Florida Aviation academy or Orlando flight trianing

[Clintonb]

Does anybody have any insight to these 2 schools or has gone to them. Florida aviation academy has reasonable price for their professional pilot course and Orlando flight training has a similar price range couple thousand more for the JAA ATPL from 0- fATPL which im wanting to get so i can work in europe but think i might be able to save a bit money if i went to FAA and then did the ATPL distance learning and converted my FAA CPL for JAA but id like to know how these 2 schools are? are they professional, instructor-student ratio etc

any information id much appreciate it
safe flying

[punk666]

I went to OFT PM me if you want some questions answered.

[suntorytimo]

Neither, go to EFT, might be a little more expensive but I guarantee you in the long run you will save money after you're forced to do way more hours at those schools.

[staywet]

Why are you forced to do more hours? Aren't a few more hours a good thing, it all goes towards hour building afterwards?

My question is, Orlando FT offer around 1000 hours (which includes a good few hundred hours work) at a price lower than the uk schools charge for just the training hours and maybe 80 hours work.

Is it better to have the 1000 hours USA style or 300 hours UK style?

Also, are Orlando FT just wanting your money and therefore interested in just churning out pilots, or are they a desired training provider as far as employers are concerned?

I am required to pay for half my sons training and we still havent chosen a school. He hopes to commence from 0 hours before Christmas. We are concerned that in the UK, the money runs out before the hours are high enough for work, in USA it seems the money will still run out, but at around 1000 hours not 300.

[smangnall]

I went to OFT, although some years back now when they were based at Kissimmee and had a great time there, fligth instruction seemed good, I passed everything first time with minimum hours, so not sure where the 'make you do more hours' quotes are coming from. The thing with any flight school is that the instructors are always changing and I think I happened to get a couple of decent guys, some were less experienced so you take your chances. Best bet is to go and have a look at your shortlisted schools and make a decision based on what you see happening there, not what they tell you as flight schools all blow smoke to try and get you to part with your hard earned brass!

Please PM me if you want any more info.

Simon

[goaround737]

I was at OFT this year, if you have any specific Qs or want an overview PM me. I wont 'mud sling' on a public forum.

Regards

[toff]

I should firstly point out that I am trying to talk fairly about Orlando Flight Training. For getting me through the vast majority of my flight training, I cannot fault them...

Does anybody have any insight to these 2 schools or has gone to them

I was at Orlando Flight Training from early 2009 until the middle of 2010.

Orlando flight training has a similar price range

Ignore all-inclusive prices at Orlando Flight Training. For all sorts of reasons, you will end up doing more hours than you expected. I suggest you ask the school how many students complete their training in minimum hours. Whilst I cannot give you an accurate answer myself, I would estimate (at most) 5-10%.

ATPL distance learning

The school offers a residential ATPL ground school, which I would recommend. At the time I did my ATPLs, Orlando Flight Training had a great (and very knowledgeable) chief ground instructor. He is no longer with the school, but the ground instructors that remain all know their stuff and they are all very experienced in the industry. Regular class tests track your progress, which must be passed in order for you to sit the real exam.

are they professional, instructor-student ratio etc

Professional? A lot of the staff, yes, but others, most certainly not. After being wrongly fined $150 for not showing up for a flight and nagging at one particular employee to do something about it, she one day said, in front of quite a large audience, "I don't have f**king time for this". Fortunately, she is not on the flying side, so you wouldn't see much of her. I found many of the staff at Euroflight to be very likeable, chatty people, including the dispatch staff and the assistant to the chief pilot. There are a handful of staff members who think that they are doing students a huge favour, which isn't the case. These people rarely treat the students as paying customers, and you will find that some have little or no respect for you. The lady mentioned above was one of these people.

As for instructor-to-student ratio, it varies a lot. When I started, I was one of seven students with an instructor, and that was just too many! For the rest of my training, each instructor had 3-4 students, which guaranteed one flight each day, with the option of another if I wanted it.

any information id much appreciate it

Ask about hidden charges with any school - the sorts of things that won't have been included in your rock-bottom quotation for their Pro Pilot courses. Fuel surcharges fluctuate, and they can really push the price of a flight up. Also ask about any fines imposed on students as Orlando Flight Training has a lot of them.. No-show fees, littering, not closing aircraft windows, not tying aircraft down etc. Everywhere you look at the school is a sign telling you of fines for doing various things!

[netlordr23]

I would go to PTC Florida, personal advice.