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Old 10th November 2008 | 11:55
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G SXTY

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: ATPL
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From: Doon the watter, a million miles from the sandpit.
When times are good, BA's minimum requirement for direct entry pilots is in the order of 500hrs multi-crew experience. By that stage, where and how you got the licence is utterly irrelevant.

To answer the original question, BCFT and SFC are both reputable schools. Over many years I've heard very few bad reports about Stapleford, and from experience (having done my PPL with them) training and maintenance standards are good. No direct experience of BCFT, but the comments I've read have generally been good. I did meet a couple of guys when I was at PAT who'd decided to move from BCFT, but without knowing both sides of the story it would be unfair to criticise the school. I'd certainly recommend sticking your head round PAT's door if you're visiting Bournemouth.

Rather than just comparing schools, you might also want to compare the airfields and facilities. Just a few points to consider:

Bournemouth
Regional airport with ATC and radar, ILS and NDB approaches. CAA examiners on site, fairly small number of IR test routes, most of which you will get to fly during training.

Stapleford
Busy airfield with half a tarmac runway and limited hard taxiways. Can get horribly congested in winter when the grass areas are unusable. A/G radio only, which makes for an exciting circuit on sunny days when you'll be mixing it with loadsa students in 152s (plus the odd visitor who thinks they're actually at North Weald) . . . Nearest ILS and NDB is at Southend. Nearest CAA test centre is Cranfield, which means positioning the aircraft before test and less familiarity with test routes than you'd get at Bournemouth.

Leaving aside the merits of each school, I'd suggest the environment at Bournemouth is more conducive to airline training.
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