Fly Orlando at Kissimee...any good?

[Mintflavour]

Hello people

Any recomendations about fly orlando training centre at kissimmee? How does it compare with any other training centres in the same facinity, in the way of prices, quality of training, aircraft, and hospitality.

I would be interested to know of any experiences people may of had there?

please help as Im going there in July.

[D 129]

Not quite on topic but ....

To fly in Florida on a JAA PPL, what documentation do you need to take and how much do you have to plan in advance ?. i.e. - I read somewhere that students going to train in the US were getting long delays whilst they were being vetted. So I was assuming that the US authorities would be (at the least) taking up "references" before letting anyone take to the air in US airspace ...

Also is the JAA PPL afforded equal rights as a FAA PPL - i.e. Is it just turning up for a check ride ... or is there more to it than that ...

(I'm in Orlando in Spring 2003 and hope to take a twin down to the Keys ......).

Thanks for any input.

D 129

[Facts Not Fiction Pls]

Your school should be able to tell you all, but here it is in a nutshell:

1. Take your valid JAA licence and respective current JAA medical certificate to a FAA Office (FSDO). The FAA will give you a restricted FAA PPL on the back of this that is subject to the restrictions and limitations of your JAA licence.

2. Complete a FAA Flight review. This consists of a minimum of 1 hour ground and 1 hours flight where an Instructor will cover all the prescribed areas ie FAA regs and airspace, W & B etc on the ground and general handling in the air. If you have never opened a book on the FAA airspace I would suggest that you budget for 2 hours on both as this will benefit you a lot more than them! The instructor will endorse your logbook and you are off and running!

Be aware, the FAA licence is just an acknowledgement of your JAA licence to allow you to fly. If you go out of recency on your JAA then your FAA is invalid.;)

[GoneWest]

D 129 - if you do go to Orlando, you may run into problems following 'Facts' advice re. going to FSDO.

Orlando do not allow non US citizens into the FSDO unless they have a pre-arranged appointment.

Good news is, however, that there are numerous flight examiners in the Orlando district that can issue the piece of paper you require.

According to Newton - for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction - so the bad news is that the flight examiner will charge you up to US$40 to issue it. FSDO would have done for free.

Read http://www.faa.gov/fsdo/orl/forpilot.htm (this link) for details of the procedure and a list of the examiners.

Staying with the bad news - unless you have substantial amounts of flight experience, including lots of twin time, you might not be hiring a twin to go to the keys...at least, not solo.

[Mintflavour]

Gone West I couldnt get your link to work any other addresses?.

If you make an appointment with the FSDO how far in advance do you have to make it?

Does fly orlando lend you headsets. I dont really want to take my own over. Im just going over to do some hour building.

[GoneWest]

Mint...

The address is correct - but the way I embedded it in the message doesn't appear to be...have you tried typing it or cut/paste it into the browser.

Last I heard from the office was 24 hours notice (let me try again... FSDO Orlando (http://www.faa.gov/fsdo/orl/) ). The site will also link you to "Foreign Pilot" listed above - which should have been licence conversion (http://www.faa.gov/fsdo/orl/forpilot.htm) .

Headsets at OFT.....I think "rental" would be the safe term to use there, rather than loan.

Don't forget to factor in the US$2 per hour fuel surcharge and the insurance indemnity - similar to collision damage waiver when you rent a car - think that was about US$100.

[Facts Not Fiction Pls]

Not sure about Orlando, but the FSDO at Miami is really straight forward on the appointments side of things. Called up one day to get an appointment the next, and you are able to choose the time.

The background on the appointment thing is so that they know to expect you. I don't know whether they do any more than that!

[paulo]

Maybe the 152s are old, but everything else there was new when I went 18 months ago. New Warrior IIIs, new 172s being delivered, new Katana's.

Nice comfortable facility, internet facilities, decking out front to loaf on and watch the aviation world go by. Kissimmee itself is a bit of run of the mill Florida strip, but the school's accomodation partner lets you get away from it in 4 star style for $35 a night. Not bad really.

OFT is definitely run as a business. In many ways to the benefit of the customer, but prices have sometimes changed without notice, and substantial deposits have been required on arrival for pay-by-the-hour customers.

Instructors were well liked whilst I was there, but as many have moved on, you should get a more recent reference.

Overall, I'd give them an 8 out of 10. If they were a little less 'sharp' on the money front, I'd give them 10.

[Jinkster]

Did my PPL, Multi, Night and hour build to 150hrs at Kissimmee Muni Airport.

Cheaper than doing it in the UK.

Good weather - ATC facilities at KISM very good :cool: :cool:

[notice]

Strange that Mintflavour claims to be going there in July but then wants people to post on their ' prices, quality of training, aircraft, and hospitality', which anyone (who is concerned and has at least half of a brain) would have explored before booking !

OK- we know that quality of training and hospitality may be only opinions but the provider, not PPRuNe, are the people to confirm their prices and aircraft

Is this topic simply stupid or another school selling scam?

[Facts Not Fiction Pls]

And here comes Notice again......

He searches here, he searches there, to point out that scam to the unwitted student who will be spending his hard earned dosh!!!!

However Notice, there has to be something said about your amazing resilience and constant questions re schools that are getting good review/comments.

You must have had a very unpleasant training experience to question everyone's integrity when they say they like a school:D

[paulo]

And one thing to consider, you don't tend to get a large amount of negative feedback posted publicly - I think there's some previous history here of things getting legal.

[notice]

Contrary to what was posted by 'Facts', I haven't said anything about ' prices, quality of training, aircraft, and hospitality' at this place, or that they are a 'scam'. They may be high, average, or low, for all I know.

It was simply suggested that Minty's topic was stupid, or suspicious, because anyone who has decided to go anywhere should have already had written confirmation from the school, as to their prices, aircraft, accommodation etc.

[GoneWest]

Much as I hate to admit it - I'm with "Notice" on this one.

[Facts Not Fiction Pls]

Maybe he is rethinking his decision?

No reason to call someone stupid!!!!

Only he can answer why he asked the question, so Mintflavour, what do you have to say to your critics?