional background information to help make an informed choice when selecting a training establishment.
I don't have a downer on overseas FTOs, just poor ones. The merits or otherwise of training overseas have long been discussed, especially with regard to Spain (in particular). I stand by what I said in those posts.
As a general rule though, I
personally believe that if it's possible, it pays to train with an FTO which is overseen by the authority that administers the area in which you plan to fly. E.g. train in the UK for a UK job and Germany for a German job etc. Having instructed for a number of years at a UK CAA regulated overseas JAA FTO I know full well that geography makes less of a difference than the attitude of the regulator.
For example, we frequently see people who are converting FAA licences who find the transition much more challenging than they expected. They often struggle to get used to UK procedurtes, R/T, ATC etc.
For experienced pilots, like the original poster, it's less of an issue but for chaps at the bottom of the experience curve it can be.
As I say, personal opinion based upon personal experience - but I know a lot of other instructors feel this way, too.