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Old 16th Oct 2013, 17:51
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downsetgo
 
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Fly in Spain Jerez - personal review PPL training

Hello,

to everyone who is thinking about going for a PPL-licence at Fly-in-Spain (FIS) in Jerez, Spain I share my experience in a few words.

Having checked this forum for reviews on schools I decided to give it a try with FIS since this was the one where only one single negative review existed and which was also resolved in an open manner as far as I can tell. Also prices were reasonable.

So I (mid 30s, male) went to FIS between February and April this year to start the PPL from scratch. I haven`t had the time to read any books in advance and I had a time frame of max. two months to get everything done. I booked only one week in advance and it was no problem.

Organisation
School rooms are not the newest but absolutely do serve their purpose for getting theoretical knowledge into the brains, for planning flights and having a chat with others. The staff at FIS always was friendly to me. There is one secretary who takes care of organisational stuff such as the student`s flight accounts or room booking for in of two shared apartments (if needed). There is one person taking care of booking instructors to the student`s schedules as needed. Sometimes the owner is there, also friendly and interesting to talk to.

Getting the medical was no problem, but because at FIS one is applying for the EASA PPL issued by the British CAA the initial medical had to be done by a British doctor in Gibraltar (1,5 hr trip by car).

Training
Having mentioned the administrative part which is limited to a minimum in the background, there is the training staff at FIS who in my point of view contribute 95% to the whole thing being a success or not. I was flying with two different instructors and both gave me very valuable training and knowledge. Especially emergency situations (engine failure, emergency landings) were simulated and exercised intensively and down to the last meter before touching the ground. Yes, this is stress. But this is the way to learn to handle those situations and it gives a lot of important self-confidence.

All instructors I met at FIS at this time have a lot of experience and are CPL /ATPL holders. When I was there about 50% of the students at FIS trained for a commercial career. The chief instructor is a very kind person and experienced pilot.

A great advantage at Jerez is that one gets used to flying in CTRs and controlled airspace. Especially the CTR-experience is very valuable for me. I took around 60 hrs of flying before the final skills test. I´m not sure whether I could have done the skills test a bit earlier. Maybe. However, I never regretted any extra hours. My advice is to rather not set the goal on finishing within the minimum of 45 hrs but to rather take advantage of having access to good training. This is for life and for survival in the worst case.

Aircraft
The aircraft for training (C-172s) were really not the newest but did their job and are IR equipped. I can`t remember having had to wait for an aircraft which would have delayed my schedule. As I was told by the owner he plans to buy two brand new two seat trainig aircraft soon.

Result
I am now proud owner of a British EASA PPL and I think I have had really good training at Fly-in-Spain. I will definately come to FIS once in a while if I am around southern Spain, to refresh emergency skills with an instructor.

If was asked whether I can recommend this flight school:
Yes, I can, because I have had really good flight instructors there.

I am not frequently checking PPRUNE, but if anyone has questions I will try to answer them as directly as possible.
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