@helihaund
Thanks for sharing your opinion. When going through your list, i can mark all points positive for the school i want to go to. Ok, i only talked to one of their students but i got a positive picture from what he told me about his training. They have a R44 and a R22 for the school so far and are going to get a new R22 soon (the one they have has about 1300hrs now, well maintained). The maintenance is also done within the company. Because of the costs (doing your PPL(H) on R22 and R44 is cheaper than PPL(H) in R22 and type rating on R44 afterwards) i am still thinking about what road to follow. A combined course includes 30 hours R22 and 10 hrs R44 (done at a later stage). We get JAR-FCL on 01.05.2003 in germany and the only thing that changes for sure is higher costs. I am planning to start before to do the PPL(H) still under the 'old regulations' (minimum 45 hrs, 40 hrs if done within 5 months, 80 hours groundschool (1 hr = 45 mins, will go to 60 mins under JAR-FCL regulations). But i do plan more than 45 hrs anyway (time and budget). I will keep in mind what you said concerning mixing of types and thanks for your wishes. Like i said earlier: I was alwas interested in helicopters but got addicted with the first trial hour.
@Hilico
Agree with you. I would never pay such an amount upfront. If it was a policy with a flight school, i would just head for another school.
@Whirlybird
I read about your experience with your PPL(H). Too bad if you notice it that late but thanks for sharing. It might be easier for a lot of people to recognize what goes wrong in the beginning. I doubt that someone starting to learn has a good sense to notice what you mentioned because enthusiasm might keep you away from having second thoughts.