IR Training Provider Recommendations
 

Hi

I am about to finish my CPL with a training provider on the South Coast U.K. Had a few issues with them, decided to consider the IR with another provider and dont want to make any mistake.

Called Oxford aviation and they are not interested in modular IR training unless I were fully integrated with them.

Flown DA42 and BE76. Looked at Bournemouth airport training providers and had mixed views regarding instructor ratio and old BE76 aircraft.

So considering Stapleford who have DA42's but was not sure about their IR course setup with cranfield being the test centre and the airfield itself perhaps not being usable on IFR days as its part grass / concrete with no offical let downs.

Can anyone provide any feedback regarding Stapleford, recommend other schools in the southern part of the U.K and perhaps anything regarding IR training providers in Spain. I hear mixed things regarding Spain.

Thanks

Sean

did my Ir with professional flight training, bournemouth, They fly the BE76.
Top course!. Very experienced, fun guys to train with.

Passed 1st time

Good luck with your decision:ok:

I done mine at PAT in Bournemouth. Try find one bad word about the place on here. Very reliable and very reputable.

What ever your views are on the Duchess being old is pretty irrelevant - you won't find many providers with shiney new aircraft with exception to Diamond operators, choose a good provider and you can't go wrong. With the current Diamond affairs then I would be more inclined towards a conventional steam driven operator.

Go and visit Bristol Flying Centre. I thought there IR setup and training was excellent. Might be a waiting list though...

Got to be PAT...considering the pressure, it was so enjoyable...I don't think you'll find a bad word at all on here!

Did mine in April/May this year with Aerodynamics in Malaga. They operate BE76's. Weather excellent, a REAL international airport to fly from (LEMG) giving you a proper insight to commercial IFR flying. There is none of the superfluous aggro we get in the UK like 170A's (a ruse to get student pilots to uneccesarily handover more of their cash), and none of the messing around trying to get training slots for approaches at UK airfields that basically would prefer there to be no training flights..... In Spain, you file your flight plan (to Seville, Jerez, Granada, Almeria - all international airfields with all types of approaches) and depart.... A really pleasant experience and some amazing scenery.... The school itself is very professional, and I got a first time pass... (Although to be fair I already held an IMC rating which undoutedly helped me). If I had attended the course full time I could have finished in 4 to 5 weeks, as it was I had to travel down there at weekends to do it, and spend the odd week down there.... even so, it only took me 8 weeks. You hear horror stories of folk here taking 4 or 5 months!
Hope this helps.....