Most recognised flying school abroad
Thread Starter
Joined: Jul 2002
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From: London
Most recognised flying school abroad
I am a university student and have a dream to fly commercially. On completion of my degree i am going to apply for sponsorship and if unsuccessful head abroad to train. I hear that it is a good idea to do the groundschool in the UK but for reducing costs and for the best training is it better to go to the US, Australia, New Zealand or Canada? Any suggestions welcome.
Thanks
Thanks
Last edited by scroggs; 19th January 2003 at 18:41.
Joined: Mar 2002
Posts: 23
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From: London
Have you thought about South Africa? Have a look at www.algoafc.co.za There's also a good site being developed for SA PPL's etc which is good to get advice from: www.uksa.flyer.co.uk
Good luck!
Good luck!
Last edited by scroggs; 19th January 2003 at 18:43.
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 194
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From: UK
Check out 43 Air School in Port Alfred, South Africa, very professional training in a fantastic environment. Good reputation and they have recently been awarded contracts to train South African Airways and British Airways (Comair) cadets, also the school comes with major financial backing so no worries about losing any of your money.
Cheers
JD
PS I don't work for them
Cheers
JD
PS I don't work for them
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 4
Likes: 0
From: Spain
ZbV
Joined: Jul 1999
Posts: 799
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From: Samsonite
Schools
All of the countries you mentioned will work. Republic of South Africa is probably one of the most affordable places to live while training. Here some points
With US you have generally good rates for aircraft rental. Some schools are more expensive than others. A beech Duchess went for 220 USD per hour with Instructor a few years back. How much your living is going to cost you depends a lot where you do your training and how do you want to live. As a general figure you should budget 1000 USD a month for general living expenses and 1500 if you have a car and you rent a place. Since 911 US presents new challenges to the wannabe student. How time consuming and frustrating t will be to go through all the cahoots I do not know. I suggest you look at the Immigration questions and threads in this same forum. With other countries this presents the least hassle.
I Attended a "reputable" establishment in the US Pacific West. I found training to be very varied between instructors, even with a lot of standardization. Maintenance department was owerwhelmed by the more than 50 old aircraft in their fleet. There where more and more maintenance related problems.
When an aircraft broke that would really wreck their carefully planned schedule. As this school had extensive airline programs it was the self sponsored student that got "bumped". This happend very often.
Since I was in principle agains paying 220 USD for a multi-hour I moonlighted with a "Hole in the wall school" and got my PVT multi in 2 weeks time and paid a fraction for it. Level for instructing was excellent as was the maintenance of the equipment.
All of the above is based in personal experiences and can be applied to allmost any school in the world. What school and program you choose should be based on what you wan to do. There is little use for an FAA or any other licence in Europe. Even with considerable experience you still have to do the 14 exams and a flight check, unless you fly N-regs like I have or you have a greencard and want to work in US.
If EU is your goal I suggest a program that does the theoretical portion of training in EU (UK or in a country where English is widely and well spoken) and flight portion in one of the countries you mentioned.
I recommend that you short-list some schools get their papers, ask all the relevant questions here on PPRuNe, find some one that has graduated from these schools, list all the pros and cons like ticket prices, housing, food etc (Donīt take the word of the school for anything) and then finally go and visit the school that sounds most promising. Try to look financial info on the school.
Remember that a flightschool is a business with purpose of making money to the shareholders and you are the source of capital. Schools employ sales professionals and many will go to great lenghts to get your business and promise you the moon if that makes you happy.
There are a lot of people around that think that a school that is expensive and has a know name must be good. High price and quality does not go hand in hand. Neither does reputation and quality. While there are exceptions to this, many of the schools have been around a while (Not a bad thing though) and advertise aggressively.
With US you have generally good rates for aircraft rental. Some schools are more expensive than others. A beech Duchess went for 220 USD per hour with Instructor a few years back. How much your living is going to cost you depends a lot where you do your training and how do you want to live. As a general figure you should budget 1000 USD a month for general living expenses and 1500 if you have a car and you rent a place. Since 911 US presents new challenges to the wannabe student. How time consuming and frustrating t will be to go through all the cahoots I do not know. I suggest you look at the Immigration questions and threads in this same forum. With other countries this presents the least hassle.
I Attended a "reputable" establishment in the US Pacific West. I found training to be very varied between instructors, even with a lot of standardization. Maintenance department was owerwhelmed by the more than 50 old aircraft in their fleet. There where more and more maintenance related problems.
When an aircraft broke that would really wreck their carefully planned schedule. As this school had extensive airline programs it was the self sponsored student that got "bumped". This happend very often.
Since I was in principle agains paying 220 USD for a multi-hour I moonlighted with a "Hole in the wall school" and got my PVT multi in 2 weeks time and paid a fraction for it. Level for instructing was excellent as was the maintenance of the equipment.
All of the above is based in personal experiences and can be applied to allmost any school in the world. What school and program you choose should be based on what you wan to do. There is little use for an FAA or any other licence in Europe. Even with considerable experience you still have to do the 14 exams and a flight check, unless you fly N-regs like I have or you have a greencard and want to work in US.
If EU is your goal I suggest a program that does the theoretical portion of training in EU (UK or in a country where English is widely and well spoken) and flight portion in one of the countries you mentioned.
I recommend that you short-list some schools get their papers, ask all the relevant questions here on PPRuNe, find some one that has graduated from these schools, list all the pros and cons like ticket prices, housing, food etc (Donīt take the word of the school for anything) and then finally go and visit the school that sounds most promising. Try to look financial info on the school.
Remember that a flightschool is a business with purpose of making money to the shareholders and you are the source of capital. Schools employ sales professionals and many will go to great lenghts to get your business and promise you the moon if that makes you happy.
There are a lot of people around that think that a school that is expensive and has a know name must be good. High price and quality does not go hand in hand. Neither does reputation and quality. While there are exceptions to this, many of the schools have been around a while (Not a bad thing though) and advertise aggressively.
