Skies-Aviation experience coming from someone who actually did get rated there.
I got “rated” some couple of months ago at Skies. When I took my decision to go to Skies Aviation, I didn’t take this forum seriously because I saw some users in the thread who ACTUALLY WORK for the place. Such as Prash07 and Mazin(THE OWNER, Mazin Ansari). Just imagine yourself going to an institution where THE OWNER goes on an online forum and posts that it’s better for you to go somewhere else. (I knew all this after I was in Dubai/too late) I will list the Pros and cons below;
Pros: The course is taught by experienced and well trained pilots who fly for good airlines such as Air Arabia(A320) and FlyDubai(737NG).
That’s it about the Pros. Now let’s do the Cons.
Cons;
1. Communicating with Skies Aviation via E-mail is very hard. They will hardly respond to any of your E-mails.(This is not because they are busy or something, this is solely because they are very unorganized)
2. You only get good TRI (Who are active pilots for Air Arabia/FlyDubai) IF you are lucky. Sometimes you may get some TRIs who are not active pilots. And just want to rush you through the course and they end up teaching you nothing.
3. The so called “LINE TRAINING”/“JOB CONTRACT” is a marketing trap. They just say that to have an advantage among other TRTO’s. These concepts are very vaguely mentioned in the contract. And it literally states if we don’t like you we will throw you out and not pay you back your money. I know of one person who is actually doing it and many others who paid for it but are being refused by Skies. In one case I heard they threw out a pilot after he paid almost 60K Euros. They never returned his money.
4. In some occasions, the owner (Mazin) will come and sit in the sim while you are doing your session. Without asking for your permission. He starts talking about how you should fly. Considering you have a licensed TRI in the sim, these sessions can be very high tension (especially if you are the kind of pilot who doesn’t like to listen to anyone other than the qualified instructor for the job) and you just lose 4 hours (Each session is 4 hours) of precious sim time.
5. There is NO food included in the package. They just use the Emirates Aviation College’s LOUNGE to justify for food. By Emirates policy you are allowed to use the pilot lounge ONLY during simulator sessions which happen in Emirates Aviation College’s MAIN building. (you may be not so lucky and end up in other simulator buildings which don’t have ANYTHING other than a sim)
6. The personnel who work for Skies Aviation are very unprofessional (except for 2 or 3 persons who actually know what they are doing) and you never know what kind of stupidity they will come up with. They TRY to be professional, but that “Attempt” can be VERY annoying.
7. The transportation from hotel to class (ground/CBT) and to simulator is NOT included in the package price and YOU have to pay for it. You may go by a taxi, bus, metro, or even walk which can be a pain in the ass walking in Dubai’s streets with the sun directly above your head and wearing your pilot uniform(Yes, they make you wear cheap uniforms). However, IF you save your receipts for ONLY simulator sessions, they will pay you the amount. That is ONLY IF you remembered to get a receipt after paying. If not, you don’t get the money back.
8. According to Skies, The rooms in the hotel which you are going to stay are shared rooms. But, sometimes they give you an apartment which has 2 rooms with 2 beds. And they assign that "apartment" to 4 pilots. Yes, that means you are going to have to SHARE THE BED with a total stranger who you have never met before, and sleep with him/her on the same bed.
9. The treatment you receive from Skies is going to be very bad. They don’t consider you a client but rather a “Student” who is dumb and “in need” for their "help". So you will get that kind of treatment accordingly.
10. IF YOU DON’T PAY, YOU DON’T FLY. They don’t care if the banks are closed, or if your bank is in different time zone. They JUST DON’T CARE. No matter how sensitive the flying is (it may be your check-ride) THEY WILL NOT LET YOU FLY UNTILL THEY HAVE THE MONEY. No matter how much you beg them for some time (Even just a day so you can coordinate the money transfer). I repeat, THEY JUST DON’T CARE.
11. Sending of documents to your CAA after completion of the course can take up to 3-4 months. And you have to pay for it. It is NOT included in the package.
12. The contract you sign is VERY clear and states IF they don’t see you “FIT”, they can (and will. Trust me) dismiss you from the course anytime they please.
This is a company which has changed its name 3 times in the past 2 years. When I got rated, they used to work with Twospeed Aviation. A very good TRTO in Europe. But, recently Twospeed broke it's ties with Skies(Skies has had other European TRTO partners in the past, but they never manage to stay with one). Skies Aviation is not a TRTO, they just pay the real TRTOs so that they can use their certifications. They are simply acting as an intermediate. If you ask me if I would do my type rating with Skies Aviation again, I would say definitely not. They are very expensive, very unprofessional. There are many other TRTO’s that are MUCH better than Skies Aviation on so many different levels. Don’t give up on your search and learn from other’s mistakes. Find a TRTO in Europe. I hear Cockpit4u is a good one, but I’ve never had any interactions more than E-mails. They seemed professional enough. Or Baltic Aviation. If I could describe Skies Aviation in one sentence, it would be; it is a mom and pop shop TRTO that is struggling with its mom and pop shop like problems. Don’t let the words like “Job” deceive you. Go somewhere that will actually deliver you for the amount of money you pay. Somewhere that will treat you like a professional pilot that you are.
Last edited by The guy; 15th Dec 2013 at 16:10.