Hello all,. .I've been lurking around PPrune for a number of years now, so it's about time I said something!. .. .I've been to Naples for the last three summers, each time for four weeks.. .1st year I completed my PPL, I was really hacked off with blighty's weather and work [issing me about with my schedule.. .2nd year I returned to the Air Center to do my IMC.. .3rd year (last year) I did a lot of hour building before the CPL.. .. .I've flown at five schools in the UK, so I think I should be able to give a fairly unbiased account.. .I started my CAA PPL in the UK, with a number of different instructors at the same school. The quality of instruction was excellent.. .My PPL instructor at Naples was Mexican studying for his FAA ATP. A really nice guy but I think he skipped or rather brushed over a couple of bits of the syllabus. When I was there last summer there were four or five JAA instructors from the Netherlands, so hopefully they are more intune with the JAA syllabus.. .Also, Naples has two long tarmac runways and a control tower, so it did come as a bit of a shock when I had to do some cross wind take-offs and landings from airfields in the UK where you can actually see the other end, and nobody is telling you when you can sneeze. Of course a few hours getting used to the local area should take care of this.. .. .I had a really good IMC instructor, FAA guy again but he made sure everything was covered.. .. .Last year whilst hour building I flew members of the family around Southern Florida (Busch Gardens, Disney, Cape Canaveral, Key West) whilst my Dad did his IMC (we let him come to Key West though).. .. .Problems: Rough running mags seemed to be the main one and I once had an engine failure on take-off (it was running rough so the instructor cut the throttle, peeled off the runway and the engine cut out before he could apply a bit of throttle).. .Last year I found a spanner and maglite in the cowling (the side they tell you not to bother opening). But that's what your walkround is for.. .. .My biggest gripe is that on all three occasions, I didn't fly for the first three days because they didn't have any slots avaliable, but after that it's twice a day.. .. .I've never heard anyone complaining at NAC (Nikki and Richard keep their doors shut) and it has a feeling of a friendly family run business, which I've never felt at the air 'clubs' in the UK.. .. .
gehenna - Naples itself is a great city (large town), always felt safe, plenty of bars and restaurants especially in the Old downtown area. It's not often that
I take my parents on holiday with me, but it's happened three times now!. .. .Apologies for the obscene length of this sermon, but i'm making up for lost years <img border="0" title="" alt="[Big Grin]" src="biggrin.gif" /> . . <img border="0" title="" alt="[Wink]" src="wink.gif" />