I went around on the weekend and it seems that there used to be four flight schools at Teesside airport... St. George is merging with Durham Tees Flight Training, Cleveland Flight School is gone (but the website is still up), and the place is now occupied by Teesside Flight Training.
I also went to Newcastle airport and all I could find was Northumbria Flying School which also merged with St. George. Apparently, NFS is partners with DTFT, so although the aircraft hire was cheaper by about £20 per hour, there really was no reason to go all the way to Newcastle if I can just do the training in DTFT.
I would have to say that I was quite disappointed with what I saw... I guess I did not know what to expect but now I'm just confused:
St. George - very nice website, everything was clear and explained in simple terms. The office was a small building
similar to this. Quite tidy, but small... I guess I expected the school to be bigger.
I was aiming to speak with one of the instructors here but I was told they were all out flying so I just got to peek into their offices/rooms.
DTFT - again, professionally-done website, lots of info and pics. The office was contained in one-half of a building but the outside was a stark contrast to the website --- if I did not know of the website, I would've thought
THIS school was the one going out of business. Apparently, they plan to move to the St. George office once the merge is complete.
I spoke with a young lad who was apparently a newly-licensed pilot who I guess was there working to build up hours as well. Their CFI was away on holiday, and the other instructor was a young man.... probably younger than me! On the plus side, I was handed a small folder with everything I needed to know on it, prices, schedules, etc.
Teesside Flight Training - this was the one that impressed me the most, but again, confused me. The website was done clearly by someone who just slapped everything together and can't-be-bothered to make sure it looked right. There is no mention of what aircraft they own, their gallery is mostly pics from the internet and what looks like actual pics are too tiny to make out. Why bother with a gallery page at all? Figuring out pricing for anything except the "gift flights" was close to impossible!
However, their actual office was nice and roomy, with a "lecture room" that probably had as much space as the entire offices of the first two schools. They have a bar and it was possible to have great views of the airfield from where you can sit. I can imagine this place to be a great location to meet with friends before/after flying. The downside was that to enter the airfield, they had to use the only gate that was nearer to DTFT.
I spoke with the owner/manager and this appears to be a family-run business with the owner doing the flying and instructing and the rest of the family handling the finances or running the bar. The owner was kind enough to answer a good few questions and as he was an older guy, I guess that's why he seemed to "know his way around" more than the younger guys I've spoken with.
Northumbria Flying School - this was another school with a very-well-done website, but was the most run-down school in terms of physical appearance. Apparently, their office/hangar was built around the 1930's and that's still the same building they're using now!
I spoke with a kind, elderly gentleman who was apparently the owner of the school. He was the one that informed me that his school and DTFT were now partners, and that his hangar/facilities were being used for maintenance of the DTFT aircraft.
So anyway, those are my thoughts regarding the schools I've visited. I've seen the aircraft that the schools use, but only from "behind the fence" so no close-up inspections. Aside from these, I know very little about this so I'm not sure I know what to look for or what questions to ask.
@ Poolietom: thanks for recommending St. George, but as they're merging with DTFT, I guess it'll be DTFT I'll be joining if I decide to go that way.
@G-F0RC3: lol, sorry, I meant NE England.
@ JDA2012: thanks for the link and congratulations on your PPL! Unfortunately, unless I'm really desperate or the local schools put me off totally, I would think Newcastle (40-min drive) is the furthest I'd like to go. I don't want to imagine driving home for more than an hour after a tiring day of flying. York is just over an hour, and that's if there's no traffic.
@ fa2fi: yeah, I've been told that it's better to train out of Teesside airport since it has the equipment and runway but there are less commercial flights so less waiting time. Also, the airport fees for T&G and landings are about half of Newcastle airport's fees. I'm not sure what you mean about "clearing security" though. Care to explain?
@ OldManJoe: thanks for recommending DTFT! If they had the same organization but had the facilities Teesside Flight Training have, I'd have signed up by now. I'm not sure I follow what you say about "steering clear of others... history, etc," please explain!
Thanks!