A FTO is a complex machine:
Yes, you have to check plenty of data:
- Ground School: quality of Groundies, Are they properly teaching or just giving answer to questions? You may think the most important is to pass through the exams. No, it is not... you have to get an aviation education and a solid background for a whole career. The exams are just an assessment. You should be able to answer any question relative to the syllabus and you must not be only prepared to answer the Question Bank of your Civil Aviation Authority. Later on, when you will try to join an Airlines, the missing knowledge will be quickly detected during your interviews and you will pay a high price on your career if you have underestimated the knowledge you must acquire.
- On the Flying side, good instructors and the ratio "Students per instructor" are key elements. ICAO states that the OVERALL (considering students in the Ground School + in the Flying School) ratio must be 6 to 1. In fact, this ratio varies depending on the training phase. If you consider only the Flying School, training on a JAR syllabus, the ratio is approximately 3 to 1 during the PPL phase, 5 to 1 during the "Building Hours" phase and 2 to 1 during the ME/IR phase. Credentials of instructors have to be checked. Is the school utilising "Part Time" Flight Instructors? If yes, this is an important factor of non standardisation of the training and shows a low standard concept.
- Maintenance is also a key factor. How many LAMES (Licensed Aircraft Maintenance Engineers)? How many mechanics? Is the scheduled maintenance properly planned? A visit of maintenance facilities is very instructing.
- A modern training is using proper simulators devices fully agreed by the Civil Aviation Authority with proper visual systems (FNPT II, FBS....we discard gadgets like computer stations). But, if the performances of the simulators are an important factor, another key element is the quality of the Simulator instructors. How many simulators instructors?
- Another key element is the proposed syllabus. The Civil Aviation Authority has to check that a minimum standard is proposed. But the Major schools are delivering a training which is -most of the time- more important than the basic requirements. Because, in serious FTOs, we are "educators" and not only "trainers" and we consider the knowledge which is required by our main customers, -Airlines-, and the evolution of modern technologies and not only the ad-minimum Regulations set by Authorities.
- Finally the price is not the fundamental issue, on contrary. What,- if after spending a lot of money-, you are found " below the "Standard" and cannot enter in Airline? Maybe, the slim difference you have been reluctant to pay will cost you a lot all your life. What happens in India is a good example: thousands of students have flocked overseas, looking for the cheapest training. They come back home with a low standard CPL/IR and most of them fail the Airline Entry tests....Such a spoilage!!!
- A serious FTO will always propose you a progressive payment in several instalments.
If the FTO is managed by former Airline staff: generally they do know what is required as Entry Level of Ab-Initio cadets and they are fully aware of the Civil Aviation Culture,
it is also a definitive plus.
Being an old instructor, which years of experience, this is my 10 cents in this thread