From my experience of recruiting and training graduates in the engineering sector, those who have learned English as a second language (EU and non-EU) have much better grammar and better spelling than our current crop of UK graduates from our colleges of further education, sorry Universities.

Damn, if schools seem to pump out so many pilots, what could the ratio pilot to job be? 50:1 ? That means only 1 out of 50 students gets a job.
Or am i too much of a pessimist?

Eikido

Maybe EGBKFLYER can confirm the rumour that Brooklands Flying Club, Sywell is ceasing flight training other than on Saturday/Sunday, resulting in at least one rudundancy for the General Manager/CFI.
Wasn't the hard runway supposed to offer dependable year round operation for the flying club et al?:*

Your from kettering,next door to sywell you tell us.

One year later and a different perspective.......
 

Thought I'd resurrect this thread. I'm a piano teacher (and a stude PPL) and I've been teaching for twenty years in north Kent. As of this Autumn term business has been terrible :(. Our student numbers are down some 30-40% on last year, and we're really having to tighten our belts.

How're things with the FTOs?

As a part time FI I would say my instruction hours are down by 25-30% against good times 2 years ago. Still a some new students coming in.

This is not at a comercial school just a regular small PPL school.

mint

80+ hours per month for me (closer to 100)
actually have to watch my "8 hours per 24-hour period" on a daily basis
sometimes there's not enough hours in a day...

Despite the above, some flying schools/clubs seem to have a never ending supply of new students dripping in cash. To the extent of, in my experience, one school refusing to take slot bookings from one student as he had recently cancelled a couple of trips at short notice (but had given notice I hasten to add). Perhaps the closer to London the easier it gets.....and thus you can afford to cherry pick your customers...

An interesting thread.
Perhaps some of you guys who posted this time last year could comment now on how things are.
Personally I have found that whilst PPL students still seem to be in abundant supply, Trial lessons per se and PPL hire are both generally down.

I'm sure that there are demographic factors and certainly London based clubs may benefit slightly, but it is certainly of interest to get a national picture.

Just renewed my SEP at a school in the midlands who said that things were picking up. Tried to get a checkout at a school on the south coast and no slots available for 2 weeks. Things looking up?

A very sensible decision. It's not about "cherry picking" it's about protecting your business. Someone who constantly cancels at last minute isn't worth keeping about. You lose a slot, the FI loses pay and the other students lose availability.

My policy has always been, if it's less than 24hrs notice or a dire emergency, then frankly the student should pay a fine. Try cancelling at a hairdressers at the last minute and see if they charge you...Why should a flying school be any different.

Last minute cancellations can be a difficult area, especially where solo bookings are cancelled because the renter has quite fairly taken the view that the weather is below his personal minima but the club on the other hand may feel it is perfectly acceptable, and then gets shirty about what is essentially a personal safety related decision. Haze on an otherwise beautiful summers day is a classic case of varying viewpoints (no pun intended). Pilots personal weather minima vary dependent on experience and natural apprehension. One mans crap weather is someone else's non event.

That should never be an issue. If the weather isn't good enough, then that's it. That's the pilots perogative and any club or school that kicks up a fuss about that is a poor one.

My problem is with serial last minute cancellers. Stuff happens and the odd time is rarely a problem, but when a pattern starts forming or people start ringing up and just canning the slot because they got drunk the night before, then that is unacceptable.

As per usual, there has to be a bit of give and take, but some people really do take the pi**.

Couldn't agree more SAS, but feeling under pressure to honour a booking when you are a new and apprehensive PPL just because the CFI is glaring at you ( as happened to me a few times when I first qualified) is upsetting to say the least.