How good is the Bournemouth Commercial Flight Training School ?

[Steve Bug]

I am just finishing my PPL and keen to take things to the next level.

Has anyone been to BCFT school in Bournemouth ? It would be great to hear from someone who has been there.

Cheers

[preduk]

Never been there but the feedback on this forum has been that it's a great school.

[paco]

They have an excellent reputation

Phil

[profot]

I would imagine it has its good and bad points, it is certified by the CAA so it must achieve a certain standard of training that is acceptable to them.

I did my ground school there and decided against the flight training as the way it was run didnt suit me, but I must stress that is a personal choice, many people seem to sail through BCFT having a great time and doing very well.

I did an awful lot of research into the training provider for my flight training and even after all that have realised that they are all pretty much the same with their own little quirks. You need to visit all the schools you are thinking of and get a feel for which of them are run in a way that will suit your personality.

Some will be very laid back and relaxed some will be almost militarian in the way they are run. some schools focus on first time passes and others on minimum hours its all a choice you have to work out yourself.

One thing is for sure, in these times part with as little upfront money as possible and don't let the school forget you are paying them vast sums of money so you therefore expect to receive what they sell you in the banter.

[RTN11]

I did the ATPL groundschool at BCFT, and found it to be of a very high standard. The knowledge of the instructors is very vast, and any questions I had, even after class, were always answered in full.

I passed all 14 exams first time, with a 93% average, but that took a lot of work personally. Although the choice of training provider is an important one, the exams are a lot of work in 6 months. The exam results over the last few months seem to be showing a trend that the questions in the exams aren't in the online databases, so you really need to know the subjects.

I like the setup at BCFT for both the groundschool and flying, and I am starting my CPL there next week. I have the instructor I wanted, which is an absolute must. For me, the choice of instructor could be more important than the choice of FTO.

My advice would be to go around and visit a few FTOs. There are plenty of them, all willing to take you deposit cheque, but find the one that's right for you.

[maxdrypower]

As per profot and rtn i did my gs with thm and they are excellent I chose the same route as Profot , the flying side didnt suit me and I wasnt happy with what i saw , but as stressed by Profot this was a personal choice . Many of my course mates also went on to do cpl/ir there and have done very well .
For Gs though I cannot recommend them highly enough Uncle Phil is very dedicated to what he does and will go out of his way to help you as will the other instructors . Although when I was there there was one chap who failed an exam and when he came back someone made the decision that any extra help he had with passing the exam should be charged at around 25 quid per hour . This is not exactly int he spirit of what you will be told when you go for a visit . And whatever you do dont believe the "we have links with RYR and Monarch " its crap .
But again please dont hesitate to use them for GS its not the GS staff there that cause the issues .

[fabiensf]

what kind of issues are we talking about?

[expedite08]

Have a look at PAT (Professional Air Training) across the way. Excellent outfit. Excellent instructors

[ford cortina]

Did my IR there, first time pass and MMC with them, enjoyed it. Even the flying with Lance.

[Steve Bug]

Thanks for your answers everyone, i will be visiting them in the next few weeks. Everyone has been very positive about them which is great.

I am also looking into schools in Germany and in Zurich with Swiss Aviation. They all have pretty tough entry pre-requisites.... Also some schools in the states, they all seem to offer courses with a shorter duration, whilst in Germany & Switzerland its at least 16 months.

[SinBin]

No quarms from me, I did all my commercial bits including the MCC in the L1011 at BCFT, have been flying the Airbus for a major LHR based airline for nearly two years now, got the job soon after finishing, standard TR bonding too. Times have changed now good luck to you all, and hopefully the downturn won't last long!

[CABUS]

I agree with Sin Bin, we have both been on here before and mentioned how good we think BCFT are. What I can say is they will go out of their way to make sure you pass in an excellent friendly, approchable environment and they have some connections aswell. However, as above, you just cant predict how long this down turn will last and when we all start coming out of it it there are loads of highly qualified and experienced guys out there who the airlines will rightly prefer. What I am trying to say is that if you dont get a job straight away it wont be BCFT's fault but I am sure you already knew that however, I think some cadets at other schools may lose sight of that, they prepaired me well for my first job ont the A320/30 with a major UK charter company.

Best of luck

[tropicalfridge]

A pretty good place. Well run, and some great instructors.