ClintonBapiste: Many thanks for that valuable information. I shall bear it in mind.

For the rest of you ....
I went to Aerofan yesterday on a quick day trip (tiring). Upon arrival at Barajas I lazily got the taxi and got dropped off right outside Aerofan's orange coloured office. It is indeed small and cosy but at the same time modern, organised and clean. Though I had turned up on the wrong day to that proposed originally I was nevertheless taken care of by the staff who did appear somewhat busy but still tried to help arrange someone to attend to my visit. Apparently the chap for the UK students James Ward was out flying and so they organised someone else to come over and show me around. The person who showed me around was the most genuine and nicest girl I have met in a very,very long time (not just the salesman aspect) but someone who seemed to reflect the helpfulness of Aerofan themselves. I was shown around the various briefing and study rooms along with their flight planning suite which at first sight appeared to have nice automated mass and balance programs running on a number of PCs lined up against one side of the room and further supplemented with impressive weather data METAR, TAFS, etc. The airport itself seemed to be relatively quiet but on the whole well equipped with a variety of aircraft parked around from the other schools (aeroMadrid and AirTec ... I think, not sure) and a couple of them taxying around the apron. Aerofan's aircraft appeared nicely kept and maintained, I would personally put them in the good category and coupled with their own maintenance facility it all seemed satisfactory. Upon departure I hesitantly asked whether I could get them to phone a taxi to take me back to Barajas and they were once again very happy to help. In all my time I have been flying I doubt if I've been to an airport where the people have been so genuinely helpful, POLITE, honest and professional.

Whilst waiting around for the taxi I met another UK student who amazingly lived just round the corner from me and had just completed his FAA IR conversion as I was hoping to do. He informed me how the course had gone so far and that he was soon to do his IR test, all positive comments and frequent mention of flexibility. This was a point which I observed right in front of eyes as I saw numerous students pass through the office all of whom seemed quite content and happy with what was going on. I even overheard a conversation regarding aircraft availability and giving the student the aircraft he prefered rather than what the school wished ot allocate to him without any fuss.

Certainly the factor being overlooked here is more than just simple training it's also one of regional bias. In the UK it seems you have to be grateful that the school has chosen to take your money and teach you, whereas at Cuatro Vientos airport (where Aerofan are based) there seems to be a mutual respect that we're all involved in flight training regardless of where you are on the aviation ladder. Just the other the week I visited a few UK schools and I doubt they would compare with the excellent Aerofan in any aspect of their operation. Aerofan is also excellent value for money.

In case you're wondering no I don't work for Aerofan but I feel compelled to report what I have seen and I can assure you I am not someone who is easily impressed nor fooled.

Nice report boogie nicely. Are you doing an MEIR conversion from FAA to JAA?. I am planning on doing the same in one months time and am thinking about Aerofan. There price seems good. Am I right in saying that 5700euros covers everything apart from accommodation?
What about the normal amount of hours to get through and first time pass rates? I have the question in another post but would a uk airline look down their nose at a non uk meir?
Also the 310 looks a bit weird in the cockpit layout, no what i mean?

Cheers

Be careful if you don't hold a JAA MEP. It'll cost you another €888 to do the MEP there aswell on top of the €5700. Other than that, no other problems so far.:ok:

Blobber: I only know of one person who's employed as a pilot from Aerofan. However I have relatives in the industry already and their personal view is get the licences and ratings and stop worrying about where you trained just get it done. Sure there are always some who will look down their noses but a couple of years ago there were people who used to claim the FAA route was rubbish yet numerous people trained in through that system are happily working here in the UK.

Save the money at Aerofan and just do a Jet Orientation course instead with a UK provider. Surely that will level things out for those 'Little Britain' chief pilots.

Also my name is Boogie-Nicey NOT Boogie-Nicely :ok:

Hey, I am booked to go to Aerofan in July for my IR / FIC. Could anyone tell me which airports you practice approaches on for the IR? I assume you don't go in to Barajas?? Just I want to learn the procedures before I get there - and my JAR Student Manual does have Madrid in - but the charts are years out of date.

Kind Regards,

Alex.

Aerofan IR appraoches
 

Hi I have recently returned from Aerofan, and although I wasnt doing the IR I do know that the mostly used airfields are Toledo/Salamanca/and Valladolid there may be others but these are generally the most used.
Also I found that in my experience that the instructors and staff do go out of their way to help, but be prepared for flight cancellations due to wind/weather, you may not complete in the time you plan.:ok:

Hey all,

I'm a UK student who has recently passed the last of the 14 ATPL exams and am now building my hours to start my ME/CPL.

I have planned to do the ME/CPL, IR and MCC at Atlantic Flight Training in Coventry, but have just started to look at non-UK options to make sure I'm doing things right.

Aerofan appear attractive in terms of price, but could someone please provide me with a frank and honest evaluation of the pros and cons of completing the above courses with Aerofan?

It appears that I would save money (which is always a good thing!), but would this be at the expense of extra hassle in the future with the CAA or with future employers? Would my licence be fully accepted in the same way than somebody with the same ratings completed here? Is the standard of training the same.

Money should never, ever be the sole reason to choose or ignore a school, but if there are good enough reasons in terms of the product and training offered, then they must be considered.

I look forward to any replies! If, for whatever reason, you would sooner send a PM, please just shout!

Many thanks,

Blueskyrich

You'll have to do you CPL here in Blighty or at a UK-approved school offering CPL Modular i.e. two or three in the US.

Have you looked, like me, elsewhere in the UK besides AFT?

Hi there,

Thanks for the quick response!

Yep, I've had a look around and to be honest, if I was to do things in the UK, Atlantic work out best for me. I did my theory through them and some of my previous flying. I know what they're all about and they're local-ish for me.

I think I'll contact Aerofan and see what the position is. It appears that they are advertising for British pilots to go over there, but I'm not sure what I'd actually end up with!

Thanks again,
Bluesky

Me also, but having done the ATPL theory here in the UK, you cannot realistically go over to Aerofan to do your CPL. The JARs seem to prevent this. However IR is okay. But then you have that argument about training at one or two places.

Take a look at
http://www.pprune.org/forums/showthread.php?t=271174

I'm off to HGFC at the Green, have you been there?

3-4 weeks
 

Im going down to Aerofan the 3. of june.
I'm doing the 4 week ME-IR course, and I just wanted to know if it really is possible to do in that short a time?

I'd say that if the planes are working and weather mostly co-operates, that may be doable.

-OnRoute-

ATPL with AeroFan???
 

Can anyone else confirm problems with AeroFan and especially what is the quality of ATPL lectures?
Do they do it proffessional way (ATPL) and help you if you don't understand something?

Thinking about going to Spain for ATPL but haven't decided yet where to go.
Madrid - Aerofan seems nice (until this thread) choice,also price seems OK.

Any advice? Should I go for ATPL with any other FTO, maybe AeroMadrid?


Is here anyone else who intend to take an ATPL course with some Spanish FTO?

Thank you,
Vince

FI course
 

Hey all, Im considering enrolling onto Aerofans FI course sometime this summer, if anyone has any feed back about Aerofan and or the FI course please can you post a reply or PM me.
Many Thanks

Aerofan Jet First Officer
 

I haven't found much information on this course although it was advertised last year - anyone know if it is still running? As I understand it, the training is devised for PPL holders and includes ATPL groundschool, hour building, CPL and ME-IR with licences and ratings issued by the Spanish CAA.
I'll phone the school directly when they are open tomorrow but if anyone has any info i'd appreciate it, thanks

I did the PPL and now I am doing the ATPL here at Aerofan. The instructors are very experienced, mostly military pilots and two that work for Iberia. It´s 4 hours a day on weekdays. The problems here in Spain are mainly due to beaureaucracy: it takes ages to get anything issued from the Spanish CAA.

you doing your ATPLs in english at Aerofan??. i have just finnished my ATPLs in madrid with Aeromadrid. initially went to Aerofan but they let me down badly as they told me at the last minute that they werent doing the ATPLs in english, that was after 3 weeks after i should have started the course and had moved to Madrid!!, with them telling me " it starts next week, it starts next week"!!. Was supposed to be on the first officer jet course but in reality at the time it didnt exist. Hope they have got there act together now and sorted this out as i see they are still advertising the course. This was 2 years ago and i have flown with them since hour building, all the instructors are good and the set up is very profesional. Overal my experience (and i wasnt the only one), go if you need you IR/ME as its perfect but be wary of them offering groundschool courses in english unless you hear from someone who has actually been there and done it, as i say it may be different now, im back in Madrid in a few weeks at Quatro Vientos, so i will ask the question.

I know for a fact that they dont do the PPL in english!!

i spoke with aerofan directly and they confirmed that they are not providing atpl groundschool in English at the moment. The rep referred to not wanting to give me an impression that I could start at any particular time as the school understandably would need a certain number of students interested in the course to make it viable. Anyone interested should maybe let the school know.
How was the course with aeromadrid hughesyd? in english i presume?

I am doing the course in Spanish. I know that do sometimes give courses in English but I don't know when the next one will start (I will ask at the office and post back). I guess they would have to be sure of having enough students to make it worthwhile. Most of our teachers also give classes in English at the other schools. I think whatever school you choose it is likely that you will have the same teachers. Aero Madrid is the biggest school at Cuatro Vientos but they are quite a bit more expensive than Aerofan (about 3000€ for the ATPL as opposed to 2100€ at Aerofan). If you need to do the ATPL in English perhaps it is worth looking at them as you can still do the IR/ME/CPL at Aerofan. I think the flight instructors all speak English.

Regarding the Aerofan Jet First Officer, I haven't heard anything about this as I am taking the modular route. However, you could do the ATPL in English at Aero Madrid and then the CPL/IR/ME at Aerofan. You would have to be prepared to come and live here for at least a year to pass all the exams, because they are every 3-4 months and nobody passes them all the first time. Another thing worth mentioning is that the web page in English is different to the one in Spanish (which I think is a lot more up to date). It is worth looking at for the prices and what's on offer at the moment with the help of a dictionary.