What can I say. Eat my words! There's nothing like throwing a bit of fire in the pan. Well, I did know that there was a asphalt rwy at stapleford and I haven't taken off from it yet(how I forget things on the heat of writting). But I didn't know that there was a VOR.
I flew a seneca out of stapleford the other week to keep current with my twin rating and found the plane to be in excellent quality. I did see a few cessnas in bad shape, but I hate those planes anyway. Give me a piper any day.
They do seem to be in a reasonable location just outside of london and the bar there is pretty reasonable and always has a few people inside.
As for training there, I like the idea of both being in the same plane to learn of each others mistakes. Perhaps I should give stapleford a second look before dismissing them. I only go on past experience of cheap price = cheap service. Now if I pay the expensive price at say OAT or Cabair, atleast I am fairly certain of what I am getting. I originally started my ppl with cabair and found them to be second to none compared to several schools I tried. So, I eat my words and will take all your advice and check it out again.
OK, as for LGU, the stuff about lots of people getting all first passes first time is utter BS. very few do at LGU and only recently have pass rates been increasing because of a few additions of good tutors and feedback questions that appear to come from....O.hh.....A.nother.....T.ime (put it together). Some people say you get what you put into it, well I have put plenty of effort into it and can say that I don't want to learn incorrect and confusing material. Put two people next to each other of equal standing who have both studied the same subject, can you say that they will have the same results? no. It depends to a large extent on the tutors and the study material. Is it a coincidence that the LGU is rated as one of the 5 worst universities in the country?(I wish I found that out before I started). Granted, people will pass from there and it is mostly because of there own determination. (Sorry to the LGU tutors as you are mostly good tutors, but the notes really do suck - atleast you are doing something about it.)
It does seem that the minute someone writes a bad word about somewhere, everyone else knocks it down. Maybe that is why no one hears bad words about a place.
Well, at the end of the day we all have to make a decision that is right for us as an individual and we weigh up the pros and cons of a place.
Good luck to all those waiting to pass and those starting on courses and those waiting for jobs and those training in the air.... Perhaps one day we'll all be in the left seat!
JD