OAT vs FTE, WHICH IS BETTER

[97robem]

Hi

I know this is a very difficult question to answer.

I was hoping for peoples opinions on why they have chosen to study, or plan to study at the respective schools after visiting them.

OAT seems very professional as does FTE I think it boils down to which FTO makes you more appealing to Airlines after you have finished your training.

Any info from past or current students would be fantastic, especially regarding quality of training and job prospects.



Thanks for your time lads.

[adwjenk]

Hi

Go visit both and make a decision on how you feel with regards to both schools. You never know living in Spain may not be for you etc.

My opinion is OAT, but ive been to around 6 FTOs to have a look and OAT was the best one for me. It suited me it had what I wanted. FTE was great but i do not feel like living in spain for 15months to be honest.
You can't really get the best answer from here you will get people who love OAT and people who hate it same with FTE.
Go and make you own decision. Both schools look good on your CV, OAT seem to be good with the airlines and FTE are catching up, soon the only difference between the 2 will be the price tag!!!

Best of Luck

[wbryce]

Your question is one that is pretty unanswerable...the vast majority of students who attend OAT will highly recommened them and vice versa for FTE. The best advice is to visit both school and see what one feels best for you. Which ever school you choose you will have the same licence at the end of your training.

To answer your question we need to ask one crazy wannabe (shouldn't be too hard to find! ) to spend 60k with OAT then 60K with FTE...

In my own personal opinion, the sun shine and holiday environment which FTE offers appeals to me more as I enjoy relaxing when in and around a busy schedule...

p.s. have a look at www.henrybevan.co.uk/flying this site should give you a feel for FTE.

[stue]

There is some good advise in the previous two posts here. I can only say the same really, you just need to have a good look round and see which one feels better. No one can say which is better though.

Good luck

[Lord Flashheart]

As has been said, you've got to visit both. Both are excellent FTO's. For me it came down to value for money, lifestyle and my first opinion when i visited the schools (one school far out weighing the other in that depart, and not just cause the sun was shining). Everyone looks for different things however.

Either way you won't go far wrong. Best of british.

[king rooney]

Go to FTE, DONT believe the hype about Oxford and pay lip service to their dispicable marketing tactics.

[ask26]

Both schools it seems do a good job. I was going to try and give an objective answer about this having been to check out both places but I think in a way that's not very helpful if you are having to make a positive decision for one place or the other so I'll state my views for FTE in no particular order but accept this is biased:

• Jerez don't charge you anything for the assessment, Oxford £195
• I would however say Oxfords however is perhaps a little more comprehensive (as of when I did them in October 2005) but they each offer good feedback as to how you've done
• In terms of sheer economics, Oxford has 12 courses a year - each of potentially 24 students so they need to recruit 288 or so to balance their budget so more aggressive promotion of product. Jerez has 10 courses a year, of 14 max - so 140 students and I would think perhaps more of a group feel to proceedings, can you really get to know everyone in a class of 24.
• In Jerez Flybe (March), BA Connect (April), Thomsonfly (20 students currently), MEA (36 students in 2005) places on the courses will have pre-approved students in there so (a) there are fewer self-sponsored places and (b) you have exposure to as many airline representatives as OAT
• Everyone here stays on campus so you have a good community feel - if you are living in houses in Oxford would those at the school still communicate with each other as much
• The price is all in - €93800 - you pay only for 'social' expenses which is as much or little as you please
• You stay in one location rather than having to re-locate after G/S. From what I was told the decision to increase time in the USA was due to financial constraints with respect to fuel. Apparently the 5 month option had been tried before a few years earlier, but with mixed results so I wasn't sure I wanted to be on a guinea-pig course
• Jerez is a major airport so you get to see Jets when you are studying in G/S
• The weather and campus here is a factor - after this I'll be in the UK for the forseeable future and wanted an environment where I could relax after a hard day's work. At the start of Feb here it's warm enough to have short-sleeves, brilliant sunshine and 17C - with a pool open in the summer
• When I was there the whole process seemed as I guess it has to be very regimented which for me was too formal, here in Southern Spain and when I attended initially there wasn't that 'slick' feel
• GAPAN sent their scholar here last month, why did such a prestigious organisation choose to send their pupil here
• In terms of the flying and G/S tuition both places I'm sure are excellent, though FTE's is 94.6% average (one guy got 99.2% last month) and 64% first time IR pass rate which I believe are higher than Oxfords.

It really comes down more to the little things that will make your life more comfortable for the year that you will be studying. If you have kids then OAT may be better suited and if you don't like that 'claustrophobic' feel that I guess you can get on the odd days then maybe FTE isn't for you but I liked the fact that you can just pop next door for help and explore a different country at weekends with things like a beach 30 mins and 11000ft mountains a few hours away.
There is an added bonus to being here, but you only find that out when you get here.
But the best thing is to visit both and make up your own mind.

[adwjenk]

rooney,

Just a quick question for you, do you hold a fATPL or CPL/IR??
If so where did you do your training??
Also have you been to both FTE and OAT???
If so can we have you opinion on both of them??
Also if you have your fATPL are you flying a jet, TP, light twin or perhaps an FIC??

If you do not want to post here feel free to PM me!!!

ADWJENK

[Lord Flashheart]

Ask26 - FTE may well be cutting each course size to a max of 10, much better than 24 at OAT! One thing that put me off OAT was the cattle market of a flight department. Hundreds of students sat around waiting to fly. You must just be a name.

adwjenk - A "fATPL" is a CPL/IR. I believe OAT actually came up with the frozen ATPL phrase for their integrated course many moons ago as another of their mass advertising schemes.

[adwjenk]

Hi

yeah i know but i got slated by my FI for saying fATPL, god knows why though, apparantly theres a few out there still with CPL/IR who have not sat the ATPL exams to enable them to have fATPL then a ATPL.

ADWJENK

[FlyUK]

Another vote for FTE here. Very professional training and within 3 weeks of finishing I had my first interview. Infact now 3 months after finishing I have had invites to 4 interviews and have been in the fortunate position of turning a couple down. Of my course of 10 about 7 are going through interviews with major airlines at the moment and 2 have jobs.

[Blinkz]

All these 'votes' for each school are pointless. None of you have been to both schools and so can't say if your school is better then the other. As has been said the only thing to do is to visit both yourself and decide for yourself which you prefer. Both are excellent schools and will be a good start to your career.

[Muddy Boots]

For my two cents worth on this issue...

I have visited both schools and have chosen Oxford. Not for the marketing hype, they are both fairly similar in my opinion.

No I chose Oxford for the lifestyle. I didn't like FTE it very very closed in to me and the fact that there's a brothel just outside the gates isn't a selling point.

At Oxford it's easier for friends to visit, you don't have to book them into the clubhouse. You can keep your girlfriend, if you want and you'll never pull one in Jerez unless you speak Spanish. A choice of local pubs to unwind in not just the clubhouse. Plus I can go home to London on the weekends for a tenner on the bus rather than a Ryanair flight. I just don't want to be stuck in Spain for 15 months, it'll feel like a sentance to me and its supposed to be fun?

I know that we'll have to go to Phoenix for five months to do initial good weather flight training but a lot of guys say they had a right laugh there and the time flies by!

It just my opinion.

Muddy Boots

[DrRedHead]

Hey guys

I know what problem your having, I am having the same one > I have been to oxford for the assessment and managed to pass and get in. This all being very nice but I want to have a look at FTE. Some of you may have seen my post about the Oxford day process if not have a search and a read and you may get a sense of what the atmosphere is like for the assessment. I am going to write a similar thing for the Jerez process as I’m going there in about 2 weeks time (if anyone else is going for the 22nd of feb 2006 give me a PM if you want)

In my opinion you must visit more then one school in order to make a decision, I know your not asking for a decision because we cant do that for you as you’ve seen above some people like oxfords quality of life while other like Jerez,.

Sure take people’s opinions into account but get out there and have a look,

Chris