Study visa for Egnatia aviation

[Stick_pusher]

Hello,
Did any one of this forum members had any experience with issuing a visa in order to do a flying course in Egnatia aviation in Greece?

Egnatia say that it takes 8-10 weeks, my embassy say it's minimum 4 months. The issue is that I have to pay them 1500 Euros in advance before I even recieve any response regarding the visa..

Help please!

[Stick_pusher]

Can you please explain why?
I don’t think that I can get a UK license in Greece because schools are working with the HCAA...

[Warlock1]

No clue about the visa issue but had a friend who was in Egnatia. He ended up switching to another school later on, simply because he didn't want to deal with the bureaucracy of the management.
Do your research and talk to people before you make a final decision.
As far as the Greek CAA is concerned, never had any problems with them.

[2close]

Having worked for an ATO in Greece I can echo those words that the HCAA (YPA) is an absolute pain to deal with, like any public service in Greece - they could turn changing a light bulb into a bureaucratic monster. We had to have our licence and medical checked at the airport local HCAA office for every single training flight we did, and every flight required a flight plan, even if you were doing a single circuit. Sometimes the same person would check your licence and medical six or seven times in the same day..and the paperwork they generate is unbelievable. There were offices piled high with forms in a filing system that could only be described as 'a pile of paper' - I jest you not, they could take care of the Amazon rainforest in an afternoon!

The only bonus with doing your ATPLs in Greece is the examination price.

The rules only state that you must do your examinations in the same country as the ATO which conducted your ATPL theory training.

BTW, Egnatia is very good. I did some training work there and it is a very good set-up.

They can't be blamed for YPA! ;-)

[MaverickPrime]

I have spoken to Global and as stated you can do your CPL/IR skills test there and have your licence issued by the HCAA even if you have a medical issued by another EASA state. However, I was told if you want to do it this way it will take longer due to the bureaucracy.

Apparently, the quickest way to do it is to get a greek issued class 1 and then your licence will be issued much quicker after the skill test.

At the time I spoke to them I don't think Global were able to test you under any other CAA other than the HCAA.