Sabena Flight Academy?
 

Are this lot still going? I found their website and it looks interesting and quotes some incredibly good prices, like 20k euro for an ab-initio ATPL, theory in Belgium, then to Arizona for the flying, then back to Belgium to finish off.

Not sure about giviing out web addresses here, but if you type Sabena Flight Academy into yahoo, you'll find it.

Hello NAU;

Quote from their homepage under Theoretical Training:
".. The candidate can choose to follow the theoretical training either in Dutch or in French .."

- Do you speek Dutch or French ??

Beside, I don't know where you only get the 20K from ..

Things to add up:
Theory exams: € 61,97
Medical exams: € 371,84
Initiation fee: € 6.445,23
Training fee: € 14.247,68 + $ 44.780

That makes a total of at least € 65.900, if we say that 1 Euro equals 1 Dollar ..
And then you still have to add expenses to the Psychometric exam and exam fees to the Belgian CAA ...

Ahhh, missed the $44k !!! :o:o

Couldn't work out how they were doing an ATPL for that price ! Makes much more sense now. Oh well, dont ask, dont get.

Oh, and yes I do speak enough French to get by in it - although I suspect a bit of a brush-up might be required before I started.

Sabena Flight Academy
 

Their website looks good but that is it I'm afraid. I initially started ATPL groundschool with them but soon decided to do my training in the UK. Why? Most importantly Belgium has not yet received full approval for the Class 1 medical and this means you get some sort of Belgian pseudo JAR licence which is not really the same as a CAA UK JAR licence, as it is not fully recognised. The instructors were not trained to teach JAR and the flying part is done in Arizona with FAA instructors who have little experience, some friends went there and were suprised to pay so much money for the flying. This school was meant to train cadets for Sabena airlines and since they don't exist anymore why go there?
I would not be proud to have Sabena Flight Academy on my CV, I'm sure the airlines won't be to impressed either.
The UK is where you should train, they are the ones who implemented JAR and the quality of the UK flying schools is tremendous.
Regards.

Hmmmm ..

euroflyer, I guess that you are British, right ?..
I have no doubt that we can agree about Sabena Flight Academy and the construction of their courses - you also have the experience from them ..

But to state that UK is the only place, almost - no doubt that there are great flight schools in UK ..
But do look across the ocean to EU and you just might find other great places. Scandinavia has some great schools, and a few ones in Spain also ..

I've just finished a 6-7 month long survey (almost a fulltime job) about choosing a flight school with my demands, where I started looking at Scandinavian schools, obviously as a Dane, and ended up contacting every European CAA (almost), looking at some 20-25 schools in EU asking some of them some 40 questions to find out how everything fitted together ..
And then of course visited some of them that I found attractive ..

About verification of JAR-FCL 1 and 3 (airplanes and medical), Denmark has exchanged "Letter of Mutual Recognition" with the JAA countries England, Spain, Belgium and some other countries. That means that I can use a Spanish or Belgian certificate in Denmark without problems. With Belgium I would have to contact their CAA for an OK and a validation but without any further delays or problems ..
All this is stated in a document from the Danish CAA ..

So I do find it strange if the British CAA don't accept Belgian certificates (JAR FCL 1 and 3) when Denmark does ..
Have you refreshed your info with your local CAA recently ??

Madman1145,

I am British and Belgian and live in Belgium.
First of all, I think it's a good idea to research the schools around Europe and choose the right one. As NotAnotherUsername lives in the SW UK, I meant the UK is the place to train for him. I am sure there are very good schools in other countries too but I've also researched quite a few before I started my training and the UK seemed the best place to train.
All the people I know who held a Class 1 Medical issued by the Belgian CAA including me had to do it again in the UK as it was not recognised. I doubt this has changed since last year, I might be wrong. I don't contact the Belgian CAA anymore as they rarely answer the phone and when they do they are incompetent.
The UK CAA on the other hand I must congratulate.
Regards.

Anyone at Sabena on monday the 4th?
 

Hi all.
As by subject i will start a A320 Type at Sabena on Monday the 4th.

Is there anyone that have done it or will be there tha same day as me?

Any comments about the school and especially about theyr "job help" would be appreciated.

Ps; i've been working as ramp agent sice today and i know paying a type is not the best but every company i've been throw asked me: wich type do you have?

bye all

Manuel

Sabena Flight Academy
 

Hi All,

Just wondering whether anybody has had any dealings with Sabena Flight Academy, especially in regard to TR and MCC combined courses. Any information would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks
Curvature:)

Well, I am seriously thinking about starting my 737 TR at Sabena.
The price is 23.000€ within september, 26.000€ after, which means I will have to pay the second one. But I was told that at the very beginning of sep, so it looks more like a market strategy rather than a real fixed price.

They said they have deals with some airlines around europe and international, and that all their TR students got hired within several months... from 2 to 6...

The TR is in English , there is an evaluation session one month before the course.

Concerning the living expenses, they provide full accomodation for 1400 euros maximum.
The training takes approximately 7 weeks.

cheers

hi i dont want to say that you have or not to chose SFA, but dont believe to much the fact that they told that they have contract with airline!
I have a friend who have done a 737 type overthere but he did not had any contract anywhere for linetraining and that's 1 month ago

Try to have more infos about the line traning ...

hi,

i don't know anything about sabena, i'm just quoting what I was told. It would be nice to get in touch with your friend though, I'd like to know how serious the school is.

I don't believe much in line training, 80k € ... I mean, whether u have a TR and nothing , because if you have also 100h or plus in type it means you r already working for an airliner.

Hi guys
I am currently at sabena flight academy doing an A320 type rating.
All i can say about this school is that it is finally all i was dreaming about...and beleive me i'm not the kind of person that quotes something very easily.(ask to AIRMED staff).
Instructors are nice and FxxxxIng prepared,with experience and funny, they are not letting you feel the weight of their experience (and they have a LOT)
The facilities are perfectly mantained, there is always an answer to everithing and it is usually fast.
Sims are fantastic and it's full of airlines coming to get their training too.

If you are looking for a place in wich put you'r coins u can be sure that here it will be highly worth it.

A customer.

Bye

Looks Really Good
 

Very interesting info !!! i want more views and opinions about the school pleaseeee!! i will consider them for a TR depending how my finances will be though!!
Any news about which airlines are cooperating at the moment?

THANKS A LOT!!!!:O

Well i can tell you more or less which airlines are customer there to train their pilots.
In general: Tomas cook,martinair,eurofly,airone,SN Brussels,Virgin...and more

Bye

Ok i'm on the verge of buing the TR from Sabena or another TRTO... i'm evalutating a few things. Sabena asks 26.000€ which is quite a lot for a simple TR considering that Astraeus quoted me a B737 + ground check at 23.700€ + VAT ... and it offers a line training of 10 sectors + TR at 32.000€ + VAT... I don't know.

Man it's well known that a type on thew BUS costs more than the 73. Don't ask me why but it's like that.
About the Sbena price 26k it's the lowest price u can get in europe.
Ask gecat,cae etc etc ...in Eu the min price i have ever seen was 28/29 thousands euros so the Sabena one it's more than competitive.

cheers

Sabena asks 26.000€
Astraeus asks 23.700€
-----------------------------
Astraeus is cheaper than Sabena

Sabena 26k for the 320 and astraeus 23.7k for the 737 what are we comparing the price of the apples with the bananas?
u have to compare the prices on the same airplane cathegory otherwisde what do we get?:ugh:

Anyway i think that sabena asks for the 737 23.000 so the price is in range with the Astraeus one no?

cheers

No...
Sabena just quoted me 26000€ for a B737 TR
:suspect:

Wow, ok...it's probably because their "summer camp" it's finished..
BYe