Egnatia Aviation Greece 0-ATPL

[Duffer2007]

I was just looking at the egnatia website: http://www.egnatia-aviation.com/0atpl_package.html (http://www.egnatia-aviation.com/0atpl_package.htm)

It looks quite good including free accomodation and all for around 50000 euro???

Anyone care to comment? I'll be sure to ask them everthing in heathrow on saturday!

Ian:cool::cool:

[zapoi67]

Please let us know about the informations you'll gather. Thanks !

[3Greens]

if something looks too good to be true then IME it usually is...

[potkettleblack]

Do a search on them. Seems quite a few unhappy punters with lots of delays in getting through the training which has the usual knock on to costs. Print out all the threads on them and put the questions to them at the show and see what they have to say in response.

Also make sure that what it says on the tin in terms of licences etc is what you will get.ie: UK CAA or Greek.

If you end up going with them then don't pay up front either. That way if it all turns to custard you can cut your losses and they won't have anything over you. Goes for any school.

[CY333]

I have seen somewhere that with an application form you could turn the Greek lisence to a CAA one, but having a hard time to believe that.
Was also adviced by a key person within the school to stay away from the GS.
I believe the flying is quite good due to the fact that they are using diesel ac which is cheaper than conventional fuel.
If you are planning to do the long distance why not do the Bristol and then go there for the CPL and the rest.
But be worned,even if you untertake the GS in the UK and the CPL in Greece, you still get a greek lisence.

[EpsilonVaz]

I am not sure you understand the licencing system correctly.

If you train at Egnatia, you are issued with a JAR CPL/IR, this is issued by the Greek CAA. If you wish to transfer the issuing authority to another JAA state, all you need to do is fill in a form. If for example, you live in Germany, or get employed in Germany, you can transfer the issuing state to Germany. This is simply to make licence administration easier.

Make sure you understand that you do not get an old-style Greek national licence, Greece is a JAA member so you are issued with a JAR licence.

[CY333]

so do we actually have any people here that did this?

[EpsilonVaz]

Me ;).

I would like to point out that the past threads and information on PPRUNE are starting to become quite dated and inaccurate. My recommendation would be to visit them to make up your own mind. If you can make it, the Flyer show tomorrow at Heathrow would be a great time to meet the guys there and have any questions you might have answered.

[beanbanni]

Here is some info about this school in greece provided by my best friend who's been a student there few months ago.
As a new school it has too many students and so few aircrafts. It is a bad choice for hour building cause you'll have to wait a lot, unless you "become friend" with the owners, and you know what i mean (this is how things work in greece).

They have already burned 2 (two) engines of these new aircrafts!!!!

The instructors come and go every 2-3 months, probably because they are not well-paid, so there is not a good training environment. Also the chief instructor is famed to be kicked out as a B747 pilot in a british company, possibly after an air incident or an ATC report filing or something similar.
The village where the students reside is a ghost-town in winter and in summer a mosquito-prevalent. After 19:00 you cannot come out of the houses!! It reminds me the Vietnam conditions, swamps and malarias :). The greek ATC also is not the best in europe, so the air traffic is "surprising" very often!!!

At last, Greece in my opinion has not surpassed yet her "aviation midlde age" !!!

[EpsilonVaz]

beanbanni, as I was a student at Egnatia, I can confirm your post is full of s**t.

I have no idea where your friend got this information from, but from what I can summise he is smoking some seriously strong stuff. Might want to advise him to lay off the wacky backy if he intends to become a pilot, it's not good for his health, and from what I can see, it's certainly not good for yours either.

Firstly:
unless you "become friend" with the owners, and you know what i mean (this is how things work in greece).

In my time there, I have NEVER seen anyone get preference because they know the owners. They owners don't go anywhere near the schedule, that is handled completely by Ops.

They have already burned 2 (two) engines of these new aircrafts!!!!

Engines have a life span before they have to be replaced, and of course, in the real world things do break and need to be replaced. For the amount of time Egnatia has been open, and for the amount of aircraft that they have running, 2 engines being replaced is a total non-issue. You did leave out the fact that Egnatia have on-site full maintenance. So even if a aircraft does go tech, it will be sorted in a days or so, if not hours.

The instructors come and go every 2-3 months, probably because they are not well-paid, so there is not a good training environment.

Either you don't know much about the current nature of aviation, or you have a grotesquely incomprehensable sense of humour. Instructors generally move on because they get jobs with airlines, however, the ones I have known had been at Egnatia for much, much longer than 3 months. In addition, Egnatia employs a number of retired ex-miltary and airline pilots as instructors, therefore they will not be moving on to other airline employment.

Also the chief instructor is famed to be kicked out as a B747 pilot in a british company, possibly after an air incident or an ATC report filing or something similar.

I really don't know what to say about this one, except it is complete and utter fiction. The CFI at Egnatia is a respected retired ex-military gentleman from the Greek Air Force.

The village where the students reside is a ghost-town in winter and in summer a mosquito-prevalent. After 19:00 you cannot come out of the houses!! It reminds me the Vietnam conditions, swamps and malarias :).

The town is called Keramoti. I suggest all who are thinking about going to Egnatia read about it on the internet. Check out the photo site www.flickr.com (http://www.flickr.com) and do a search. Keramoti is a beautiful town in the summer and gets many tourists, the beaches are incredible. I don't know why you would not want to go out after 1900, unless you are a hermit, which I suspect you may be.

The greek ATC also is not the best in europe, so the air traffic is "surprising" very often!!!
Ok, so Greek ATC is not the best in Europe? Where is? UK? Germany? Ok let's say it's the UK (for argument sake). Do you suggest that in your career of an Airline Pilot you should never fly outside the UK? I don't know about you, but sounds to me like you're in the wrong career if that's the case. I am beginning to see why you are a strong candidate for the hermit award.

If you are an Airline Pilot, you will fly to many, many different airfields in many different countries, ATC will be far from perfect in many of them, you will have to learn to adapt. The ATC is Kavala is adequate and serves its purpose well, the controllers are friendly and curtious, I have never had a problem (unless it's pronouncing the names of some of the towns, still can't get the hang of it.. portolivosomething??).

At last, Greece in my opinion has not surpassed yet her "aviation midlde age" !!!

After the rest of your post, I don't think anyone would care about your opinion, unless of course they are a hermit. :E

So to everyone else who is intelligent and wants to learn to fly, I recommend ignoring ignorant nit-wits like beanbanni. Go give Egnatia a visit and see what it's really like.

[LH2]

I do not have any axe to grind with Egnatia, one way or another, but I have to take issue with this:

The village where the students reside is a ghost-town in winter and in summer a mosquito-prevalent

Hey!! Are we talking about Kavala? There is absolutely nothing wrong with it. :* Nice little northern Greek village (and they even sell mosquito repellent).

...Ok, so while we're here...

The greek ATC also is not the best in europe

Well, neither is British ATC[1] for example, yet people seem to cope somehow. It's what you get used to that counts.

At last, Greece in my opinion has not surpassed yet her "aviation midlde age"

I couldn't possibly comment, never having flown in Greece (yet), but then again, a little bit of real world experience cannot hurt, can it? After all, as a commercial pilot, you wouldn't be expected to be confined to your local training area.

As I said, I don't know or care about Egnatia Aviation, but Kavala and the entire region is a fantastic place :ok:


[1] Yes, I'm aware that British people on a British forum, many of whom have never flown outside Britain, might for some strange reason disagree.

-------
Hmm... Editing to say I appear to have cross-posted with the above contributor, putting forth more or less the same points (minus the personal attacks, no need for that :=). So it's not Kavala we're talking about after all... well, Keramoti is nice as well... perhaps a few tourists in the summer but that's a minor inconvenience :)

[nich-av]

Message deleted by poster.

[Jodiekeyz]

EV you were one of the first students at EG and consequently you developed a close relationship with management thus limiting your ability to see the crap that goes on in that place.

Regularly breaking rules, VFR etc scared the hell out of me...

Please tell the rest of the folks here why you chose to conduct the rest of your training here in the uk? when you were on the 0-atpl program?

STAY AWAY :=

[potkettleblack]

I am very fortunate in that I got out of the training mix over 18 months ago so the stress of trying to find a school and finding a job is well behind me.

The thing that always struck me when I was looking around for schools was how a select few got praise from 99.9% of punters but there was always the same suspects that came out as a mixed bag. Some were in the US some were further afield and some were start ups offering the world. When it came down to it I just wasn't prepared to risk going to one of these schools in case I became another statistic. Yes it cost me more in the end but I have no complaints whatsoever.

[EpsilonVaz]

Jodiekeyz:

I completed the 0-fATPL program at Egnatia, it did all my training there, except my MCC, as Egnatia do not currently offer this.

No school is perfect, but there is no need to start spreading lies like beanbanni did. As far as I know this forum is here to help people to do research by stating facts, not to be used as a tool to spread non-truths to satisfy some "political" vendetta.

[bajadj]

No. The name of this website is PPRuNe... the Ru stands for rumour. If people are unhappy with a certain place of training then this IS the place to vent, otherwise it would be called PPFaNe. I have no comment to make on Egnatia as i've never been there.

[beanbanni]

To end the Egnatia theme, just listen again to the s**t you think I am saying:

1. The CFI is Cypriot, How can a cypriot fly the HELLENIC MILITARY AIRFORCE!!!

2. There is no such thing as on-site maintenance, once sth is broken down, first they will wait from Diamond to send the replacement part, secondly the greek bureaucrat approval after months!!!

3. Nice photo of the village but the point the photo is taken is too high for the mosquitos ;)

[EpsilonVaz]

Mate I am done arguing but:

1. The CFI is Greek, the HoT is Cypriot, if you are going to spread rumours get it right.

2. Whatever. Think that if you want, but there is a Thielert service centre there and they STOCK parts.

3. If you are scared of a few small flies then I sympathise with you.

I'm not going to argue against someone who hasn't even been to the school. This is the sort of rubbish that drags this great forum down into the gutter.

[zapoi67]

Poor little beanbanni :{

He's scared of mosquitos ! :{

Maybe Mykonos is a better place for him to learn flight... :E

[bobster1]

Im not going to add to this as Iv said my piece regards Egnatia on another thread, and it was a year ago now since I was there and hopefully things have changed for the better.
But the mosquitos are a recognised problem there, thats why there is a crop dusting R22 that flies up and down the river delta everyday to spray them and try and keep the numbers down.
Even if you dont get bitten normaly, you will by these savage little bastards.
Keramoti beaches second to none:ok:




Epsilon, congrats on getting thru, and hope your well:ok:

[smith]

Ep Vas

Are you working now? Do the airlines look favourably on the Greek training? I did my IR in Spain and still not got a job.

Chhers

Smith

[Jodiekeyz]

If EV is working he is probably with Ryan Air, ahh when money is no object...