Cheapest way to get a PPL, question about ATPL school (too cheap to be true)

[Coliandro]

Hi,
I'm currently working in the IT sector in Munich, but being a pilot has always been a dream...
I have a couple of questions...
- What is the cheapest way to get a PPL? Is there a school that provides lessons just online, and then you only have to do the practical hours + exam?

- I found this school near Munich...
Ausbildung vom Fußgänger zum Verkehrspiloten (ATPL) ? MFA MUNICH FLIGHT ACADEMY
http://d3qzs616wm6o1i.cloudfront.net...EW-ENGLISH.pdf

Is it too good to be true, 40K EUR for the ATPL, in Western Europe? Do you think something is fishy here...? Even BAA asks for 60K EUR, in Vilnius...

[edhelms]

I don't know this school. Take a look at Bartolini Air in Poland. Full program €40.000. They have only one problem...they have a long wait list so for the Full Course you have to wait around 8 months.

[cavok_flyer]

I did my PPL with them back in 2011. Their prices are too good to be true since they may not be 100% accurate. First off, back in 2010-2011, their back-office orgainization was pretty much non-existent: they lost my training logs for about 3 weeks. Afterwhich they "found" them, but I had to double check everything to ensure nothing was missing. The theory classroom in Munich was very "basic", they shared the kitchen and bathroom with the folks who lived in the back and the only lighting was a bulb hanging on a wire in the middle of the ceiling. OK, I know a flight school is not the LMU, but pleeease. Nevertheless, I got along with the instructors and have only positive memories about that part of the experience. Also, it is definitely an advantage to do your PPL at a controlled airfield like Augsburg since right from day one you hear clearences, and learn a more structured approach to flying around an airfield. The C-152s back then were pretty thrashed especially the D-ENHF. They tried selling it awhile back, but apparently didn't find any buyers for it.

Anyways, you need to go into this with open eyes. What is missing from this quote are nice things such as landing fees (expect ca. 200 landings for PPL @ ~10€/landing), how they calculate the rental time (back in 2010 they used Hobbs time https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hobbs_meter which is signficantly more than flight time, you use block time for your hours), in 2010 they also had a Treibstoffzuschlag (do not what this is in English) of 0,16€/liter and they figured a C-152 to use 35 liters/hour, later for the IFR & MEP you will probably have airway fees (> 2 tonnes) and the approaches to larger airfields (ie Nurnburg) run about 35€ per approach. So what I can see from this "quote" are the MFA internal costs and none of the external costs, which will vary according to how fast you accomplish your goals and where you fly. Although, they do mention them at the bottom without specifiying how much they cost.

In general, I would give MFA a grade of 3+ (C+ for the Yanks out there). A/C 4, Instructors 1-, Back-Office 4, Flying in Bavaria 1+!!

I'm pretty certain that the theory hours in Germany for the PPL have to be done in the classroom. Later with ATPL, all of the theory except 85 are done online.

[Coliandro]

I think I'll go for the CATS online PPL theory...one step at a time.

I just found out that Swiss Airlines has a sponsored program...but I'm a few months too old too apply :-(