Progress Vs 43rd Flight School
 

Hey, i'm a 21year old Kenyan who is working towards a Pilot liscense.
Since the only Kenyan Aviation School...falls short, I've been looking into training in SA.
My list has been cut down to the two schools.
I was hoping to get views from any past students, build up a list of Pros and Cons.
For example, Progress is cheaper but 43 is a "known brand"
Any help you could give me would be really appreciated.

Both schools are good. Progress is smaller so presume that you will get a more personal approach. Kenya Airway’s cadets currently are training for the frozen ATPL at Progress. Suggest comparing the number of instructors, airplanes and students (instructor student ratio) in each school.
My advice: go to USA!

Chileno, since I see your address as FAPE, and you are recommending US schools, does this suggest that you have not been happy with your training in SA ?

@ Chileno 777 hehe the goal is to do it with minimum costs, a short period and excellent training.
Dreams of the good ol' USA, remain that, dreams :-)
I thought the Kenya Airways cadets were at 43rd??

@ suitcaseman, in this day and age, wouldn't you want EVERY advantage available to you? Incuding the best school?

I agree with suitcaseman...Go for the cheapest possible flightschool!!

SAFTA
 

@Elpheba:

I have also been looking around flight schools, and SAFTA appears cheaper than Progress. Im not too sure of the costs involved at 43 Air School.

However, i am not too sure of the reputation of SAFTA. Anyone out there who can shed some light on this? Is SAFTA actually operated by SAA?

@ MVS wow! That thread was very helpful, but it did get me a bit worried.
I think finding a good school, where at the end of your course, you emerge with more than the "bare minimum" is important not only for Professional, but Personal growth too. :-)
@ Suitcaseman, you bring up a valid point about 43rd, and yeah, money is a big issue, but not big enough to copromise on quality. ;-)
@ Flying_hamster, I hadn't looked up SAFTA i'm looking forward to reading about it. Good to hear from you byay.

If you guys are goint o widen your field of search then you had better do some searching on Pprune. There has been a lot of stuff written about various schools, including SAFTA, which, as far as I know, has absolutely nothing to do with SAA.
FTS at Grand Central is run by two SAA Senior First Officers but is not 'accredited' to SAA. I do not think that any school in SA is. FTC at George is still, I think, owned by an SAA Senior 340 Captain.
I would strongly suggest that you have a good search, especially VaV SAFTA and, as someone has said before...do not be led up the garden path...I do not think it makes a blind bit of the difference which school you went to in the sense of getting an edge on the job front. It is very difficult to get a job anyway-either at the moment-or historically speaking, fresh out of flight school-not in SA-but then, check what the flavour of the month is in Kenya.
Many of us became teachers in the wildreness before we ascended to the great heights of the aluminum contrails.
Safari njema!

The flying standards in South Africa are high and I am happy with my flight school (the instructors are great and the environment at the club is awesome) but the CPL theory is a nightmare (similar to JAA). There are 8 written exams and more than 60% of the theory that the prospective student should learn will never use it as a commercial pilot. The FAA training is more practical and the written papers are less complicated, hence, less time consuming and more focused on what is (in my humble opinion) the most important....the flying training! I do not have a problem at all of studying (have already passed 2 comm subjects) but do not want to waste more time focusing on things which I will not use when flying commercially. That is why I decided to go to USA to do my CPL. The flight training here is good (only problem in PE is the weather) but I opted to stop suffering with the useless theory that CPL students must learn in South Africa.

In my last comm sitting (June 2009) Kenya airways cadets were writing the ATPL subjects. Suggest emailing both schools to ask if the cadets are still there.
Living costs in USA are higher than SA but your training will be definitely shorter in US making your training cheaper.

CPL in SA
 

Hi guys

I have a Srilankan PPL now and interested in going to SA to do the CPL program. I was doing some search and as mentioned in the previous threads, IT DOES NOT MAKE A DIFFERENCE WHICH SCHOOL YOU DO YOUR TRAINING BECAUSE WHAT YOU WILL HAVE ULTIMATELY IS A SA LICENSE. I find lanseria flight centre, Algoe flight centre, Aeronav very cheap compared to progress or 43 ? Is there any one out there better informed about these cheaper schools, is quality compromised? and which one is recommended ?

Thanks. Pls reply

Riqsid

I can recommend Algoa Flying Club. They provide very good training and some highly experienced instructors there! They are also very reasonably priced and have a nice fleet of aircraft!

Thanks alot. I v looked through most of the schools, but with the positive reviews about Algo, it seems to be the right choice. Thanks agn

Algoa Flying Club
 

Was a member of AFC for many years until I moved from PE. Club always had a good atmosphere with good instructors and plenty of experience to call upon amongst the members who frequent the club bar! (Many current and ex airline crew).
Had a couple of hours to spare whilst visiting PE yesterday, so went to AFC to check out the scene. Plenty of activity and instructors giving what I considered good airmanship training.

Quote:

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I can recommend Algoa Flying Club. They provide very good training and some highly experienced instructors there! They are also very reasonably priced and have a nice fleet of aircraft!

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Totally agree with regards to the instructors and the price; however the aircrafts are quite old (although well maintained) and unfortunately due to mechanical problems not 100% of the airplanes are available at the moment. Last week only two aircrafts were flying (1 C52 & 1 C172 RG) but luckily they are slowly coming back to service.

The instructors are really great and almost all of them highly experienced. They are instructing because the like to fly and love to instruct and not because they need to build hours. Flying with them is a privilege.

Hi everyone
Thankyou sooo much for your contrributions they've all been really helpful :ok:
Now... theres been a change of plans. I'm going to school in Jo'berg, so that I can stay with a cousin and save on accomodation costs.
Does anyone now any good flight schools in Jo'Berg???:}:O:)

you have a pm

Here is my 2 cents worth. If you have lots of time to do your comm then go for a club, on the other hand if you are a person who likes structure and a plan for your training go to a school. The laid back feeling at a club is nice but if you are serious about your training then it is not for you. I know things happen at a club that in order to have a ground school there must be a certain minimum number of students, if there are not enough then no ground school and you have to wait for next time.
Ask the school for your training program and if they can give you a structured program on paper and not just a few words go for that school.
I would recommend Progress.

@ DDMow, Yikes! In my rush to save on accommodation, i'd totally forgotten about transportation. I'll definitely be getting a map of the area as soon as I know what part of Jo'berg will soon become home!
I've checked out SAFTA and its not half bad, plus its affordable. Woo!
But am still shopping around.

@MainPeanut, time is of the essence, especially with my budget! So i'm not too keen on Clubs.
So far I've gotten some pretty good responses from schools I've contacted so far especially with regard to training and a price tags!!!
They're really good schools though am holding off on making a decision, at least untill I've exhausted all possible avenues.