About To Book My Atpl Ground School

[nezer]

HI ALL,
Im about to book my ATPL ground school exams with Atlantic Flight Training! How good is this school ? When i visited them they basically said they were the best as they would ! I know how schools can bend the truth to get you to spend your money with them as a very close friend did a itergrated course at Cabair when finished he was basically left on his own to the contray to what cabair said !! Basically all im after is some feedback on AFT from students have been through there ground school. How did they rate the course,instructors,tution.:}

[camel toe]

For them to say they are "the best" seems a little pretentious.

[captain_rossco]

Off to Oxford in July for the residential groundschool. Had a look round and although the modular flying programme didn't appeal in the slightest, the groundschool most certainly did. The classes look well organised and structured as well as several flying buddies (who have already been through the course) not being able to reccommend them highly enough. Weather it's Oxford, Altlantic or even flaming NAC, if you look around, have a chat with a few people and it looks like you'll both gel, then chances are you'll be a happy camper. I'm not 100% sure a phone call is the best way to assess a schools worthiness of your £2-5000 hard earned cash, have a look and see if 6 months of your life would be best spent there or somewhere else. If you're doing distance learn, I'd be even more likely to sus out who's behind the scenes in terms of support and preparation.

Kind Regards

Rossco

[captain_rossco]

Second That, if i was distance learning it would be a no brainer, Spoke to Alex W at the flyer show and was very impressed with him, the school, and more to the point the notes.

Regards

CR

[EK4457]

It' really doesn't matter. Some people may slate me for what I'm about to say, but it's the truth.

You spend a lot of time learing a syllabus which seems almost ramdom at times. Spend weeks learning how to use the B757 FMC. The vast majority of students will not even fly them. And even if they do, the FMC is covered properly in the TR.

Then you find that the vast majority of the work you did isn't even examined. Go and spend 5 days getting your head around Ring Laser Gyros. Then find that the only thing you actually need to know for the exam is that they are more 'cumbersome' than conventional ones.

Then you do the feedback questions to find that the appauling English used makes the question ambiguous. What is the difference between a thottle being 'partly open' and 'partly closed'. The JAA seem to think that one is a correct answer, and the other not.

Or how about the question which asks for you to recall an equation to find an approximate value of OAT. If you choose the correct eqn which gives OAT, you were wrong. You have to choose the eqn which is closest to the correct one, but not correct beacause the Q asked for an APPROXIMATION. It really is that bonkers.

This is backed up by a recent article in an aviation mag which explains that a major ATPL school in the UK have asked the CAA to review the contents. Of course, they said no.

For the record, I'm with BGS, and they are excellent. Their notes are concise, accurate and updated regularly. Their feedbak questions are almost mandatory. They are not responsible for the couse syllabus and exam questons, they just guide you through it very well.

Don't get me wrong, of couse you should need a lot of knowledge to get a CPL. And that knowledge should be tested to a very high standard. It's just that, in my opinion, it isn't done very well by the CAA.

However, it's their ball, and you have to play by their rules.
In summary, I'm sure all schools are very good. BGS are excellent. But, it doesn't matter too much where you go. Learn the syllabus. Be comfortable with ALL of it. Then do the BGS feedback. Find out what parts of the syllabus they 'want you to know' and study these like there is no tomorrow.

Once you have done your groundschool, you can learn to be a commercial pilot properly. Not my words but, those of a training capt for a well known airline.

EK

Edited to apologise for being so bloody negative. I did start the course with a good attitude. I soon realised, much to my disappointment, that it is just about tickng boxes and passing exams rather than making you a better pilot.

But I still recommend BGS.

[ccopter]

I went to Bristol and i wouldnt muck about going anywhere else - they got me through in 4 months for the whole 14! No other school would entertain my ambitious timescale, bristol did and it turned out well and i am certainly no brainbox or maths wizard so if i can do it with hard work, you can.

They have just released new notes, the brushup course really works miracles also. Went there 3 weeks before mod 1 exams thinking i was going to fail all of them and something strange happened over that 2 week brushup and i passed all including gen nav:}

[BlueRobin]

nezer, will you be a full-time student?

[mlee]

Completed all 14 exams with Bristol, strongly believe I would not of got through them without Bristol they really did pull all the stops out for me!!:D:D:D

[EK4457]

Quote:
the appauling English used

Yeah, what a tit I am. Schoolboy error. But, then again, I'm not writing a JAA examination paper!

but the whole point is that by studying the complete syllabus gives a very wide and reasonably in depth knowledge of most of the topics which will be useful in a professional flying career.

You have to memorise the climate in Darwen. Thats right, the one in Australia. Meanwhile, they briefly whizz through approach plates, SIDs and STARS. Something you will use every day as a pilot.

Don't even get me started on compass swings....

EK

[G SXTY]

Don't even get me started on compass swings....

How about the minimum size of registration letters on an airship? :hmm:
Or the orbital altitude of GPS satellites? :rolleyes:
Or the minimum distance an aircraft subject to unlawful interference must be parked from other aircraft? :ugh:

It’s all good stuff, and just another hoop to jump through.

I’d second the comment that most people will only have experience of one school, so it’s very difficult to make an objective comparison. For what it’s worth, I did mine with BGS, who I thought were superb. Chatting to people from other schools between exams, many were envious of the quality of the BGS feedback and course notes. Maybe that tells a story.

[speakers]

thats a very bold statement to make!! Have you checked their pass rates??

Best 3 in no particular order - -

Bristol
Oxford
London Met

best of luck with the study...

[cfwake]

Ek just for the record, I have occasionally had the same thought as you - why the hell am i having to learn this, and also, why the hell can't the JAA write properlythe answers, as far as i can tell, from discussion and debate with my instructors, is that we have to learn masses of stuff because the JAA have no idea what sort of flying you're going to end up doing.

If you were to end up flying DC-3's for a...err..."cargo" airline out of jungle airstrips in Bolivia or Colombia, then arguably it would be of great interest to know that whatever you do, lowering flaps beyond the takeoff setting ain't going to reduce your take off run, or that when you go to fill up your aeroplane hydraulics system with Skydrol, you open the tins marked 'skydrol' to see a mysterious red liquid in there in a barely prepared airstrip in Africa, you may be grateful! Of course, realistically, unless you are to be paid in large wads of used fivers stuffed under the door in the gents by a man wearing a white suit and a Panama hat, the chances of you ever needing to know this are minimal. Hence, we came to your conclusion, it's absolute sh*te on the most part. But it is useful whatever you fly that if something goes wrong you can help out the engineers by telling them what happened and having some understanding of the 500 mph deodorant canister's systems. May save the ginger beers time and your company money.

The language is because, for those of you that don't know, the database questions have been submitted by various nations, for example the Swiss make the met questions, the French i think do systems, etc, and thanks to the glorious paradise that is european co-operation, the fund for proper translators that can actually speak two languages, the translation tool used is a bad tempered 14 year old with a passing interest in language and a Collins French dictionary, and google translate when he's in bed. Hence terms like 'leakage current'.

To be honest though, I do find most of it pretty interesting, however for what most of us will realistically need in our careers, it does seem a tad excessive! Would be nice to know, however, that as I plummet towards the earth, that had I used butyl seals for my hydraulics system, instead of neoprene, my fluid wouldn't have poured out of now dissolving seals, or that I shouldn't have gone flying knowing that my oxygen bottle was only charged to 1400PSI as I collapse to the floor having discharged a BCF extinguisher onto the flight deck. Which, for those in the know, is the most common form of fire extinguiser used in aviation!

Good luck to all of those putting themselves through it!

[cfwake]

in addition, and not on such a hefty tangent, nezer sorry i've never been to AFT but check their pass rates and try to sit in on some lessons. if they get a lot of people through first time with averages about 85% residential, then you should be okay.

[Put1992]

http://www.*****************/
take a look

[BlueRobin]

AFT don't publicly give out the results, but their full-time average is pretty good. They'll get you through but you'll have to put the work in also. Captain Bradders is worth the entrance fee alone :)