ACS / AST Expericance
I don't usually post on prune but after my experiences at Perth I thought I would like to share my opinions. Although I conducted all my training at Acs not ast , they are the providers of the flight training part of the course.
Hour Building! Acs have a very large fleet of C152s and PA38 tomahawks all maintained to an excellent standard! They had very good availability on there aircraft an actively encouraged there students to hire the aircraft all day and visit further airfield! There rates were highly competitive with it coming in at around 100 pounds an hour which for what I got a pa38 with ils,vor,adf and sockets to put gps into I found very reasonable! With free landings at Perth this was also an added bonus! At times it almost felt like my own personal aircraft.
CPL- They have 3 CPL instructors , all are very highly experienced guys with the least having 1500 hours total! The course is conducted in the piper arrow for all 25 hours which I felt was well worth it compared to some schools who offer 15 hours on archers first! So the teaching- Each leason started with a thorough briefing in there well equipped classrooms and were conducted in an interesting and non rushed manner! I felt during the flying part that my instructor was always keen to teach mE thoroughly but also not willing to waste my money. I completed the cpl in just over minimum hours with a first time pass and could not be more happy with my experience! In all in took around 5 weeks with very little time being lost to the weather! Throughout the course I had the same Instructor with the aircraft mostly being shared between myself an another CPL student!
Mep/IR - For the IR they use the piper Seneca and FNPT 2! For the IR I was allocated CFI John Stewart! I have to say this guy was a complete god when it came to teaching and although I've flown with a good 10 instructors nobody will ever come close! The IR took me 7 weeks again with minimal days off due to the weather and again very close to minimum hours with a first time pass! The 2 senecas were very well maintained and I never had a fault with them at all! With an on site maintenance facilities problems would be sorted out usually within an hour or so! Again I had John throughout the whole course with all his attention being varied between me and his one other IR conversion student.The IR training is conducted usually at either Dundee, Abderdeen or Glasgow with very limited transiting times to each of these destinations.With Perth having it's own VOR is also meant being able to practice instrument approaches without having to travel and waste value money in the cruise.Throughout the course the teaching I experienced was of a very high standard and I felt I was not taught only to pass the test but to actually prefer myself for flying in real IFR environment!
Overall the experience I had was a very positive one and I would have no trouble recommending ACS to anyone! With great instructors and a well organised student manager who always let you know your slots and times in advance , they are definitely a great school! if you want quality training for a good price I'd look know further!
Last edited by 4redsyourdead; 20th May 2012 at 14:03.