43 Airschool 'encourages' you to.:{
(That was on-topic:) )

Yep Woof, a PDEs course puts hair on your chest! Though seldom as a 101 - usually a 3rd year course. Puts one up in the circles of those who know how to correctly pronounce "Euler".

I recall a PDEs terminology "the Complete Primitive" - well I have long forgotten what this means but nowadays find it a handy term of abuse. Who says these courses have no practical application??

Here's my take on it. I've been to varsity and done the whole ATP thing.My view is that the Comm exams as well as the ATP exams itself alone are not equivalent to a degree. But the Com LICENSE as a whole IS equivalent to a 3 year degree and an ATP license can compare to an honours. Certainly if you consider the amount of time that universities are closed, removing those holidays, one could fit a 3 year degree in 2 - roughly the time to do a Com License and an Instructor Rating.

As for the 43 thing well anyone who tells you that training at 43 improves your job chances is trying to fool themselves and you. Companies want experience and hours. In the end it's the person, not the place that gets you the job. As to were you should go, well I would recommend Progress, Fedair, APTRAC, as well as some of the schools in Johannesburg. 43 has unfortunately become a bit of a sausage factory. Also in my view if you need someone else to keep you disciplined enough to complete your flying training then perhaps you shouldn't be flying in the 1st place.

Don't get me wrong 43 do get results but they can in no way compare to the likes of Adelaide Avaiation College, Oxford, Delta Connection, etc. My suggestion is you actually come down here and visit the schools you think have potential, don't just visit the website or rely on word of mouth. Just my opinion.

:D couldnt agree more. 43 is over-rated and over-priced, unless you have a bottemless pit of cash you can get the same training elsewhere. I do not think that a 43 qualification gives you an additional advantage in the job market these days :ugh:

They aren't stories. The school definitely gives SAA priority. Their syllabus is different, they get the top instructors, the better (not the best :p ) accommodation block, an SAA rep visits regularly to check up and listen to complaints, priority when getting transport into town etc.. Also other privileges such as being allowed to organise the sports day. BUT There wasn't much noticeable favouritism when it came to flying slots.
Don't forget SAA PAYS MORE - and students have to pay it back.:ooh:
43 is too expensive I know. How did you get that figure?
Oxford doesn't guarantee a job either, despite all the blurb on their website. Much of your outlay would be accomodation in Oxford.

Disagree. 43 has a reputation. Would you take a pilot from XYZ Club (reputation unknown) or from 43 (reputation known). It's as fundamental as that.

It's possible to have have a million hours of nothing. All the hours at 43 are accounted for. There is no simple 'hour building'.
LOL - I don't think they have many places. Can anyone give us an idea of numbers?

I think someone has got the wrong end of the stick here. :\ Cityjet through the Irish Aviation Authority has approved 43 for a JAA course for their cadets at a price of 93 000 euros. :yuk: This is for essentially what is a frozen ATPL without type rating. :* :* 43 is expensive but not that expensive. This course is only available to irish nationals and ofcourse those with the dosh. :( :(

Im also of the school of thought that 43 is a waste of money so Im not going to go into that again. Greg, the fact that you speak french and if you work on your english, you will have a huge advantage when you finally come into the job market:ok: :ok: :ok:

Whatever you decide goodluck :ok: :ok:

Dawn Treader wise up. I think what Kobus meant was that it's the hours you get once you have finished your comm that count toward eventual jobs!!!
I did Comm at 43, and while doing "the long walk" at Lansaria nobody seemed to care what airschool i did my liscence at, just how many hors i had, and on what aircraft.
I mean seriously XYZ flight school may have an instructor who's been doing the job for 20 years, and can teach you a lot more, i'm sure, than the 21 year old instructor, who's biggest problem is squeezing his zits, that 43 may give you.
I also have a lot of friends who did their training at smaller less known schools who are very proffesional pilots flying some well respected companies.
The point is that an airschool is an airschool. The biggest differance is the price!!

Tend to agree. Once you have got more than a couple of hundred hours no-one cares what school you went to. Then again, I think from a personal point of view it certainly makes your own life easeir to have a well structured training programme. But you don't have to pay a gazillion bucks for this.

Yeah ! join the AirForce instead :cool: :cool: :cool:
Get to fly cool airplanes , Discipline fairer than 43 school probably & the State pays for it.
I can't agree more, if you're paying for it you should enjoy it :)
no school is a guarantee to a job THERE ARE NO HARVARDS ,STELLENBOSCH OR CAMBRIDGE IN AVIATION. Trust us, we know...

The only problem with this "captain" is that he won't hesitate to have you put in jail if you piss him off, effectively ending your career in SA before you even started it.
Just so you know

I don't mean for this thread to go off-topic, but, can you explain further, please?

hey pineteam

im actually also from mauritius and studied at 43 air school.... dont like chatting on the forums it causes too much "tension" sometimes so contact me at [email protected] if u want more details.... je parle le francais aussi si tu prefere....
dalsurfer

sorry pine forgot that email addresses dont come up.... so its
d a l s u r f e r 9 9 @ h o t m a i l. c o m......
cheers

A friend sent me this from a current KQ internal newsletter :

"Kenya Airways has been training their cadet pilots at 43rd Air School for a number of years. It was clear from the outset that the Kenyan cadets were prepared to work very hard at achieving their goals and it therefore came as no surprise when they obtained very good academic results. This has, without exception, been the case with all the Kenya Airways cadets thus far at the school.

When 17 Kenyan cadets recently wrote their Commercial Pilot Licence (CPL) exams at the CAA Headquarters in Midrand, Johannesburg, they managed to pass 134 of the 136 papers written, at first attempt.

What made this even more remarkable was the fact that their average for the 136 papers was 91.6% - a full 4% better than the previous best result for a CPL group at 43rd Air School! Twenty-two of the exam results were an amazing 100%. When the two candidates that missed one subject each re-wrote a day or two later they got 96 and 100% respectively!

A senior official at the CAA noted that the group’s results was ‘truly remarkable’ and commented that as far as could be established, this was the highest average ever to be achieved by a group of students writing their CPL exams.

Our congratulations to the Kenya Airways students on this achievement. Also to Paddy Carolan, Kiewit Maré and LT Minnaar whose thorough lectures over a number of weeks, clearly paid dividends!"

but what makes me insane is when I am trying to book exams in my home country and I cant get a slot because the rest of the continent is filling the exam hall. Getting re-writes within a day or two...I have to wait a month or two. CAA needs to sort things out a little better for its own first. Maybe have a seperate exam hall for large foreign groups, cause trust me, when there is a group like this trying to write, you can just forget about being "awarded" a booking. They are not even going to use the priviliges of that licence here in SA, so CAA needs to prioritise, or at least ensure that residents of SA are afforded the same opportunities to book and re-write if necessary.:ugh: I know of folks who have had subjects lapse due to this bullsh1t. :=

Good Times.
 

Oh boy, alot of mixed feelings here.
I was at 43.

Was it expensive? Hell Yes.

Do SAA get preferential treatment? Maybe a bit, but not as much as is made out. (they don't get the best instructors since there aren't specialised SAAup to you who you want to instruct you.)

Do I think I got my Moneys worth? Yes I do.

Did I enjoy it? You bet.

Sure going to 43 won't guarantee you a job, but I do think it holds you in good stead with other past 43 students.

On a more personal note, the year I spent living, and studying at 43 was one of the best of my life.:)

The only school in Africa, IMHO, that is worth going is Ethiopian Airlines flight school at Bole IAP in Addis Ababa. They are not a commercial operation and won't compromise their standards for money. It is a 22-month total imersion program and attrition rate is extremely high. It is taught by highly experienced pilots with thousands of hours behind them. Don't want to name nationalities but there are many from African countries who didn't make it at ETs flight school and ended up finishing up at 43rd.

With LT and Kiewiet giving lectures, you can't go wrong. Worked with these gents in the SAAF - they know what they are talking about! (Sorry Paddy, never had the honour of working with you)

Interesting point.........At my airline your initial training (up to CPL) is definately taken into account. And yes, 43 (for that matter Progress, etc.) will most certianly give you a higher score than uncle Billy with his Cherokee on the farm.

ETaf,

The ET training school is good no doubt about it but to say it's the best is pushing it a little too far. KQ stopped sending their abinitios to the ET school because it's fairly inefficient i.e. they train at their own pace, very expensive and most of the abinitios who came back had problems online with KQ instructors when it came to landings until it turned out that during their twin training the instructor always landed the plane for fear of letting the student damage the prized twin.

Now that's the biggest nonsense I've heard in a long time.

kQ STUDENTS IN 43 AIR??
 

Does anyone have any idea whether kQ is still recruitin students? :sad: n' if so whts their contact email?

43 Air School moving?
 

Is there any truth in the rumour that 43 are moving from Port Alfred to Bhisho airport? Have heard that the ILS there is going to be fixed too. Anybody know more?

When did KQ stop sending their cadets? I know couple of years ago they were still sending. With many ET pilots being pouched by the middle eastern airlines (esp. Emirates), they are now doing recruiting more than once a year and the AF has agreed to supply more intructors. They are not accepting foreign cadets that much anymore. Currently, the only foreign cadets are from an African country through intergovernmental cooperation.

inefficient?

depends on your own interpretation of the word "inefficient".

they are not profit minded commercial operation. Unlike other schools, their only goal is to produce competent pilots. If efficiency is measured by how many pilots you churn out, they are definitely inefficient compared with other schools.

Whether you are referring to Single engine landing or only ME is not clear. I will adress them separately.

Single engine
After 22 month of training and 250 hours of flying (of which 110 hours of solo flying!!!!!!!), claiming someone can't land a plane is ridiculous. I know they give a leeway to foreign cadets but not much. If someone can't solo within 20 hours (MAX), they are thrown out of the school. Proper landing is required prior to going solo and the check out pilot is not going to sign-off unless the student knows how to land. The attrition rate is extremely high. That has gotten the ET's corporate management and the flying schools management at loggerheads many times.

Mulit-Engine
They only have two twins for training. I don't know much about the training on the twins but the hours given are small compared with single engine. I will make sure to check it out and will get back to you.

Hi everyone :)

I am looking for a book to help me to prepare the courses and exams that we have at 43 Air School. DawnTreader speak about " maths for comm" but I didn't find it on Internet:{ .

Could someone give me the edition of this book? Or advise me another book to buy to practise the 8 separate commercial exams we need to pass when we integrate 43 Air School. I am not so good in maths.:p

Thanks :)

Yes bond7, kq still are recruiting students. Your application has to be by ground mail. You need to be a Kenyan and you should have sat the Kenya Certificate of Secondary Examination and attained a B grade. Similarly you should be below 28 years of age and above 18 years of age.

Good Luck!

Hi there

I will be starting the PPL-course early next year.
I was wondering if anyone can tell me a bit about the enviroment and routines they follow.

Thanks guys :)

43 air school
 

Hello ,

i need a piece of information about 43 air school gradutes !
Is it easy for a 43 graduate to find a job ?

And one more additional thing regarding the ground school , does 43 offer a good training for the ground school ? heard that they have a distance learning program for the ground school with bristol , and the distance learing is a bit scary !

43 Air School Rotary Training
 

Hello all,
Finally going ahead and finishing my pilots licence. After full-time ppl training and hour building a few years ago I'm opting for a full-time ATPL ground school as opposed to Bristol and looking for any news/ stories from helicopter students who have attended the 43 Air School?

Other option at the moment is Northern Helicopters in Sweden, but price and weather conditions are a real attraction to 43.

Cheers

There's always Starlite Home in SA for chopper training which is definitely worth checking out!

"Is it easy for a 43 graduate to find a job ? " No.
Apparently, it counts against you if training has been done at 43.... Namibia and Botswana.... Most of the accidents that happened were pilot error - 43 graduates. Coincidence? :bored:

Hi Bob

Very interesting statement regarding accidents by 43 graduates. I have done my PPL over there in 2001, and some advanced flying in 2002 and 2003.
43 became over the years very busy, I think they grew too fast.

Nevertheless, I earned many hours and experience at different schools: Maluti Air (2004 and 2005), Bevrick Air (2005), Pretoria Flying School (2006) and in the last two years I have been to a fantastic small flying school, Eagle Flight Academy, between Hartswater and Christiana. They have a private airfield, 2.5km long gravel strip, exellent accomodations and services. On top, the rates are more than competitive.

If someone is looking for a more personal and familiar atmosphere, then he should try this one...

Happy landings!
Thomas