Oxford Modular waypoint or Flying Time Aviation Integrated advice please!

[harryt]

Hello there,

This is my first post on PPrune after much time spent on here reading other posts. im sorry if its not in the right part of the forum. I could really use some help with a dilemma i find myself in! I was planning to study the full time modular route at OAA starting this year, I have a PPL want to move onto ATPL. Financially i think OAA's integrated route is not possible for me but i want to maximise my job prospects. my thinking is that having OAA on my record will look good.

However a small school based at shoreham is to start running the integrated route this year for a very reasonable price obviously to attract customers and get their course off to a good start about 50,000. So now I am faced with a dilemma whats more important to have OAA on my training record, or to be an integrated student but from a possibly lesser known school?!

any advice will be greatly appreciated!!

Thank you!

[pakythepilot]

hy,
harryt

My suggestion is Don't go to OAA for the modular path way..u're going to waste your time.. because remember cadet comes first even along ur flight training. you're going to find ur plane booked maybe two weeks ago, being fly by a cadet, and their response is going to be, I'm so sorry but we have a class of cadets which they need to fly. For them u come always at the second place. Also as a modular they are not going to help u to get your fist employment. try to understand their point you don't pay 80000 pounds as the integrated students. trust me there's no point to spend that amount of money, especially for a modular path way. Find other flight schools as stepleford or Professional Flight Training, u're going to spend really less money then oxford and they get u in consideration as a normal studend giving you the best helping and training. what I am writing is said by a modular student who changes flight school from oxford to stapleford for the reason which I have explained u above.

[pudoc]

I know 5 OAA modular students and all of them agreed there is a divide between the modular and integrated students. The divide is partly snobby rich kids thinking they're the dogs danglys and even with the admin side too. They said the training is good but I know most of them were unhappy with aircraft availability and the way the admin were.

my thinking is that having OAA on my record will look good.

Highly doubt it. It doesn't 'look good' to have any specific school on your CV, doesn't mean you're a better pilot whether you went FTE, CTC, OAA or took 5 years to do a modular course. The main thing is, just pick a school with a good rep.

Personally, I'd stay away from a brand new school/course. You just don't know enough about it.

Have a look at BCFT, Stapleford and CTC modular if you're willing to pay more. There are many others.

[mad_jock]

Even if you do go modular with them you won't get any help getting a job.

Then if you do get a job and they find out you will be included in the statistics as if you were intergrated and the school was instrumental to getting you a job.

I know, I was included in the success statistics and all I had done there was distance ground school.

[Dan the weegie]

Definitely not OAA modular :) having a good modular school on your record will be much better (BCFT is the place)

[clkorm3]

Bcft is soo accommodating and always help you. I did my PPL There. There is always great help available all the time. I am starting hopefully on 2 April ATPL ground school.

[Flaymy]

The only people who will be impressed by Oxford on your CV are the management at Oxford.

[Dibies]

you're going to find ur plane booked maybe two weeks ago, being fly by a cadet, and their response is going to be, I'm so sorry but we have a class of cadets which they need to fly. For them u come always at the second place.

I am currently in Goodyear with the OAA waypoint, and I really don't see what you are talking about!

[harryt]

Thanks for all your responses guys!! much appreciated!! I think im going to steer clear of the new school in shoreham.

[Mr Boombastick]

If you want to use one of the 'big' schools for modular then CTC has to be the best due to the AQC, and the holdpool which is apparently emptier than it has been for some time - although currently you dont need to have trained at CTC to get on to this as it is a seperate course to the CPL/IR.
OAA make no bones about the fact they will not help you find a job.
I know modular guys who went to speak to the careers dept (at OAA) to ask advice about something or other, they were point blank refused any info and shown the door as they were not integrated. This is not the kind of friendly service you would expect having parted with the best part of 50k.
Waypoint also takes an awfully long time, when I enquired it was around 6 months. At this rate you cant expect to be flying more than a couple of times a week, plus as soon as theres bad weather and the integrated guys flights get pushed back, you will be to the back of the que.
If its not your money, you are in no rush, dont want / need any help finding a job and like drinking extremley overpriced Costa coffee then it may be worth considering, if not then dont touch OAA with a barge pole!
Good luck in what ever you decide, unless you want to be waiting until late summer early autumn you need to get applying to places now, CTC have no availability for modular until October and OAA I think is around August.

[chrissie747]

Don't write off the little school in Shoreham. Although they have just been granted integrated status, they have been running structured modular courses for many years now. They have an excellent pass rate and the aircraft are well maintained and extremely up to date.
It's a well run little outfit and definitely worthy of consideration. You'd be surprised how many of the airlines know of it's existence and better to be a part of a small team than an insignificant cog of a major player.
Visit it and see for yourself.

[CruiseControl_007]

Even if you do go modular with them you won't get any help getting a job.

Then if you do get a job and they find out you will be included in the statistics as if you were intergrated and the school was instrumental to getting you a job.

I know, I was included in the success statistics and all I had done there was distance ground school.

I was an integrated student and a "rich kid" thinking I was the dogs :mad: (love the way people tend to stereotype and tar everyone with the same brush as a previous poster has done!) and found a jet job off my own back without any help from OAA...and guess what...they also used me as an employment statistic on their website. So no surprise there then! :ugh:

[harryt]

Thanks for the responses everyone, Im still putting a lot of thought into this, Im currently waiting for a nice enough day to do my PPL Skills Test so there is still time. Im starting to consider BCFT based at Bournemouth more seriously though as a modular option. im going down there to have a look on friday. To be honest with you if it looks good i think i will go there, i saw both oxford and BCFT at the professional pilots exhibition at heathrow, and oxford flat out admitted they don't help modular students find employment.

[mad_jock]

I was an integrated student and a "rich kid" thinking I was the dogs :mad:

Well you have obviously realised this fact now or it has been train/kicked/beaten out of you. :p

[Bealzebub]

If you want to maximize your job prospects then find out which schools and which programmes the airlines are utilizing, to recruit their cadets from. Love it or loathe it, that is where the opportunities are at the moment, and are likely to be for the forseeable future.

[mad_jock]

Don't worry there are some companys out there that arn't employing magneta line borgs. ;)

[pudoc]

Music to my ears.

[CruiseControl_007]

Well you have obviously realised this fact now or it has been train/kicked/beaten out of you.

Sarcasm...:ugh: