Florida flight schools!

[Sainty43]

Hey all,

Ok this is my first post and i've spent a while searching this forum for a decent flight school in Florida.

All i've got is the odd link here and there and a lot of bad press about Ormand beach!

Basicly i've done 30 hours of my PPL course in the UK and thats taken over a year with the weather being as it is. I want to finish off my liscense as quickly as possible and am interested in completing it in Florida.

Now can anyone recommend any flight schools out there that are good, either from past experience or reccomended from someone??

I appreciate this post has probably been posted before but all I need is a few decent links!!

Many thanks

[the lord]

Hey friend,

One question about your question, I suppose that you would like to complete your course of JAA? or do you want to take it in the FAA license?

I ask you, because not all the schools in Flroida give you the courses of JAA, there are few schools. If you can explecify it.

Thank you very much

[Sainty43]

I want to complete my course of JAA so I will get my British PPL!

Many thanks

[dfletcher]

Yo Guys

Flying in Florida is an experience not to be missed, and please I don't want to start another massive thread about the pro's and con's of Ormond Beach, having said that I went to OBA after struggling to get good flying weather in the UK and I must say not only did I get my PPL but I damn well enjoyed myself. If you are serious about obtaining the PPL and want to work for it then don't rule out OBA and don't believe all the hype on here at the end of the day if you want it bad enough OBA is as good a FTO as any other I have been to in the US, and I made some good friends along the way. Make up your own mind and enjoy it.... I did.

Bottom line if I had to do it all over again would I choose OBA...Absolutely

If you want an unbiased student account of OBA then PM me, happy to help

[carbonfibre]

PPL

Its already been said before If you pick a school in FL go to finish your course and not for the holiday that way you will pass, regardless of the school, however I have to say you could finish the course relatively quickly now If you have 30+ hours.

I would finish here(uk) at those hours and then build some experience in FL / South Africa/ Canada or somwhere else, the cost of a flight etc and time from work would cancel each other out

I have been to 4 flight schools in FL and only 1 bad experience, like most things the majority of schools and instructors are good, just the 1 bad egg you get as inmany walks of life. Before anybody says, no it was not Ormand Beach who I had bad experience with although I did fly in there to get some costs once, looked ok.

I think the main schools for JAA there are Naples, OBA, EFT, Cabair at Kisimmee. There are probably more. (comair too i think)

[gcolyer]

Don't listen to the hype about OBA, well not unless you are not prepared to work hard and abide by the rules.

I spent last christmas there doing my PPL. I had a great time and can highly recommend OBA. I like the place so much i am going back for my IMC and 50 hours in August.

You wont find anywhere to beat the price and you definatley wont find anywhere that will make the VISA application any easier. You might find somewhere very close to price, but by the time you factor accomodation exam fee's and other bits you will be at least £500 out of pocket compared to OBA.

I can't pass comment on any other FTO in Florida as i have not been to any.

If you are considering OBA i would trawl through the forum for it and post any questions or concerns there.

[sicky]

I agree with carbonfibre, where you have a fair few hours now, finshing the PPL here would probably be easier, and as flying seems to be cheaper in the USA, hour building over there would make sense.

[B2N2]

If you have your written exams done, you do not need to only go to a JAA school. All your hours count.
You can finish up a FAA license then do a conversion skill test with a JAA examiner and walk away with two licenses.
As far as I know there are two independent JAA examiners in Florida.
This opens up your choices of schools to go to.

[Keygrip]

Hang on - few duff facts here.

The only schools currently offering UK (CAA) JAA PPL's are European Flight Training, Orlando Flight Training and Ormond Beach (in alphabetical order).

Naples and Comair (carbonfiber's message) are not currently doing it.

Highly recommend you have ALL the written exams and the R/T practical test done (and still within date!!!!) - then pick your school and off you go.

NOTE that you will probably need an hour or so to "transfer" to the Florida way of doing things (they are slightly different) - so you are unlikley to finish in the minimum 45 hours - and you may have to repeat some items already done (just to be able to proceed).

B2N2 was close with his/her suggestion BUT the JAA skill test has to be done through an approved school - not just with a freelance examiner.

[Paris Dakar]

Sainty43,

As 'Keygrip' correctly points out there are only 3 organisations in Florida offering you a route to a JAA PPL. I have attended two of them and will give you my views, as I have no experience of the 3rd I cannot/will not make comment.

Ormond Beach Aviation - been there three times in total and have enjoyed every visit tremendously. Great location, good airport, nice accommodation, excellent training, and above all - well organised. Every e-mail or question I have taken up with OBA has been answered within 24hrs without fail.

OFT - visited there a couple of months ago. Very nice C172 for hire at a good price, I got a great instructor for the checkride, and the airport has that 'large feel' about it. There seemed to be a lot of students milling about the place and business seemed brisk. There was however a slight mix-up over my slot booking, and I was made to look like a 'fool' in front of students/instructors alike. Had it not been that it was my very last chance to fly before returning home (OBA was too far away for a one hour rental) I would have turned around and walked straight out of the door.

How much are you currently paying now for your instruction in the UK? The reason I ask, is that it has a direct bearing on my answer. At my home field (Newcastle) 1 hour with an instructor including a few T&Gs will cost you £200. Assuming I could get my licence within the 45 hrs (mmmm?????) that would mean I would have to fork out at least £3K to complete the course. In that scenario, I would be better off going to OBA and finishing my course there. If your hourly charge (inc landing fees) is half of that, then perhaps the US route is not your best option.

Can I also make one final comment regarding OBA and in particular Adrian Thompson. I have only ever met him on a couple occasions (despite all the time I have spent there) and he wouldn't know me if I passed him in the street. I found him to be fair, accommodating and helpful. My advice to you would be to go with an open mind, work hard and enjoy yourself - and forget the minority who appear to have a problem getting on with folk.

PD

[quifflegend]

Flying in America

Florida is a great place to complete your pilots licence. Did mine a few years back at OBA. Not going to start a debate about Ormond, but anyone with some common sense would consider the press it has received in the past and make a judgement on the comments made by ALL the people collectively. By that i mean, it has nice accomodation but thats about it. Im currently doing some flying in Georgia at a place called walker aviation as im staying with a friend who married over here. America really is a great place to fly so you are best going down to your local flight school or one in your area, on the weekend, and speaking to some of the people flying there, as chances are they completed their licence in the states to save money aswell. That way you can gain some proper insight into how the schools operate over here before you go parting with your hard earned cash, as its important to realise the postings on here are anonymous and some schools post comments to influence the decisions of ppl wannabe's with little or no experience of the aviation world.

[Sainty43]

Wow thanks for all your reply's!

Got some thinking to do now but Ormand Beach sounds good!

Sainty

[Paris Dakar]

quifflegend,

In order that 'Sainty43' can get a more balanced view of OBA, why don't you expand on...

By that i mean, it has nice accomodation but thats about it.

PD

[dfletcher]

OBA

In reference to previous post ;-

Florida is a great place to complete your pilots licence. Did mine a few years back at OBA. Not going to start a debate about Ormond, but anyone with some common sense would consider the press it has received in the past and make a judgement on the comments made by ALL the people collectively. By that i mean, it has nice accomodation but thats about it.

Without making this another debate about the in's and out's off OBA I find this quite an uninformative and lacklustre statement at best Sainty go to the OBA thread sit there for 3 hours reading getting thru all the bitching from a minority of disgruntled students and you will find the majority, including myself found OBA to be a great school, the instructors were first rate, trust me if you wasn't at an able level to attain the PPL they would NOT issue you one.

I could rant and rave all day about why you should go here or there but at the end of the day make up you own mind and don't be swayed by few people that reckon OBA was not to their standards.

Its a big investment you will be making to achieve a qualification, if you want this PPL and are willing to work for it then it shouldn't matter where you go. I read the OBA thread expecting bad things but when I got there nothing could be further from the truth, so make up your own mind.

[Sainty43]

Ok cool,

When to my local airfield today in the UK to ask peoples opinions about florida flight schools.

Few points they raised though,

1.) Florida has great weather so will I not get used to that then come back to the UK and find it difficult? Apparantly they wont let you fly with more than a 7mph cross wind!!

2.) Florida airfields have huge tarmacced runways some 2000 metres long! Coming back to the UK I would be flying out of an 800 metre grass strip! Would that be a problem??

3.) Also someone mentioned radio out there is completely different to the UK. How long will I find it will take to get used to the uk.

Basicly people have said they teach you parrot fashion to get it all done in a short time. They say I will forget everything once I come back!!

Please help answer some of these questions.

Many, many thanks

sainty

[dfletcher]

Sainty,

If you already have 30 hours here then I take it you will have done a few landings (I Hope) witihin your 30 hours on a grass strip.

The student stipulation for crosswind I believe is 12knots Solo (correct me if I am wrong)

And yes the RT is a little different out there but with your previous 30 hours plus study of your RT book, getting the grasp of english RT should not be a problem. I went from US RT to UK I made a couple of small errors, but nothing that made me a danger to myself or others.

Get over there get your PPL and enjoy.

Anything you need to know more PM me

[mcgoo]

well they would say that wouldn't they, they can't compete so try to rubbish the whole US system.

Florida does have good weather but can also have more severe weather than the UK, it has a hurricane season and rains more in the summer than in the winter, i went in November and experienced fog in the mornings, high winds and very hot, sunny days, the school limit for solo flight was 16 kts if I remember correctly but I was regulary landing in 20-25 kt crosswinds with the instructor present.

Your statement about the runways is correct but just because a runway is 2000m does not mean you use all of it, we used about a third to exit onto the first taxiway, however short field and soft field landings are part of the syllabus of the PPL so short runways in the UK should pose no problem.

I don't really understand the meaning of the last question where they say you only learn parrot fashion, the lessons are structured and the syllabus is the same as the UK, the only difference being you will be flying 2-3 times a day instead of maybe once a week in the UK so you spend less time if any having to go over again previous lessons.

I did an hour or two when I returned and was checked out straight away.

And lastly the RT is slightly different but I didn't find any particulary major problems.

[Sainty43]

thanks for the reply's,

Another thing they said is that doing your cross country Navigation is completely different to the Uk as the terrain is nothing like the UK??

I understand that to a certain extent they are making it sound like rubbish to keep me in the UK so they can have my money but I just want to make sure that if I finish my PPL over in the US I wont come back and find it completely different!! One chap who went out there 4 years ago gained his ppl there, came back and wont go up without an instructor because he says the it is completely different!!

I just dont want to be stuck in that boat!!

One more thing (PROMISE!!) If I do my ppl in florida what is the pass rate like?? I dont want to spend all that money and then fail!!

Many, many thanks

Sainty

[king rooney]

To anyone reading this post, please be aware that flight training organisations are known to pose as current/ former students of their schools and post enticing comments.
Ive no idea whether or not that is going on here, however a couple of the posts recommending OBA are written in very similar styles.
Reading this thread should be enuff to put anyone off going to OBA!
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=135854

[mcgoo]

well I can assure you it's not going on from my side, if in doubt get scroggs to check my IP address, I am in leicester and went to OBA in November 05, so because I have been there I am perfectly entitled to give my opinion and experience of OBA which to me and many others was very positive and like has been said time and time again, the ones who had a bad experience had the wrong attitude.

As for the writing in similar styles, well thats going to be likely seeing as the posts are all talking about the same subject at the same place.