P.A.T Bournemouth Reviews?

[kai farrant]

Hi, has anyone visited or studied at proffessional air training in Bournemouth? As once i have completed my PPL license i am looking to continue my career as a Commercial pilot, i have rang PAT Bournemouth to enquire about ME/CPL/IR and they seem like a great school, friendly, and professional, has anyone had any experience with the school? it seems great! thanks alot.

[bestman]

Excellent school.

I did my CPL/IR there last year and recently renewed the ratings; I think they make a fairly demanding process as painless as possible.

When I renewed I met quite a few students there who had moved from another Bournemouth School they were unhappy with.

I've no idea how competitive they are on price - I sought the opinion of some well respected people in the industry, was recommended PAT and Exeter, and chose PAT because I could commute from home.

If you want to save money and time learn all the memory items till you can recite them in your sleep - I wish I had!

[speed_alive_rotate]

Hey Bestman, what memory items are you referring to?

[bestman]

They will send you info, including checklists, before you start.

Go through it all carefully, but make sure you learn the ones boxed in red, which you are expected to do from memory in the aircraft.

I believe there are 18 memory ones!

These range from simple B,R,F whilst taxiing - Brakes Rudder Flight instruments to B,U,M,F,F,F,S,L,A,C,C,C,M,M,I,G - you get the idea.

I'd even suggest getting a Duchess cockpit poster and practicing 'touch drills' in front of this.

Remember this is an expensive game, and by preparing really well, you'll save yourself a small fortune.

Good luck, PAT, have an excellent first time pass rate. It's finding a job that's the really tricky bit.....

[speed_alive_rotate]

Thanks Bestman, great advice.

[darn]

Nothing wrong with PAT, good instructors, friendly, helpful, priced pretty much the same as the others.


However a note of caution - you will pass your IR first time, which sounds great but it means that even if you think your ready, you will do another, 5, 10, 15 hours, until they are absolutely convinced you'll pass. This means don't count on passing in minimum time and financially this can really hurt when every hr costs many hundreds of pounds.


I thought it was just me but speaking to others afterwards they all felt the same.

[no sponsor]

If you need 20 extra hours for the IR, then maybe professional flying isn't for you. There's no point sending you for the IR if you've no hope of passing. Just remember that once you are flying professionally you do a sim every six months and on the whole IR skills and manual flying is still tested.

I went there several years ago. They put me forward for an interview at a jet operator and me and a couple of others got jobs.

I honestly couldn't fault them at the time. Solid training way beyond just getting you the pass and a good foundation which I'm sure helped me get into the legacy airline I fly for today.

[darn]

You missed my point - even if you don't need extra training you will get it anyway

[Global_Global]

You missed my point - even if you don't need extra training you will get it anyway

:mad:... The fact that you had to do extra hours means you needed them. I did it in minimum hours and passed 1st time... :cool:

In short great school and I agree with Bestman: either PAT or Exeter would be my choice if I had to do it again. :ok:

[bestman]

When I was there, a year ago, the pass rate was somewhere around 80% for the CPL and IR. On that basis you only have a 64% chance of passing both first time - and failing is really expensive.

Whilst certainly higher than the industry average, you are by no means guaranteed a first time pass CPL and IR pass, which indicates to me that they aren't 'overtraining'.

I do understand, that it can feel that way, when you are self funding and burning through the cash at a frightening rate. However I think, on balance, you probably have to accept they know what they are doing.

On a more positive note, I was asked at interview where I had trained, and they seemed pleased with my answer - which has to be worth something.

[Jwscud]

I trained at PAT and got first time passes on both skills tests. CPL in minimum hours, IR in something like 30mins over the minimum which was just how the flights went. I would (and have) recommend them to anyone who asks.

Just a note on odds - if passing first time were solely random, your odds would be correct, however it is a skills test not a luck test and while on occasion people do partial due to bad luck or a momentary lapse, after a few beers most would admit it was because they made a genuine boob.

In my experience (which includes those of other students at the time), if you are ready in minimum hours you will sit the skills test. I fly with plenty of colleagues who didn't do everything in minimum hours (I didn't do my PPL in min hours for example) but so,show still seem to be capable professional pilots all the same.

Minimum hours is, however, a financial consideration and you are foolish if you don't budget for a few hours extra across both courses.

[Cont]

I can only reiterate the comments above. Excellent school and training and whilst a lot if money (as all flight training is) the best value for money I received. Like the comment above I did it with 40 extra minutes or so as it worked out like that, but doing it in minimum hours is not the aim. It is to become proficient at the skills you will be tested on and having a solid foundation will help you to build on them in the future, which I believe is one of the important aspects of this job. Budgeting for extra is a very wise idea anyway.

I can still here the words of some of my instructors in my head when I'm at work these days.

[kai farrant]

Thanks alot!