I returned from EFT late December, my second visit to this particular school, and so may be able to offer people some current insight.
I do not have a gripe with EFT, since I achieved what I set out to accomplish there. However, that is not to say I was disappointed with what I saw. Bearing in mind this was my second visit, my first being two years previous. I could see how things have detiorated in that time.
For now, my personal opinion on training there is two-fold: if you have a deadline to train to, then I would not recommend this school at present for any license nor rating. If, on the other hand, you have time to waste, instruction is good albeit time consuming.
Of course, it is not my intention to defame a schools reputation, but purely to place the facts in front of prospective students so an informed decision can be made.
It is a shame this school has gone the way it has, because it used to be a good place to train. I do hope they give themselves a good kick up the arse and get things back on an even keel there.
- Two instructors, teaching both PPL & CPL students, is just not enough. I believe a third is arriving in February, but I am unconvinced an extra instructor will alleviate things to that extent.
- The management do not limit student numbers, leading to a situation where two instructors become swamped with students. The result is that a student will only fly once a day if they are very lucky.
- If you are a CPL student, then the Arrow is tech nearly constantly. “It will be up in a couple of days,” then “…next week,” then “…the following week.” I saw many CPL students leave having never even got into the Arrow. One complex single a/c which is nearly always down leads to a backlog of CPL students. Once you have done your training in the 172, you may be sat around for weeks waiting for the Arrow to come on line again. In my experience, when the Arrow does come up, it usually goes tech again soon after anyway. Bear in mind, that all this time, you are paying for accommodation. If you decide to leave, you will get a partial refund of your monies. Unfortunately, this was the same situation with this a/c during my first visit some 2 years previously. I had hoped this circumstance would have been remedied by now, but it hasn’t.
- Trevor and Ben, the owners of EFT, are great guys. They get things done. However, they are not there nearly enough of the time since they both are airline pilots and are away 4 or 5 days of every week. The students I attended with were of the opinion that running EFT was a bit of a hobby for them now, and it did not demand a good slice of their attention anymore. When Trevor is in the office, things do get done and students get slots.
- Which brings me onto the current instructors. Quality of instruction, when you get it, is good. Don’t be under any illusion, they know their stuff and will bring you up to speed. However, when left in charge, things do not get done as quickly as if Trevor was chasing things up for example. If you have a scheduling problem, hands seem to get washed of it, shoulders shrugged.
- The scheduling system is out of the Dark Ages. One diary shared between EFT & AriBen, where a student pencils him/herself in for a slot. Open for abuse. You may have booked your slot in 4 days beforehand, but you turn up with your kit and find the a/c has been taken by another or has gone tech! A round trip of 30 or 40 miles for no reason could have been prevented by a simple phone call from either your instructor or Dispatch which never comes. Dispatch, run by AriBen, can be less than helpful shall we say. Some EFT students claim a scheduling bias in favour of the AriBen students, but I never encountered this personally.
If you are a prospective CPL student phoning to make an enquiry, ask them if they have any plans to lease a new complex single in or how many hours the Arrow has flown in the last month. How many CPL students have passed through their doors in the last month. Of those, how many have gained their CPL‘s. Ask to talk to current students - they are always around outside the office. Ask the right questions.
A final thought if I were to do it again and for some reason I had my heart set on going to EFT. As has been stated before, EFT piggyback on AriBen. A premium is charged for a/c rental & accommodation. If you are a PPL student or an IR student, have you thought of attending through AriBen and converting back in Europe? AriBen instructors are more numerous (at least 20 in number), have fewer students between them, work longer hours, and the accommodation is cheaper too. Either that, or go elsewhere.
This really is the last thought. The past six months at least have seen a glut of Indian students at AriBen seeking to be trained on top of the American & European students, leading to huge numbers of students at both schools after the same a/c. This impacts on a/c availability for EFT students too due to the piggyback nature of the schools. I found that the 172’s had the bollocks flown off of them during the day and by time builders at night. On at least two occasions, all flying was suspended for a whole day because the 172’s were all tech or there was only one left flying and the schools couldn’t afford to have that go down too.
I hope my experiences and others posted here help you make an informed decision. Weigh up the pro’s & con’s and make your decision. Above all, ask the right questions! There is more than enough discussion here to come up with some taxing questions to put to the management.