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Old 12th Dec 2010, 11:41
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welliewanger
 
Join Date: Feb 2006
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Hi Chael,
You'll have trouble finding anyting other than opinions here. Even if you talk to the chief pilot of Ryanair you'll only get his opinion which may well be different from that of the same person for easyJet.

With that in mind as yourself this question...
Which would you rather buy:
- A 1 series BMW (not considered to be a particularly good car, nevertheless it's a beamer)
- A lada (remember them?) which according to the spec sheet is the best car in the world.

Option 1 is the well known FTO like FTE. They have a track record, know all the right people and buyers (recruiters) have a rough idea of what they're getting.

Option 2 is the unknown flight school. The freshly minted new fATPL may be so good he puts Ice man and Goose to shame, but do the buyers (recruiters) know this? No, all they have is a CV in which you blow your own trumpet.

Even if the student from school 1 is only mediocre and the the guy from school 2 is amazing, the first one stands a greater chance of getting their foot in the door.

OK, that tackles it from a recruiters point of view. Next we need to consider how the training is for the student. I can vouch for FTE, I think they did a fantastic job of training me (I instructed for other schools afterwards, so I've got a rough idea of the competition).
I don't know what Bonus Aviation is like, I've never heard of them. If you consider their training to be comparable to that of FTE, then refer to my previous point. It's all a question of how much money you're willing to risk for how great a risk.

Good luck in your decision making and flying training.
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