Opinions about Ibertour (Spain) and Smart Aviation ( Poland )

[mendonca311]

Hi everyone,
I need your help because i want to start my flight trainning but budget is low ( about 40 k€) . So , for this reason i want to know about your oppinion about this two schools because their prices , for me, are very good.

ps: if you have suggestions about other schools please tell me

[Transsonic2000]

How about Bartolini Air in Poland? They have a good reputation and they have reasonable prices. The only down side I know of is that they are apparently quite busy and you have to wait a few month before you can start your training, but if you sign up now you might be able to start your training in spring next year.

[Pilot1981]

Heard bad stories about both of them. For example Smart Aviation's P2002JF are the only IFR certified P2002JF in Europe. Certified personally by them...

I wonder what bad stories you have heard about Smart Aviation. Firstly, our fleet of Tecnam P2002-JF is the youngest in Europe. This year we have purchased 3 brand new Tecnam P2002-JF with Garmin G500 and newest Tecnam P2006T Twin MkII with Garmin G1000 NXi. Besides new airplanes in our fleet we have also Alsim ALX simulator certified for IR/ME and MCC. Secondly, our students are being constantly hired by airlines companies. Our sim instructors are A320 captains so you get a lot of benefits. Our school is located at Poznan-Lawica International Airport which is opened 24/7. Of course Tecnam P2002-JF is not certified for IFR. We are offering IR/SE training on Diamond DA40 TDI with Garmin 1000 and IR/ME on Tecnam P2006T. Taking into consideration all above facts our offer for EASA 0 to ATPL training is definitely the best in Europe - just 33000 EUR. To find more please visit our website.

[Pilot1981]

Smart have a bit of a hit and miss reputation but from the students I know who went there all 3 of them are working for airlines in Turkey.

That was over one year ago


This year at least three our students from Turkey got a job at Turkish Airlines. That number of students hired by airlines will be constantly growing because this year we have trained a lot of them.

[Porcellino]

I'm currently finishing my CPL/ME/IR at Smart Aviation, and I would recommend over training in Spain.
I've flown in Spain (30hrs) and paying 100-170euros for a fleet that's in average 30 years old compared to flying glass cockpit brand new planes for 100-125 euros was very appealing for me.

EPPO Airport is very good at handling VFR traffic and while normal commercial aviation. This is said from doing my night rating in Liverpool where I had to wait 10 minutes holding on the pattern for a Ryanair that was 8 minutes away. At Poznan ATC are well trained for this and you rarely hold for more than 5 minutes, when extremely busy. The experience from all this traffic is as well very rewarding.

The new sim is a beauty and it handles very good, done 40hrs IR training with 2 captains from Wizz Air. Although demanding this part of the training was very helpful as I gained a lot of experience from them on how to expect things to be working in an airline.

Lastly I've already met 5 people at Smart Aviation that started their training at Bartolini and decided to change halfway.

[superflanker]

Comparing a C172 (or PA28, or TB10) with a P2002... it's like a 1970s Mustang vs a Toyota Aygo :=

Tho, the P2002 with glass cockpit is good for learning modern airline flying.

[superflanker]

Ok, I accept the change. Tecnam is obviously cheaper to operate but there is not such of a price difference.

[superflanker]

Perhaps the country where you did it? I can't see such difference in PPL prices...

[superflanker]

I will edit it because it's not very well written...:ok:

[Porcellino]

I never said a word about performance gents, I'll chose a warrior III any day before Tecnam or Cessna, I was talking about flying a brand new aircraft with glass cockpit and and all the ease it comes with it as in comms and navigation, to a 15-20 year old plane that is falling apart, with one radio and and one VOR.
Don't get me wrong I didn't do my training in such plane.
I flew PA28, C150 and C172 until my 120hrs total, with basic instruments, no GPS, no fancy stuff,and I'm my opinion it is good to start ones training this way to learn proper navigation and not rely on GPS and commodities.
I also have to add that it comes very handy while hour building have a glass cockpit to be able to practice instrument approaches before your IR.