Stapleford Flight Centre anyone?
Join Date: Mar 2001
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FIC
Ive also done the FIC at stapleford, many of the people there who do the commercial training continue and do the FIC. The course is run by Keith Pogmore, who is an excellent instructor, with lots of experience and a 100% pass rate. The course is run on the c152s, warriors and the c175 so definitely alot of variation with the types you get to fly.
The bulk of the training is on the warriors to enable students to get paired up, so basically in the same amount of time you get to run through the course twice, so once with yourself doing it and revision through the student your paired with. Definitely an advantage.
I cant answer for all the people who have been through the FIC course, but certainly the people who have finished in the past few months have found no problems with regard to finding employment.
I'd definitely advise you to at least go and have a look and talk to the people who are there, they are obviously the best ones to give you advice. If you are considering any kind of training you should really go see the schools on your short list and go with your instincts.
Rockaria
The bulk of the training is on the warriors to enable students to get paired up, so basically in the same amount of time you get to run through the course twice, so once with yourself doing it and revision through the student your paired with. Definitely an advantage.
I cant answer for all the people who have been through the FIC course, but certainly the people who have finished in the past few months have found no problems with regard to finding employment.
I'd definitely advise you to at least go and have a look and talk to the people who are there, they are obviously the best ones to give you advice. If you are considering any kind of training you should really go see the schools on your short list and go with your instincts.
Rockaria
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What can I say. Eat my words! There's nothing like throwing a bit of fire in the pan. Well, I did know that there was a asphalt rwy at stapleford and I haven't taken off from it yet(how I forget things on the heat of writting). But I didn't know that there was a VOR.
I flew a seneca out of stapleford the other week to keep current with my twin rating and found the plane to be in excellent quality. I did see a few cessnas in bad shape, but I hate those planes anyway. Give me a piper any day.
They do seem to be in a reasonable location just outside of london and the bar there is pretty reasonable and always has a few people inside.
As for training there, I like the idea of both being in the same plane to learn of each others mistakes. Perhaps I should give stapleford a second look before dismissing them. I only go on past experience of cheap price = cheap service. Now if I pay the expensive price at say OAT or Cabair, atleast I am fairly certain of what I am getting. I originally started my ppl with cabair and found them to be second to none compared to several schools I tried. So, I eat my words and will take all your advice and check it out again.
OK, as for LGU, the stuff about lots of people getting all first passes first time is utter BS. very few do at LGU and only recently have pass rates been increasing because of a few additions of good tutors and feedback questions that appear to come from....O.hh.....A.nother.....T.ime (put it together). Some people say you get what you put into it, well I have put plenty of effort into it and can say that I don't want to learn incorrect and confusing material. Put two people next to each other of equal standing who have both studied the same subject, can you say that they will have the same results? no. It depends to a large extent on the tutors and the study material. Is it a coincidence that the LGU is rated as one of the 5 worst universities in the country?(I wish I found that out before I started). Granted, people will pass from there and it is mostly because of there own determination. (Sorry to the LGU tutors as you are mostly good tutors, but the notes really do suck - atleast you are doing something about it.)
It does seem that the minute someone writes a bad word about somewhere, everyone else knocks it down. Maybe that is why no one hears bad words about a place.
Well, at the end of the day we all have to make a decision that is right for us as an individual and we weigh up the pros and cons of a place.
Good luck to all those waiting to pass and those starting on courses and those waiting for jobs and those training in the air.... Perhaps one day we'll all be in the left seat!
JD
I flew a seneca out of stapleford the other week to keep current with my twin rating and found the plane to be in excellent quality. I did see a few cessnas in bad shape, but I hate those planes anyway. Give me a piper any day.
They do seem to be in a reasonable location just outside of london and the bar there is pretty reasonable and always has a few people inside.
As for training there, I like the idea of both being in the same plane to learn of each others mistakes. Perhaps I should give stapleford a second look before dismissing them. I only go on past experience of cheap price = cheap service. Now if I pay the expensive price at say OAT or Cabair, atleast I am fairly certain of what I am getting. I originally started my ppl with cabair and found them to be second to none compared to several schools I tried. So, I eat my words and will take all your advice and check it out again.
OK, as for LGU, the stuff about lots of people getting all first passes first time is utter BS. very few do at LGU and only recently have pass rates been increasing because of a few additions of good tutors and feedback questions that appear to come from....O.hh.....A.nother.....T.ime (put it together). Some people say you get what you put into it, well I have put plenty of effort into it and can say that I don't want to learn incorrect and confusing material. Put two people next to each other of equal standing who have both studied the same subject, can you say that they will have the same results? no. It depends to a large extent on the tutors and the study material. Is it a coincidence that the LGU is rated as one of the 5 worst universities in the country?(I wish I found that out before I started). Granted, people will pass from there and it is mostly because of there own determination. (Sorry to the LGU tutors as you are mostly good tutors, but the notes really do suck - atleast you are doing something about it.)
It does seem that the minute someone writes a bad word about somewhere, everyone else knocks it down. Maybe that is why no one hears bad words about a place.
Well, at the end of the day we all have to make a decision that is right for us as an individual and we weigh up the pros and cons of a place.
Good luck to all those waiting to pass and those starting on courses and those waiting for jobs and those training in the air.... Perhaps one day we'll all be in the left seat!
JD
Join Date: Sep 2000
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London Metropolitan University (late LGU) courses & notes
Several of the points made about LGU courses and notes in some of the mailings in this thread are misleading and several out of date.
1. Based on CAA data our results are at least as good as the national average. Many subjects are better and in some our LOWEST mark is better than the national average.
2. Our course notes are "wordy" because they cover ALL of the learning objectives in enough detail to enable many of our distance learning students to have gained first time passes. The notes are currently undergoing a complete re-vamp and the complete set should be available in glorious colour by February 2003. The "wordy" content still covers the full syllabus but there are many more colour diagrams. Some are available now if any PPruner would like to come and look at them.
3. LGU did take 30 students on our courses in September and November 2001, specifically authorised and approved by the CAA, to help out ex PPSC, SFT and 4 Forces students who had been 'left in the lurch' when those schools closed. Otherwise we have always operated strictly within JAA limits.
4. Like most other FTOs we keep our feedback as up to date as possible and add vetted questions to our web-based student support system, which is open to all full-time and distance learning students.
5. All our instructors have extensive commercial or military aviation backgrounds. Between us we have over 60,000 flying hours.
1. Based on CAA data our results are at least as good as the national average. Many subjects are better and in some our LOWEST mark is better than the national average.
2. Our course notes are "wordy" because they cover ALL of the learning objectives in enough detail to enable many of our distance learning students to have gained first time passes. The notes are currently undergoing a complete re-vamp and the complete set should be available in glorious colour by February 2003. The "wordy" content still covers the full syllabus but there are many more colour diagrams. Some are available now if any PPruner would like to come and look at them.
3. LGU did take 30 students on our courses in September and November 2001, specifically authorised and approved by the CAA, to help out ex PPSC, SFT and 4 Forces students who had been 'left in the lurch' when those schools closed. Otherwise we have always operated strictly within JAA limits.
4. Like most other FTOs we keep our feedback as up to date as possible and add vetted questions to our web-based student support system, which is open to all full-time and distance learning students.
5. All our instructors have extensive commercial or military aviation backgrounds. Between us we have over 60,000 flying hours.
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I started my ATPLs at LGU in January 2001. When I was there, problems existed with the notes and some of the feedback but overall I was quite happy with the training and support I was given. Towards the end of my course, the feedback did improve and the staff were friendly and always willing to help out. I managed to pass 12 exams first time and the remaining 2 on my next sitting. Admittedly, a fairly large number of my class either didn't finish on time or gave up BUT that was more the individual's fault than the school. Most of them wanted to be spoon fed information or expected their foreign licences to bail them out of trouble or simply struggled with the material. Some of them kept moaning about the ambiguous nature of the questions or the irrelevance of the subject material, often disrupting the class in the process. 
I and others on the course knew where they were coming from but instead of bucking the system we knuckled down and beat it.
Would I go to LGU again? Quite possibly yes!
I and others on the course knew where they were coming from but instead of bucking the system we knuckled down and beat it. Would I go to LGU again? Quite possibly yes!
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(sorry this is off the subject abit but that’s just the way it goes)
Re: London Guildhall Univ.
I am on their Distance course, and can back up most of what Mr Benn said, (not that he knows I'm posting here, he is the head of aviation studies at LGU but I've yet to meet him so don't get the wrong idea)
May I explain a couple of points;
Firstly my reasons for joining LGU Distance course:
1/ I live close by,
2/ I did my degree there (different Dept.),
But most importantly I knew that as part of a large Est. THEY DON'T GO TO THE WALL like most of the others!
Now I saw a mate who is at BGS the other day and was asked to help him to understand his notes, now compared to mine they were nicely printed on nicer paper (I have the older LGU notes)
But... what I saw didn’t impress me that much as the BGS notes were written by somebody who knew what they were talking about but had no idea how to explain it to anybody else!...very bad communication skills This may account for the reason why LGU notes are as several of you put it 'Wordy' too wordy in places for me but maybe not for others. I was able to help my friend using the BGS notes (it was a nav subject that I have yet to do myself) but only after reading thro. them several
Times
and having a good laugh at the wording in the process! I think teaching is an art, a skill in it's own right.
Now don't just ask the lecturers because they always 'slag-off' each other's notes, ask to see the notes and see how long it takes to make sense out of them before you part with your money.
Re: London Guildhall Univ.
I am on their Distance course, and can back up most of what Mr Benn said, (not that he knows I'm posting here, he is the head of aviation studies at LGU but I've yet to meet him so don't get the wrong idea)
May I explain a couple of points;
Firstly my reasons for joining LGU Distance course:
1/ I live close by,
2/ I did my degree there (different Dept.),
But most importantly I knew that as part of a large Est. THEY DON'T GO TO THE WALL like most of the others!
Now I saw a mate who is at BGS the other day and was asked to help him to understand his notes, now compared to mine they were nicely printed on nicer paper (I have the older LGU notes)
But... what I saw didn’t impress me that much as the BGS notes were written by somebody who knew what they were talking about but had no idea how to explain it to anybody else!...very bad communication skills
This may account for the reason why LGU notes are as several of you put it 'Wordy' too wordy in places for me but maybe not for others. I was able to help my friend using the BGS notes (it was a nav subject that I have yet to do myself) but only after reading thro. them several Times
and having a good laugh at the wording in the process! I think teaching is an art, a skill in it's own right.Now don't just ask the lecturers because they always 'slag-off' each other's notes, ask to see the notes and see how long it takes to make sense out of them before you part with your money.
Join Date: Aug 2002
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Careful Now!
If I were you I would shop around.
Exactly what does your 25K cover????
Find out and compare!!!
I have NEVER heard of this company, business/ etc...
Has anyone else???
Watch out for fly by nights!! there are loads!!!
Exactly what does your 25K cover????
Find out and compare!!!
I have NEVER heard of this company, business/ etc...
Has anyone else???
Watch out for fly by nights!! there are loads!!!
Join Date: Jun 2001
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David Balchin,
I do not wish to start a LGU/BGS/ (or any other school for that matter) bunfight, but to infer that the BGS notes are somehow inferior (the angry face symbol) I feel is harsh.
I can not comment on LGU's material but as reputation has it, a fine organisation. I can however compare BGS notes to other schools', and even by taking a completey stand-alone view of the BGS material, it is my personal view that the material is written in a "friendly" style, making some very dry material quite easily learnable.
Worked for me, first time passes in all 14.
As I said above, please do not (anyone) turn this into a nit-picking "my school is better than yours" argument, all establishments of good reputation will provide the relevant material in a decent format to get you through, however I do sometimes read posts on here about which school will be best to get you through the exams, almost as if that is a magic formula.
The thing that gets any of us through is, yes good material, but more importantly, sheer hard work on the students part regardless of school.
all the best,
Gb.
I do not wish to start a LGU/BGS/ (or any other school for that matter) bunfight, but to infer that the BGS notes are somehow inferior (the angry face symbol) I feel is harsh.
I can not comment on LGU's material but as reputation has it, a fine organisation. I can however compare BGS notes to other schools', and even by taking a completey stand-alone view of the BGS material, it is my personal view that the material is written in a "friendly" style, making some very dry material quite easily learnable.
Worked for me, first time passes in all 14.
As I said above, please do not (anyone) turn this into a nit-picking "my school is better than yours" argument, all establishments of good reputation will provide the relevant material in a decent format to get you through, however I do sometimes read posts on here about which school will be best to get you through the exams, almost as if that is a magic formula.
The thing that gets any of us through is, yes good material, but more importantly, sheer hard work on the students part regardless of school.
all the best,
Gb.
