European Flight Schools
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Join Date: Jun 2023
Location: Northern Ireland
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European Flight Schools
Hi
Does anyone have any recommendations for flight schools in Europe? I'm looking to start applying in the next month or 2 for an integrated ATPL but I'm new to all of this and there are a lot of different schools out there.
At the minute I'm looking at FTE Jerez, L3 Harris and CAA.
Also what impact does having a Type Rating have on employability right from the start, I know CAA.
Any help would be greatly
Thanks
Does anyone have any recommendations for flight schools in Europe? I'm looking to start applying in the next month or 2 for an integrated ATPL but I'm new to all of this and there are a lot of different schools out there.
At the minute I'm looking at FTE Jerez, L3 Harris and CAA.
Also what impact does having a Type Rating have on employability right from the start, I know CAA.
Any help would be greatly
Thanks
Join Date: Sep 2022
Location: Perpetually circling LAM for some reason
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Hi
Does anyone have any recommendations for flight schools in Europe? I'm looking to start applying in the next month or 2 for an integrated ATPL but I'm new to all of this and there are a lot of different schools out there.
At the minute I'm looking at FTE Jerez, L3 Harris and CAA.
Also what impact does having a Type Rating have on employability right from the start, I know CAA.
Any help would be greatly
Thanks
Does anyone have any recommendations for flight schools in Europe? I'm looking to start applying in the next month or 2 for an integrated ATPL but I'm new to all of this and there are a lot of different schools out there.
At the minute I'm looking at FTE Jerez, L3 Harris and CAA.
Also what impact does having a Type Rating have on employability right from the start, I know CAA.
Any help would be greatly
Thanks
Okay for a start, have a read of all the modular vs integrated threads on here. Integrated isn’t necessarily quicker, and modular is normally significantly cheaper and better for networking with pilots who will help you with that all important first job.
Second, a Type Rating with no hours on type is worse than useless because you’ll have to be re taught any employer’s SOPs, and you won’t have the required time on type. 500 hours on type is the minimum, and whilst some people do pay for those hours, it is expensive, horrendous to the profession and does not look great on a CV. If you’re set on going down that route, go modular and (if you must) use the money you saved to get a cadet job at RYR - they’ll charge you 30k for the privilege but at least there’s a job at the end of it. There are still plenty of places that will bond you for your TR though.
Thirdly, when looking at flying schools you are a customer, even on the “tagged” schemes that you self fund. Do not pay huge lumps up front, you are paying them a huge amount of money and two schools in the UK have gone bust in the last six months alone. This is a massive amount of money, spend it wisely, do your research on the financial and training side of any ATO.
Join Date: Oct 2022
Location: Kaunas
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Hey buddy,
I personally recommend going modular, this way you can control your own training and if you are unhappy about flight school x you can always switch to another school and keep your progress and money intact. The problem with integrated training is that if you are not satisfied with your flight school you are chained with them until the end and they control your training. This also applies to money, integrated school generally ask for large sums upfront, if you leave or the school goes bust, the money aint coming back and you'll have to start all over again in another flight school. With modular you can decide how you want to advance ie. work just on theory or fly and do theory at the same time etc and it is generally pay as you fly. You can even control how fast or slow you want your training to be. In integrated you are at the mercy of your flight school.
From the list you provided FTE is probably the best choice, so far they've been the most fair flight school, without any major administration issues. The problem with CAE and L3 is that they have downgraded their operations and now they are outsourcing the training to schools which are far cheaper than them, so whats the point of going there anyways? Airline connections? Barely....both are sim providers, and their relations with airlines are purely that.....they provide training simulators and that's it, don't be fooled that they'll start recommending people to any airlines, they dont have that authority, only airline and high ranking employees/HR from airlines do.
If you want airline connections it is better to go to schools which are owned by either airline pilots or there is a significant amount of instructors who are/were airline pilots themselves, this way you get airline standard training and possibly even connections which is a far better way to land a job than going l3 cae.
Keep in mind that unless the flight school is publicly funded, they are a business first and an education institution 2nd. Money making will be their first and foremost priority and they'd do anything for it..including screwing you over, so be careful.
I personally recommend going modular, this way you can control your own training and if you are unhappy about flight school x you can always switch to another school and keep your progress and money intact. The problem with integrated training is that if you are not satisfied with your flight school you are chained with them until the end and they control your training. This also applies to money, integrated school generally ask for large sums upfront, if you leave or the school goes bust, the money aint coming back and you'll have to start all over again in another flight school. With modular you can decide how you want to advance ie. work just on theory or fly and do theory at the same time etc and it is generally pay as you fly. You can even control how fast or slow you want your training to be. In integrated you are at the mercy of your flight school.
From the list you provided FTE is probably the best choice, so far they've been the most fair flight school, without any major administration issues. The problem with CAE and L3 is that they have downgraded their operations and now they are outsourcing the training to schools which are far cheaper than them, so whats the point of going there anyways? Airline connections? Barely....both are sim providers, and their relations with airlines are purely that.....they provide training simulators and that's it, don't be fooled that they'll start recommending people to any airlines, they dont have that authority, only airline and high ranking employees/HR from airlines do.
If you want airline connections it is better to go to schools which are owned by either airline pilots or there is a significant amount of instructors who are/were airline pilots themselves, this way you get airline standard training and possibly even connections which is a far better way to land a job than going l3 cae.
Keep in mind that unless the flight school is publicly funded, they are a business first and an education institution 2nd. Money making will be their first and foremost priority and they'd do anything for it..including screwing you over, so be careful.
