Thats all a thing of the past now Dirk. Am fully qualified to have people attempt to kill me on a daily basis whilst earning enough to eat thin porridge and live in a shoebox!
Sprawler, to your question: Did the instructors rating at FTC. Initially I was hesitant about training there due to some negative comments I had seen on this forum. Nevertheless, since the school was conveniently located I decided to do the training there anyway and I was pleasantly suprised. A lot of the students there are Atlantic students and one would be for given for thinking one was back in the UK! The facilites are excellent (modern, excellent simulators etc.)
I found the instructors there to a really pleasant, friendly and enthusiastic bunch.
The accomodation block (I didn't stay there but know someone who did) is very modern and clean.
The notes that I used were excellent. Grand Central is under the Johannesburg TMA and you can the see the JHB International rwys from the circuit at Grand Central. It can get very busy under the TMA and you need to keep your eyes and ears open. This is all good practice though. Grand Central doesn't have an ILS although there is one at Lanseria which is a ten minute flight away. Grand Central has as NDB approach procedure and there are a couple of VORs close by.
The aircraft: FTC has a fleet of something like 22 aircraft. Mostly C172s and Cherokees as well as a new Piper Archer. The aircraft range from excellent to average although I didn't have any problems with any of the a/c that I flew.
The students are divided into two streams - those on the cadet programme with Atlantic and the local students. Unfortunately the locals get to suck the hind teat as far as aircraft go, with only 3 of the aircraft allocated to us - the rest were reserved for the cadets. The cadets also seemed to get the most experienced instructors although I was more than happy with the instructors I flew with.
FTC has just binned 24 million rand on a complete new Piper fleet which will be arriving at a rate of a couple a month. The new fleet will be mostly Piper Archers, Senecas and I heard talk of a King Air as well.
Overall, I was quite happy with the training there. I will send you my e-mail if you need more info - check your e.mail. I also suggest you try and get hold of some of the Atlantic Students that are training there and ask for their opinions.