AAA Feedback February 2013
AAA did not work for me. I joined them in February, a bit after Patrick (the thread starter) left, for EASA PPL, having cleared all ground exams previously in UK.
I agree mostly with all of Patrick statements, it is not a bad outfit at all and the training costs are affordable, in a challenging environment (mountain flying, busy Airport), squawks do not occur so often and there are always dealt with rapidly, etc.
However, in my opinion, one problem is the instructors. There is an old saying ‘there are no bad students, only bad instructors’ . The school did not have any single ‘EASA instructor’ (a person who passed 14 ATPL ground exams), but only ‘EASA approved instructors’, in fact all FAA licensed.
During my time there (the entire month of February) there were only 2 EASA approved instructors, or, at least, only 2 instructors taking care of EASA students:
I came along quite nicely with her over the training, except the landings. She was not able to teach properly the landings – right sequence of operations, visual cues, flaring point, etc. Plus I got some bad habits (improper instruments scan techniques, yoke jerking) from the beginning. As such, I could not be cleared for 1st solo after 36 hrs TT and 96 landings logged. At that point I realized I am wasting my resources and decided to quit the course and continue in UK.
Also she was not keen to give any reasonable de-briefing after lessons, although I was committed to pay the same.
Looking back, I should have asked to switch after 1st week of training, after realizing her level of instructional capabilities. I was a bit unlucky, as Martin, Head of Training, was flue sick that time, for more than a week.
I had completed 1 hour of ‘remedial’ training just before I left and not only I was not cleared for solo, but he identified all the bad habits I got during the training, plus he was not available for me to switch.
After some work commitments, I have returned back in UK and cleared for 1st solo during the 3rd day of training, exactly after 5 hrs dual with a very good instructor in Coventry. Nothing more to add.
Regarding the course termination, the moment I decided to quit, I went straight to Martin, then Tom (school owner), and I explained my situation. They both accepted and that was it. I got with me all the training records and I was refunded the outstanding balance $1000 after 28 days.