PPRuNe Forums - View Single Post - Help choosing a flight academy in Spain for ATPL
Old 15th January 2016 | 11:09
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GingerFI
 
Joined: Mar 2011
Posts: 15
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From: N/A
There are many options around Europe and of course the rest of the world. Be careful with your most important criteria being cost. Although the gold plated schools charging a fortune seem expensive, there may be a good reason that they are so much more expensive. I'm not all for integrated schools who are charging this, that type of course works for some and not others. Nor am I willing to enter a discussion on modular vs integrated.

However ask yourself, if you were buying a car would you only buy the cheapest? No, because it would probably be unreliable or not as advertised. Its the same with flight schools. Cheap and good value are in 99% of cases mutually exclusive. Shop around, speak to ex students (easier than it seems in this day and age where flight schools normally have facebook pages with students appearing on them for first solo/cpl/ir or whatever, and message those students asking about their experiences). Also go and visit the school, meet the instructors, write a list of questions and ask them, try to speak to students who are hanging around out of ear shot of management/sales/staff and get their true opinions. Trust your instincts on the attitude of the staff and the atmosphere of the school. Never pick the cheapest option (it's cheap for a reason).

Remember one school, course, place etc does not fit all and every single school will have students who feel aggrieved over their course or the way they were treated. A lot of the time at decent schools the students who struggle and moan are the ones who don't turn up, don't work hard enough and fail tests. So try and get several opinions from ex or current students not just be put off by one persons report.

And once again, please don't differentiate on cost alone, otherwise you will end up as yet another poorly trained pilot, trained solely to fly to pass a test in the job market in a hell of a lot of debt.

Remember cost is relative, if you pay lots more but get a job 6 months or a year quicker then that price difference quickly diminishes with the extra earnings. An expensive course does not guarantee a job but good training will stand you with much better chances of passing an interview or sim check if it comes up.
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