@planedrive
I am trying to be fair and realise I come across as bias to FTO staff.
I am not about slating a particular company in this case CTC, its about looking out for people/individuals so they are aware of all aspects rather than falling for hook, line and sinker to the fancy marketing and '98%' chance of a job from FTO staff on this site!
CTC is a minima course so its the bare minimum which is fine if your okay and are up to speed, I recommend the BA backed schemes for all the FTOs. You are big players but people need to be aware that you throw a lot of carrots and then once your there its not quite the truth (in my view).
Whether you like it or not FTOs are hear to stay and will grow & shrink according to market forces but I am just tired of people like you saying its the best thing since sliced bread, its not, they can be horrible, sterile, places but they can also be great places that people enjoy a lot and make long lasting relationships but the reality is not what is published and my posts are to build this awareness that there are other ways out there and the market is unfairly controlled by these giants, it isn't allowed due to regulatory laws in banking, insurance, telecoms and indeed with the forced sale of UK airports so to some extend in aviation (which is a very different industry by any standards operating on a different planet really). So why not look out more for the people who don't have a voice ie the pilots themselves! A lot cant speak as they are scared of losing their jobs or have the CTC gatekeeper say No!
I have done some further research on the schools and from my experience if you aren't too hot on your technical knowledge/theory you will struggle and get lower ATPL results, okay you pass but if you get a lower result, our chances of not only a job (but a good job) decrease so your at the back of the queue.
For Mums & Dads about to sign their house off with BBVA this is worth considering.
Out of the big 3, CTC ground school is the shortest 5 months, Oxford 6 months and FTE (Spain) 8 months. For true ab initio's doing 5 or 6 months of straight theory may not be the best for you, whats your GCSE and A-level results, be honest to yourself? (but it may be the best for you), I know one thing that is helping me now doing my PPL is reading the theory and then going up for a lesson, it just clicks and that's what you do at FTE, so you fly and do your theory at the same time, I think that is an excellent idea and it works for me, I think its faster. The CAA allow you 18months to sit all your ATPL exams so why take 5months and risk getting low scores, (one reason COST). Of course if you ask CTC/Oxford they will tell you the opposite, maybe try it out at home, read your books for 3 hours then compare it with a 30min lesson at your local airfield?
For prospective students, have a think about that, it may work better for you and I am finding it more fun, it also seems to be a better way to learn as the FTE course is a few months shorter, I find theory and practical best work hand in hand rather than in 2 different countries. FTE is about the same price but its fully catered which is good in that you can spend more time studying but then again that extra dessert wont be so good for the waste line!!
Okay 98%?! Right that's a big figure to slam out there, now can you please back it up with something solid, if its true then share it with others, it sounds too good to be true!! (do you know that 87% stats are made up.......lol) So what year, how many students, does that include people in the pool for 3.5 years, tagged cadets? From my experience what CTC say and then deliver is very different. I have a picture of this stat on the wall outside Singapore classroom so cant upload it here but ping me and I will send it to anyone, it says 98% pass all ATPL subjects at first attempt and 92% average pass across all subjects, the head ground school instructor told me those are indeed true when I asked him standing outside the board its posted on but its 8 years old! I compared it with my class average and its 100% codswallop!
Your BALPA article link doesn't work, pls re post:
404 - File or directory not found.
The resource you are looking for might have been removed, had its name changed, or is temporarily unavailable.
I agree that the majority ie 51% get jobs at the end of the day but often they are on this £1,200 a month for 6 months then after that they have no job and are back on the pile.
Two chaps I spoke to now at Monarch on the CTC Graduation day, waited quite a few months in the pool, and had to get an interim job, 1 I think at the supermarket. 1 ended up getting a job but on a 75% contract so he was annoyed and they wouldn't up his hours but had to take it. The next batch of people a few months later got 100% contracts so he was quite upset but had to suck it up, next few years getting a 75% salary, so I guess he would count in your '98%' stat but that kind of sucks.....he said over Christmas 2013 he had one flight to do and was feeling the pinch.
Again its hard to just dispute numbers on a forum, you need accurate data as a source of truth which wont be published but from my experience 85% are British at CTC ( and I would say 95% are EU). Have a look at the pictures of the CPs on the wall and I think they would back my figures more than yours but if you have some data then share it and I am happy to be corrected.