Aerodynamics Malaga Review- November 2015
I want to give a review of Aerodynamics Malaga as the experience I had was very different from what I read in other reviews on the internet. I would like to start by acknowledging that a lot of people have had relatively positive experiences at this school, and maybe I just had bad luck, but I want to make sure anybody who is planning on training there is better prepared than I was. I have written a more detailed description of why I had such a bad experience below, but it's pretty long, so if you don't want to read it all then here's a more brief account.
The gist of it is that I was there for a single engine CPL and had two weeks (3 at a push) to finish it. I was told that would not be a problem, but after 13 days having flown for 2.9 hours I decided to cut my losses and go home. I spent more time arguing with instructors and the commercial director than I actually spent in an aeroplane. Some of the instructors were very good, others were just plain lazy. In my first week they insisted there was loads of ground school I would have to do, but this turned out to be far too in-depth for a CPL and was in fact IR territory. Even worse, they would send me home after 1-2 hours each day when they had 5 instructors sat in the office doing nothing. They never had the bright idea to work the theory into the bad weather days and as a result, I missed out on many great flying days (since it was Malaga every day was technically a fantastic flying day, but the airport the school flies from is up in the mountains and has very tight minimums when it comes to gusts, any more than 9kt and nobody flies).
In summary, if you want to get anything done quickly, don't go to Aerodynamics. If you have plenty of time and want to save a bit of money, go for it, but be prepared to have to fight them into the air. I would also recommend doing anything you can to avoid paying them up front, they make you sign a disclaimer agreeing that if you leave early they can keep the money and you have 6 months to go back and use it. Right now they have €2500 of mine in an account. I'm planning on going back to use it to finish my hour building once I'm done with my CPL, but it means more flights and hotels and time off work. At the end of February I emailed them about either getting some of my money back or going out to do the hour building and they have ignored 3 emails. It's been more than 2 weeks since my first one.
Here's a slightly more detailed explanation, if you're still not convinced.
The lack of organisation I found absolutely appalling. As soon as I met the "commercial director" on arrival alarm bells started ringing. Firstly, he insisted on photocopying all of my documents, log book, passport etc, which I had already sent to them 2 weeks before my arrival. Next he tried to get me to pay the whole cost up front- something I have always been told is the sign the school is a bit crap and may be having money problems. We eventually agreed I would pay half then and half after 2 weeks, I assumed that there was no way I wouldn't get my money's worth in 2 weeks, even if I only flew half the required hours.
I was then put in the simulator for half an hour. I still don't know what the point of this was as I don't feel I was actually tested on anything in particular. Part of the way through I heard somebody come in and talk to the instructor for a bit and at the end, the instructors debrief consisted of him saying "push forward, speed up: pull back, slow down" and then he left. Not exactly the service I was expecting.
The first week consisted of ground school. Not that the weather was stopping us from flying, the conditions were perfect. The first day I was told I would spend 6 hours reading through the PA-28 manual with an instructor, he turned out not to have ever flown a Piper so was absolutely no use. I could have saved a day and read it in the evening because any questions I asked he had no idea how to answer, he apologised a lot and after a couple of hours gave up and sent me home to my apartment.
The rest of the week was a lot like this, being called in to do an hour or two of bull**** theory which I could have revised myself and then being sent home. On the third day I got a call from the CD saying there was a problem with my logbook, he thought I didn't have enough hours to be starting my CPL. It turned out he just didn't really understand how log books work and couldn't do basic maths. I have no idea why it took him 3 days to get round to checking my log book. Especially since they'd had the photocopies for 2 weeks before I arrived. But that was just the tip of the iceberg.
The next day I was told to go and speak to the CFI. His English wasn't great, but I eventually worked out he wanted me to do 10 hours of extra instrument flying before even starting my CPL. I had never heard of any instrument requirements before this so politely refused. After a bit of discussion, he decided that (somehow) 5 hours of theory would cover it, which leads me to believe he was just trying to rip me off, I'm still not sure and my UK instructor says it sounded like bull****.
When I finally got my first lesson booked in I had been there for 6 days. I was told the only way to get to the airfield is by car. I had thought there would be some system of meeting at the office in Malaga and travelling with the instructor, and one instructor did say that this could be arranged since I hadn't been expecting to have to rent a car and didn't have time to do it before my lesson. However the night before I contacted my instructor and he said he couldn't give me a lift. I managed to find a bus which went near the airport, it took an hour and then there was another 45 minute walk.
I arrived 10 minutes late, found that the airfield was surrounded by a metal fence, rang a buzzer to try to get in and was met by a woman who didn't speak English. With my limited Spanish I worked out that my instructor was supposed to be there to let me in and she thought he had gone home. She grudgingly let me in, took me to a cafe area and said she would see if he was still around. While I waited I checked my phone to find I had received a text from him at the exact time my lesson was due to start, he told me it was cancelled due to wind. I was pretty annoyed at this point because he was well aware I had nearly a 2 hour journey but made no effort to let me know sooner that I need not go. It turned out he was still at the airfield and he agreed to give me a lift back to the bus stop.
After that, all of the few lessons I had were with an English instructor. He was a great teacher, really helpful and lived in the city so gave me a lift most of the time. It would have taken very little for the school to have recognised that this was what I needed and that I would benefit from having the same instructor throughout. However after 2.9 hours I was moved on to another one. In the end this lesson was cancelled due to wind and the next day I went home.
I was shocked by the lack of organisation and the lazy attitude of so many of the instructors. The two guys I was sharing an apartment with were there for the integrated course and they were having similar experiences during their ATPL lessons. One of them had pretty much given up on going to school and worked by himself all day. They also told me that all of the 4 rooms in our apartment were currently being rented out, but the other two students were at home and were being forced to pay rent while they were away. So the school was getting 5 lots of rent for a 4 room place while I was there.
In fairness, I think that the main reason for these issues is that the woman who apparently usually does all of the scheduling went on maternity leave in October and they seem to have fallen apart in her absence. That doesn't make up for the appalling attitude of many of the people working there, but I do know of people who have been relatively satisfied by their experiences, and I think that having somebody there able to organise people would go a long way to improving the school.
I would also like to say that the aircraft in the fleet are really great. They've all been recently refurbished, and you can tell. I only wonder if the way they have been able to afford to do that is by taking people's money and denying refunds for a sub-par service.
Like I said, they are now avoiding my emails and, since I'm back in the UK, I have no other way of contacting them. I have a couple of months left to get out there and use the money they are holding on to and I have a feeling they might just keep ignoring me until they can legally keep it.