EasyJet MPL CAE - Delays? How bad?
Joined: Oct 2021
Posts: 93
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From: Italy
Joined: Nov 2018
Posts: 90
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From: Europe
Sure in theory you can try to take legal action and whatnot, but that’s a last resort. For sure won’t help you solve anything short term.
Keep the power in your own hands - go modular
Joined: Nov 2023
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
From: Italy
PHX Delay
Hey, I have been here in PHX for 3 months, only have less than 8 hours of flight.
Last month I flew twice and they do not care the slightest about you.
You are stuck with them and they now it and will use it against you, people setting the schedule they roll the dice before posting anything people at my same stage get to fly 3 times a week and I get to fly once every 3 weeks.
When you confront them they tell you no worries it will all be fixed but rest assured they do not give a crap about your situation.
In conclusion, if you can not handle lies, fake promises, and extended delays while watching others fly as well as lack of support and people
full with empty words, DO NOT JOIN.
Last month I flew twice and they do not care the slightest about you.
You are stuck with them and they now it and will use it against you, people setting the schedule they roll the dice before posting anything people at my same stage get to fly 3 times a week and I get to fly once every 3 weeks.
When you confront them they tell you no worries it will all be fixed but rest assured they do not give a crap about your situation.
In conclusion, if you can not handle lies, fake promises, and extended delays while watching others fly as well as lack of support and people
full with empty words, DO NOT JOIN.
Joined: Apr 2025
Posts: 2
Likes: 0
From: United Kingdom
Hey, I have been here in PHX for 3 months, only have less than 8 hours of flight.
Last month I flew twice and they do not care the slightest about you.
You are stuck with them and they now it and will use it against you, people setting the schedule they roll the dice before posting anything people at my same stage get to fly 3 times a week and I get to fly once every 3 weeks.
When you confront them they tell you no worries it will all be fixed but rest assured they do not give a crap about your situation.
In conclusion, if you can not handle lies, fake promises, and extended delays while watching others fly as well as lack of support and people
full with empty words, DO NOT JOIN.
Last month I flew twice and they do not care the slightest about you.
You are stuck with them and they now it and will use it against you, people setting the schedule they roll the dice before posting anything people at my same stage get to fly 3 times a week and I get to fly once every 3 weeks.
When you confront them they tell you no worries it will all be fixed but rest assured they do not give a crap about your situation.
In conclusion, if you can not handle lies, fake promises, and extended delays while watching others fly as well as lack of support and people
full with empty words, DO NOT JOIN.
Guest
Joined: May 2025
Posts: 6
Likes: 0
From: United Kingdom
Can attest to the state in Phoenix not being great at the moment, very little consistent flying being done and an ever growing number of cadets without a growing (perhaps even shrinking) number of CFIs. Unless your course is the next one to leave, you WILL be sitting around a lot, especially in F2 as you're simply not a priority. As soon as my instructor finished the guys in the course above, I have started getting scheduled quite a bit more, but there's denying that I have been sitting around for the past 3 months with very few missions completed. You will look back on this time as something you conquered rather than something you really enjoyed (although the flying is really fun, it seems to be a bit of a battle to actually get up in the air), which is a shame, but it is a stepping stone to your ultimate goal, and I'm looking forward to breathing a massive sigh of relief when I step onto that plane with my life packed up into my 23kg suitcase ready to unpack in when I'm home.
Joined: Aug 2025
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Arizona, USA
Hey guys, I’m a flight instructor at CAE in Phoenix currently in the process of getting certified to train EASA & UKCAA MPL and ATPL cadets. I hope I can speak a bit on why some of the delays have been occurring for y’all. A lot of the management decisions are way above my paygrade and what I am allowed to know, but I do see the day-to-day operations on campus, so I will speak on that.
1. Upper and local management is reactive rather than proactive. A vast majority of the flight instructors who will train you are only doing so as a means to an end so they can reach the airlines in the USA (this does NOT mean they are apathetic or uninterested in delivering quality flight training, but being a flight instructor is the de-facto method of accruing the required flight time to become an ATP in the USA). Over 75% are affiliated with a cadet program of their own, and will be moving onto the next stage of their careers as soon as they possibly can. Many will be off to greener pastures very soon - as in by the end of 2025. Management has not ignored this, but is having a hard time addressing this issue.
2. There is a SEVERE lack of people who can train and certify FAA flight instructors to become EASA/UKCAA instructors in the USA. They need to be FAA, EASA, and UKCAA certified, but most people who can do this are from Europe and prefer to live in Europe - go figure. There are only a handful of them on property - some work and fly every day, others not so much. However, there are at least 20 instructors who are in the process of being trained but it will likely take months for all the reach the flight line. I can see maybe 8-10 being added by the end of 2025. I can also see 8-10 leaving for an airline in the same timeframe.
3. CAE sent us to Malaga (hilarious decision after reading this thread) to get some of the training done as a way to circumvent the sever shortage of these instructors in the USA, but found quite literally a years worth of sending CFI’s to Spain fraudulent and ineligible for the certificates. Each and every one will need to be retrained in the USA, thus ending up in the same situation but now much worse. I wish I was kidding.
4. Core Phase 2 can only be done by F2 instructors, which require additional training and certification. This only adds to the growing backlog of instructors needing to be trained. Most of the EASA/UKCAA flight instructors are only F1 qualified, meaning they can only teach Core Phase 1. The few hours of MEP time can only be done by F3 instructors. Out of the 5 or 6 we have, all but one are leaving soon. Those who are being trained to take their place, are leaving soon… like I said - management is reactive rather than proactive.
5. The good news! It appears CAE has finally sent the cavalry to Phoenix to address some of the bigger issues. There is a heavy financial incentive to fix this, as the financial penalties to EasyJet are not easy to stomach if cadets are not on time. CAE has appointed a new FTO Director that wants to lower the student-instructor ratio to 4:1 so cadets will fly much more often per week. He also wants to move to a monthly scheduling system, rather than the day-before method currently in place (absolute blessing). Also, qualified instructors and examiners are being sent from around the world to get the 20 or so of us trained and on the line. That includes more F1, F2, and F3 instructors all in the next few months.
I hope this helps speak to why some of the issues at CAE in Phoenix have been happening. If you were in Malaga or Granada the past few months, and you saw a group of beaten down American dudes from CAE, that was me and the boys. Also, if you’re scheduled to begin in Phoenix in the Fall of 2025, you might be flying with me!
1. Upper and local management is reactive rather than proactive. A vast majority of the flight instructors who will train you are only doing so as a means to an end so they can reach the airlines in the USA (this does NOT mean they are apathetic or uninterested in delivering quality flight training, but being a flight instructor is the de-facto method of accruing the required flight time to become an ATP in the USA). Over 75% are affiliated with a cadet program of their own, and will be moving onto the next stage of their careers as soon as they possibly can. Many will be off to greener pastures very soon - as in by the end of 2025. Management has not ignored this, but is having a hard time addressing this issue.
2. There is a SEVERE lack of people who can train and certify FAA flight instructors to become EASA/UKCAA instructors in the USA. They need to be FAA, EASA, and UKCAA certified, but most people who can do this are from Europe and prefer to live in Europe - go figure. There are only a handful of them on property - some work and fly every day, others not so much. However, there are at least 20 instructors who are in the process of being trained but it will likely take months for all the reach the flight line. I can see maybe 8-10 being added by the end of 2025. I can also see 8-10 leaving for an airline in the same timeframe.
3. CAE sent us to Malaga (hilarious decision after reading this thread) to get some of the training done as a way to circumvent the sever shortage of these instructors in the USA, but found quite literally a years worth of sending CFI’s to Spain fraudulent and ineligible for the certificates. Each and every one will need to be retrained in the USA, thus ending up in the same situation but now much worse. I wish I was kidding.
4. Core Phase 2 can only be done by F2 instructors, which require additional training and certification. This only adds to the growing backlog of instructors needing to be trained. Most of the EASA/UKCAA flight instructors are only F1 qualified, meaning they can only teach Core Phase 1. The few hours of MEP time can only be done by F3 instructors. Out of the 5 or 6 we have, all but one are leaving soon. Those who are being trained to take their place, are leaving soon… like I said - management is reactive rather than proactive.
5. The good news! It appears CAE has finally sent the cavalry to Phoenix to address some of the bigger issues. There is a heavy financial incentive to fix this, as the financial penalties to EasyJet are not easy to stomach if cadets are not on time. CAE has appointed a new FTO Director that wants to lower the student-instructor ratio to 4:1 so cadets will fly much more often per week. He also wants to move to a monthly scheduling system, rather than the day-before method currently in place (absolute blessing). Also, qualified instructors and examiners are being sent from around the world to get the 20 or so of us trained and on the line. That includes more F1, F2, and F3 instructors all in the next few months.
I hope this helps speak to why some of the issues at CAE in Phoenix have been happening. If you were in Malaga or Granada the past few months, and you saw a group of beaten down American dudes from CAE, that was me and the boys. Also, if you’re scheduled to begin in Phoenix in the Fall of 2025, you might be flying with me!
Joined: Oct 2021
Posts: 93
Likes: 0
From: Italy
End of August update
Currently the situation sucks a lot of people are flying less than once a week and two proms have already been delayed.
The situation doesn’t appear to improve in the close future since a lot of instructors will leave for airlines.
The situation doesn’t appear to improve in the close future since a lot of instructors will leave for airlines.
Joined: Aug 2025
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: UK
Hello,
I am one of the MPL students from the UK due to come out early October. I just wanted to ask if you think things are currently getting better, and therefore despite being delayed over here for 6 weeks if it will be worth it in terms of the amount of flying we can get done when we arrive! We got told pretty much the same information you outlined in point 5 that they want better instructor student ratios so we can get more flying in. Are you seeing their actions lead to any improvements?
Also I saw you said you went out to Granada, I have a few friends out there now and they tell me they are flying through training which seems to be a shock since the situation was diabolical over there just a year ago!
All the best!
I am one of the MPL students from the UK due to come out early October. I just wanted to ask if you think things are currently getting better, and therefore despite being delayed over here for 6 weeks if it will be worth it in terms of the amount of flying we can get done when we arrive! We got told pretty much the same information you outlined in point 5 that they want better instructor student ratios so we can get more flying in. Are you seeing their actions lead to any improvements?
Also I saw you said you went out to Granada, I have a few friends out there now and they tell me they are flying through training which seems to be a shock since the situation was diabolical over there just a year ago!
All the best!
Joined: Aug 2025
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Arizona, USA
There will be about 4 instructors leaving CAE in October for the airlines. However, there should also be 6 new instructors flying with students in late October or early November, myself included. In the grand scheme adding a net 2 instructors won’t make a huge difference in student/instructor ratio, but anything helps. The hope is the next group of 6-7 instructors will be online in likely late winter or early spring. That will really improve student/instructor ratio and you’ll fly much more frequently once that happens. There is supposedly even another group of instructors after that waiting to begin ground training. 2026 should be a year of improvement, but take everything with a grain of salt. I can think of 5-6 who aren’t airline cadet program affiliated, but are more than qualified to be hired once the regional airlines need pilots again.
Joined: May 2021
Posts: 7
Likes: 0
From: UK
Hello,
I am one of the MPL students from the UK due to come out early October. I just wanted to ask if you think things are currently getting better, and therefore despite being delayed over here for 6 weeks if it will be worth it in terms of the amount of flying we can get done when we arrive! We got told pretty much the same information you outlined in point 5 that they want better instructor student ratios so we can get more flying in. Are you seeing their actions lead to any improvements?
Also I saw you said you went out to Granada, I have a few friends out there now and they tell me they are flying through training which seems to be a shock since the situation was diabolical over there just a year ago!
All the best!
I am one of the MPL students from the UK due to come out early October. I just wanted to ask if you think things are currently getting better, and therefore despite being delayed over here for 6 weeks if it will be worth it in terms of the amount of flying we can get done when we arrive! We got told pretty much the same information you outlined in point 5 that they want better instructor student ratios so we can get more flying in. Are you seeing their actions lead to any improvements?
Also I saw you said you went out to Granada, I have a few friends out there now and they tell me they are flying through training which seems to be a shock since the situation was diabolical over there just a year ago!
All the best!
The Granada guys are flying through training now because they’re basically the only ones out there, and the school is finally set up to teach them. When the first groups were sent out last year, they didn’t even have approval to teach, let alone enough planes and instructors.
Don’t trust a word CAE say when it comes to training/delays etc. Plan on core phase being longer than expected and just hope for the best. Some classes do get through with no delays, it’s just luck of the draw!
Either way when you do fly it’s great, just enjoy the journey & spending time with your mates, it’s a once in a lifetime experience.
Good luck and hopefully you have a smooth ride!
Joined: Aug 2025
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Arizona, USA
Don’t want to sound pessimistic but if you expect a 6-week delay to dramatically change the ratios you are probably mistaken! CAE spew the same **** to every class that gets delayed and 9 times out of 10 when the class eventually rocks up, there has been little to no change in situation.
The Granada guys are flying through training now because they’re basically the only ones out there, and the school is finally set up to teach them. When the first groups were sent out last year, they didn’t even have approval to teach, let alone enough planes and instructors.
Don’t trust a word CAE say when it comes to training/delays etc. Plan on core phase being longer than expected and just hope for the best. Some classes do get through with no delays, it’s just luck of the draw!
Either way when you do fly it’s great, just enjoy the journey & spending time with your mates, it’s a once in a lifetime experience.
Good luck and hopefully you have a smooth ride!
The Granada guys are flying through training now because they’re basically the only ones out there, and the school is finally set up to teach them. When the first groups were sent out last year, they didn’t even have approval to teach, let alone enough planes and instructors.
Don’t trust a word CAE say when it comes to training/delays etc. Plan on core phase being longer than expected and just hope for the best. Some classes do get through with no delays, it’s just luck of the draw!
Either way when you do fly it’s great, just enjoy the journey & spending time with your mates, it’s a once in a lifetime experience.
Good luck and hopefully you have a smooth ride!
Joined: Aug 2025
Aviation Qualifications: CPL
Posts: 11
Likes: 0
From: Arizona, USA
Hi all, I just wanted to post a quick update on the delays and how things have been changing. I can only speak to what is going on at the CAE Phoenix ATO.
Since I last posted, CAE has restructured the EASA/UKCAA Instructor training program and called in all the help they can find in North America, while eliminating previous bottlenecks in the training process. Because of this, we have added 6 instructors fully qualified to teach ATPL and MPL cadets (myself included) in the F1 stage (Core 1 for EasyJet MPL cadets). 5 have been additionally upgraded to teach in the F2 stage of ATPL (Core 2 for EasyJet MPL Cadets). On top of this, we are expecting the 6 newest instructors to upgrade to F2 by February. Beyond that, there are 3-6 new F1 ATPL/MPL instructors will also be added by January or February.
So what does this mean for cadets?
Timelines are currently readjusting to what is expected. Things aren’t perfect by any means, but they are improving. My students in the ATPL syllabus who were previously delayed by up to 3 months from their expected completed date have been caught up to 1 month delay and that is rapidly approaching on timeline. EASA/UKCAA cadets appear to have priority at the moment regarding scheduling of resources, but this is anecdotal. A representative of EasyJet was spotted on campus a few weeks ago and was seemingly impressed with the changes made.
Things are still not “fixed” but are actually improving for once. I suspect the newest class of MPL cadets in December 2025 will be the closest to on time finishers we have had in quite some time.
Since I last posted, CAE has restructured the EASA/UKCAA Instructor training program and called in all the help they can find in North America, while eliminating previous bottlenecks in the training process. Because of this, we have added 6 instructors fully qualified to teach ATPL and MPL cadets (myself included) in the F1 stage (Core 1 for EasyJet MPL cadets). 5 have been additionally upgraded to teach in the F2 stage of ATPL (Core 2 for EasyJet MPL Cadets). On top of this, we are expecting the 6 newest instructors to upgrade to F2 by February. Beyond that, there are 3-6 new F1 ATPL/MPL instructors will also be added by January or February.
So what does this mean for cadets?
Timelines are currently readjusting to what is expected. Things aren’t perfect by any means, but they are improving. My students in the ATPL syllabus who were previously delayed by up to 3 months from their expected completed date have been caught up to 1 month delay and that is rapidly approaching on timeline. EASA/UKCAA cadets appear to have priority at the moment regarding scheduling of resources, but this is anecdotal. A representative of EasyJet was spotted on campus a few weeks ago and was seemingly impressed with the changes made.
Things are still not “fixed” but are actually improving for once. I suspect the newest class of MPL cadets in December 2025 will be the closest to on time finishers we have had in quite some time.
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 4,562
Likes: 33
From: I wouldn't know.
As tamu22 has mentioned there is apparently quite a bit of money on the line. Rumors on the easyjet line is that easyjet levies a €200m fine agains CAE over the cadet training delays. Which will probably translate in us using their simulator centers for free for the next few years. After all easyjet has a contract with CAE to get 200 fully trained MPL students each year, who are sorely needed and are currently replaced by hiring from the free market, mainly FTE Jerez or CAE ATPL for the european operation.
Joined: Jan 2026
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: Somewhere
Early 2026 Granada Update
Where to begin…the situation in Malaga is complicated,
To answer the first question about LEAX/Granada – 99% of the flying is now done out of Granada with a satellite base in operation. If I had to hazard a guess a large part of training being moved there had to do with UKCAA safety concerns.
Granada is better from a training perspective as students are flying out of a less cowboy area and at a controlled airport, but there are still issues.
For example:
Still things have taken a step in the right direction and hopefully this continues.
On a more general note, the stuff you read on this forum is just scratching the surface of the total mess that Malaga has been, what is supposed to be the highlight of cadets training has ended up being enormously stressful. The feeling among many cadets is they were rushed out to Malaga way before it was ready and thrown under the bus to save the phoenix operation from even more delays. This is backed up by the fact that all classes finishing ground school have been going to phoenix and significantly junior classes were sent out there months ago and are now at serious risk of overtaking classes that were sent to Malaga.
To further emphasise the scale of the delays, across all the classes sent to Malaga, on average you’re probably going to be looking at it being over a year since finishing ground school by the time you’ve finished core phase. Its also possible that some classes or members of classes will have spent over a year in core phase by the time they finish it and well over 2 years from course start to finish. Throughout the whole Malaga experience, CAE’s incompetence, refusal to acknowledge key issues and their poor communication has made the situation infinitely worse, admittedly there are issues that were out of their control and unfortunate, but many cadets feel the vast majority of the blame lies at the feet of CAE and consequently there is a serious lack of trust and confidence between cadets sent to Malaga and CAE.
I could go on but I think this post is long enough already. So I'll wrap up by saying I think the MPL when it works is a great programme and those in ground school now or sent to America might have a pretty smooth ride and thus feel very differently to the Malaga lot. Admittedly luck and timing play a part, but remember that no one has an entirely smooth ride through training and CAE have shown their true colours with how they’ve treated the Malaga operation and many classes before Malaga.
If I was someone looking at the MPL I wouldn’t write it off completely but would seriously consider applying for all the funded schemes or the standard ATPL route until ezy move the MPL somewhere else or CAE proves they can deliver the course competently.
To answer the first question about LEAX/Granada – 99% of the flying is now done out of Granada with a satellite base in operation. If I had to hazard a guess a large part of training being moved there had to do with UKCAA safety concerns.
Granada is better from a training perspective as students are flying out of a less cowboy area and at a controlled airport, but there are still issues.
For example:
- There is no dedicated maintenance for the aircraft at LEGR.
- There are no simulators at LEGR meaning all sims have to take place at LEAX.
- There is daily commercial traffic. Understandably this is prioritised meaning you can easily spend most of a lesson holding for traffic.
- ATC don’t seem used to school flights so can get jumpy/impose restrictions, especially when as mentioned above, they have to deal with commercial traffic.
- The winter weather (admittedly more of a CAE/delay problem than a LEGR one) has caused numerous cancellations from frequent fog and low cloud or more recently due to icing.
- Transport to LEGR, as cadets started training at LEAX many have long term accommodation around the area, because of this they have to drive over an hour to get to Granada. Due to the delays many who brought their personal vehicles to Spain have had to return them. This means they are reliant on expensive rentals or a bus shuttle service. The shuttle service runs several buses per day but on some days operates just a morning/evening service. Delays occur very frequently as is the nature of flight training, meaning it’s pretty rare to catch the afternoon bus back to LEAX, this results in people being there for the entire day, e.g. 8am arrival at LEGR and 7pm departure from LEGR. Because of these long hours (they can be more than 14 hours door to door), students and instructors have run out of hours leading to cancellations.
- Of the 4 classes who got sent out, only one (the most senior) is actively training. Instructor numbers have got slightly better over time and the ratios have increased because only one class is training. A tiny handful of this class were rushed through their remaining lessons and have finished core phase very recently. With the remainder of the class making accelerated progress and hopefully finishing soon.
- The second most senior class stayed in Malaga until Christmas, making decent progress in December (compared to previous months) with the vast majority going solo and finishing the VFR flying phase. However, they still have the majority of their flying to do as the IFR phase accounts for about 70% of this, to put a number on it they have been in Malaga since May and done on average around 20 hours total. Since Christmas (when they returned to the UK) communication from CAE has been limited. The current plan seems to be for them to return to Malaga from the end of January in small groups to then begin accelerated training.
- As far as I’m aware the third class was sent back to the UK with the option to continue training in phoenix in early 2025 or wait an undetermined amount of time and return to Malaga when capacity allowed.
- The fourth class was also sent back to the UK. I’m not sure of there current situation but wouldn’t be surprised if they end up in phoenix.
Still things have taken a step in the right direction and hopefully this continues.
On a more general note, the stuff you read on this forum is just scratching the surface of the total mess that Malaga has been, what is supposed to be the highlight of cadets training has ended up being enormously stressful. The feeling among many cadets is they were rushed out to Malaga way before it was ready and thrown under the bus to save the phoenix operation from even more delays. This is backed up by the fact that all classes finishing ground school have been going to phoenix and significantly junior classes were sent out there months ago and are now at serious risk of overtaking classes that were sent to Malaga.
To further emphasise the scale of the delays, across all the classes sent to Malaga, on average you’re probably going to be looking at it being over a year since finishing ground school by the time you’ve finished core phase. Its also possible that some classes or members of classes will have spent over a year in core phase by the time they finish it and well over 2 years from course start to finish. Throughout the whole Malaga experience, CAE’s incompetence, refusal to acknowledge key issues and their poor communication has made the situation infinitely worse, admittedly there are issues that were out of their control and unfortunate, but many cadets feel the vast majority of the blame lies at the feet of CAE and consequently there is a serious lack of trust and confidence between cadets sent to Malaga and CAE.
I could go on but I think this post is long enough already. So I'll wrap up by saying I think the MPL when it works is a great programme and those in ground school now or sent to America might have a pretty smooth ride and thus feel very differently to the Malaga lot. Admittedly luck and timing play a part, but remember that no one has an entirely smooth ride through training and CAE have shown their true colours with how they’ve treated the Malaga operation and many classes before Malaga.
If I was someone looking at the MPL I wouldn’t write it off completely but would seriously consider applying for all the funded schemes or the standard ATPL route until ezy move the MPL somewhere else or CAE proves they can deliver the course competently.
Training here is provided by Aerodynamics Academy on behalf of CAE.
I'm choosing my words carefully here, but things are bad.
I'm hoping I'll be in a position to offer more details soon, but right now all I can say is that Granada is grinding to a halt. Instructors are leaving AD, aircraft aren't available often, and flights are getting cancelled often (with no reasons being given as to why).
Cadets are averaging a mission once every 9/10 days when things are good. We are currently about 14 missions behind schedule as a class average right now.
They can't cope with the small number of cadets here as it is, and yet they are continuing to start new classes. This is only adding to the problem, whilst instructors numbers decline, aircraft availablilty declines, and weather isn't great at this time either.
I would highly recommend avoiding Granada at the moment. Speaking to other cadets in Pheonix, they are going through the first phase quite quickly, but they are about to hit a brick wall as they report significant delays in the second phase.
I just wanted to touch on the points raised in the quote above:
- There is no dedicated maintenance for the aircraft at LEGR. This is still the case
- There are no simulators at LEGR meaning all sims have to take place at LEAX. There is a simulator at Granada now. Nobody has needed to go down to LEAX at all so far
- There is daily commercial traffic. Understandably this is prioritised meaning you can easily spend most of a lesson holding for traffic. This is still VERY much the case. A one hour circuit lesson may only have 2 or 3 landings (including the full stop)
- ATC don’t seem used to school flights so can get jumpy/impose restrictions, especially when as mentioned above, they have to deal with commercial traffic. This doesn't seem to be the case as much any more
- The winter weather (admittedly more of a CAE/delay problem than a LEGR one) has caused numerous cancellations from frequent fog and low cloud or more recently due to icing. Very much still an issue
- Transport to LEGR, as cadets started training at LEAX many have long term accommodation around the area, because of this they have to drive over an hour to get to Granada. Due to the delays many who brought their personal vehicles to Spain have had to return them. This means they are reliant on expensive rentals or a bus shuttle service. The shuttle service runs several buses per day but on some days operates just a morning/evening service. Delays occur very frequently as is the nature of flight training, meaning it’s pretty rare to catch the afternoon bus back to LEAX, this results in people being there for the entire day, e.g. 8am arrival at LEGR and 7pm departure from LEGR. Because of these long hours (they can be more than 14 hours door to door), students and instructors have run out of hours leading to cancellations. Our class is living in Granada itself which is nice, but public transport to the airport is about an hour or so each way, and the buses are linked to the commercial flight schedule. If a flight is cancelled, a bus won't run. If it's delayed, it'll change it's time to match the flight. Having your own car here is HIGHLY reccommended.
I'm hoping I will be able to add some good news updates in the near future, but I wouldn't hold your breath.
Joined: Aug 2025
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 3
Likes: 0
From: UK
CAE MPL Cadet at Phoenix
I am in the next UK cohort to finish training here in phoenix.
My experience so far I will briefly sum up.
F1 Training- This lasted from when we arrived in October till the 31st December. This part of the training was relatively smooth, me and my flight partner averaged 3-4 missions a week. Some weeks off because of instructor illness and other reasons that didn't really delay us too badly.
F2- After the 31st December, me and my flight partner spent 8 weeks waiting doing nothing was not scheduled at all. 6 of those weeks were spent without any assigned instructor. CAE called this the 'holding pool' , which in all fairness wasn't actually a bad idea. The part were they messed up, is ending the holding pool for 4 classes at once. This meant that even if you finished F1 one week ago, you got an instructor straight away, which felt unfair and questioned what I was actually waiting for? Fast forward a few weeks and I am averaging 1 mission a week, whilst people who arrived months after me are receiving 4 missions a week since out of pure luck they were assigned to an instructor that didn't have any delayed students from previous cohorts. When you raise your concerns to management about this, and also point out to them that your leave date is rapidly approaching, you are met with the classic line 'focus on your own training'.
When I entered my final 6 weeks of training here, as I am due to leave end of April, my training started to pick up more. I am now averaging 8 missions a week.
F3- Currently now there is only one UK approved F3 instructor here and he cannot do anymore training for new cadets from my class as he is full of students who are preparing to do their CPL. This has led to my class being told we are going to have a 4 week delay out here in Phoenix. CAE are providing us with accommodation, but currently we are going to have to wait for the other F3 instructors to go to Oxford to get their UK training endorsement before I can finish my training out here.
Summary: My training here in general has been pretty incosistent, with long gaps in missions. However, since our class was made a priority we have gone through F2 pretty quickly. We have been told we are going to be delayed 4 weeks which isn't ideal, but I guess that better than the classes that spent an extra 2 months here.
After I finish my tenure here, it seems like the classes behind me are moving at better pace and will finish on time. However, I can't say that with certainty as course mismanagement seems to be their speciality here.
I am in the next UK cohort to finish training here in phoenix.
My experience so far I will briefly sum up.
F1 Training- This lasted from when we arrived in October till the 31st December. This part of the training was relatively smooth, me and my flight partner averaged 3-4 missions a week. Some weeks off because of instructor illness and other reasons that didn't really delay us too badly.
F2- After the 31st December, me and my flight partner spent 8 weeks waiting doing nothing was not scheduled at all. 6 of those weeks were spent without any assigned instructor. CAE called this the 'holding pool' , which in all fairness wasn't actually a bad idea. The part were they messed up, is ending the holding pool for 4 classes at once. This meant that even if you finished F1 one week ago, you got an instructor straight away, which felt unfair and questioned what I was actually waiting for? Fast forward a few weeks and I am averaging 1 mission a week, whilst people who arrived months after me are receiving 4 missions a week since out of pure luck they were assigned to an instructor that didn't have any delayed students from previous cohorts. When you raise your concerns to management about this, and also point out to them that your leave date is rapidly approaching, you are met with the classic line 'focus on your own training'.
When I entered my final 6 weeks of training here, as I am due to leave end of April, my training started to pick up more. I am now averaging 8 missions a week.
F3- Currently now there is only one UK approved F3 instructor here and he cannot do anymore training for new cadets from my class as he is full of students who are preparing to do their CPL. This has led to my class being told we are going to have a 4 week delay out here in Phoenix. CAE are providing us with accommodation, but currently we are going to have to wait for the other F3 instructors to go to Oxford to get their UK training endorsement before I can finish my training out here.
Summary: My training here in general has been pretty incosistent, with long gaps in missions. However, since our class was made a priority we have gone through F2 pretty quickly. We have been told we are going to be delayed 4 weeks which isn't ideal, but I guess that better than the classes that spent an extra 2 months here.
After I finish my tenure here, it seems like the classes behind me are moving at better pace and will finish on time. However, I can't say that with certainty as course mismanagement seems to be their speciality here.
Last edited by ProFlapOperator; 14th April 2026 at 02:17.
Joined: Dec 2025
Aviation Qualifications: PPL
Posts: 15
Likes: 0
From: United Kingdom
CAE MPL Cadet at Phoenix
I am in the next UK cohort to finish training here in phoenix.
My experience so far I will briefly sum up.
F1 Training- This lasted from when we arrived in October till the 31st December. This part of the training was relatively smooth, me and my flight partner averaged 3-4 missions a week. Some weeks off because of instructor illness and other reasons that didn't really delay us too badly.
F2- After the 31st December, me and my flight partner spent 8 weeks waiting doing nothing was not scheduled at all. 6 of those weeks were spent without any assigned instructor. CAE called this the 'holding pool' , which in all fairness wasn't actually a bad idea. The part were they messed up, is ending the holding pool for 4 classes at once. This meant that even if you finished F1 one week ago, you got an instructor straight away, which felt unfair and questioned what I was actually waiting for? Fast forward a few weeks and I am averaging 1 mission a week, whilst people who arrived months after me are receiving 4 missions a week since out of pure luck they were assigned to an instructor that didn't have any delayed students from previous cohorts. When you raise your concerns to management about this, and also point out to them that your leave date is rapidly approaching, you are met with the classic line 'focus on your own training'.
When I entered my final 6 weeks of training here, as I am due to leave end of April, my training started to pick up more. I am now averaging 8 missions a week.
F3- Currently now there is only one UK approved F3 instructor here and he cannot do anymore training for new cadets from my class as he is full of students who are preparing to do their CPL. This has led to my class being told we are going to have a 4 week delay out here in Phoenix. CAE are providing us with accommodation, but currently we are going to have to wait for the other F3 instructors to go to Oxford to get their UK training endorsement before I can finish my training out here.
Summary: My training here in general has been pretty incosistent, with long gaps in missions. However, since our class was made a priority we have gone through F2 pretty quickly. We have been told we are going to be delayed 4 weeks which isn't ideal, but I guess that better than the classes that spent an extra 2 months here.
After I finish my tenure here, it seems like the classes behind me are moving at better pace and will finish on time. However, I can't say that with certainty as course mismanagement seems to be their speciality here.
I am in the next UK cohort to finish training here in phoenix.
My experience so far I will briefly sum up.
F1 Training- This lasted from when we arrived in October till the 31st December. This part of the training was relatively smooth, me and my flight partner averaged 3-4 missions a week. Some weeks off because of instructor illness and other reasons that didn't really delay us too badly.
F2- After the 31st December, me and my flight partner spent 8 weeks waiting doing nothing was not scheduled at all. 6 of those weeks were spent without any assigned instructor. CAE called this the 'holding pool' , which in all fairness wasn't actually a bad idea. The part were they messed up, is ending the holding pool for 4 classes at once. This meant that even if you finished F1 one week ago, you got an instructor straight away, which felt unfair and questioned what I was actually waiting for? Fast forward a few weeks and I am averaging 1 mission a week, whilst people who arrived months after me are receiving 4 missions a week since out of pure luck they were assigned to an instructor that didn't have any delayed students from previous cohorts. When you raise your concerns to management about this, and also point out to them that your leave date is rapidly approaching, you are met with the classic line 'focus on your own training'.
When I entered my final 6 weeks of training here, as I am due to leave end of April, my training started to pick up more. I am now averaging 8 missions a week.
F3- Currently now there is only one UK approved F3 instructor here and he cannot do anymore training for new cadets from my class as he is full of students who are preparing to do their CPL. This has led to my class being told we are going to have a 4 week delay out here in Phoenix. CAE are providing us with accommodation, but currently we are going to have to wait for the other F3 instructors to go to Oxford to get their UK training endorsement before I can finish my training out here.
Summary: My training here in general has been pretty incosistent, with long gaps in missions. However, since our class was made a priority we have gone through F2 pretty quickly. We have been told we are going to be delayed 4 weeks which isn't ideal, but I guess that better than the classes that spent an extra 2 months here.
After I finish my tenure here, it seems like the classes behind me are moving at better pace and will finish on time. However, I can't say that with certainty as course mismanagement seems to be their speciality here.
Joined: Jan 2026
Aviation Qualifications: ATPL
Posts: 8
Likes: 0
From: Somewhere
I can't speak for the USA, but incase you get sent to Granada. Our class rent averages at around 1000EUR per month. You can find better deals, but accomodation can be a bit complicated if you're on a visa, and as with any location - pricing is all dependant on what time of year you're going.
For PHX, the winter is actually peak pricing as I understand it. And in Granada, if you're near the east of town then it's peak at winter because of the ski resort. But otherwise, it's usual summer peak pricing.
For PHX, the winter is actually peak pricing as I understand it. And in Granada, if you're near the east of town then it's peak at winter because of the ski resort. But otherwise, it's usual summer peak pricing.