tips for Czech republic schools and Europe
 

Hello my fellow pilots,
Out of my experience in Czech Republic (recently been called Czechia, but no one take it seriously yet), i would like to say some core facts you should know before you signed any contract or start training. its important to go and check the school by visual...take a day-off go to the airport stay for a day eat dinner, smoke & chill and see hows the general feeling around, catch the foreigners students and ask them how do they feel about the school.... DON't be fooled by the website and the beautiful girls on the front desk, its only marketing ..... its also important to check if the school has many locals, it means the price is good and trusted one. some schools here are targeted for only foreigners. iam not saying its bad but it means a lot of extra money you should pay that you can save if you another school...also check the buses lines and the trains to Prague and how can you reach theere ( remember that every school wanna all the money you've got) if you wanna party in the weekend or so,

Once you accept an offer BE AWARE of the hidden cost !! no school wants to show you such thing but a good one.
let us check a PPL license for example.....the offer will be for flying hours + ground school + instructor time + VAT(21%)..... and the hidden cost is:
-Theory exam fees at CAA (5000 czk)
-Insurance( don't take the one school offers you check ERGO PILOT online and use google chrome to translate to english)( at least 2000 czk than your school)
-Landings+comm. fees(some airports are expansive( check this https://lis.rlp.cz/vfrmanual/actual/lktb_text_en.html press TEXT and scroll down its for Brno airport )
-Fuel surcharge( only BAD school asks you this)
-Checkride+ examiner fees (around 6000ckz for the examiner)
-Adminstration fees
-issuing license fees
-Radio telephony fees
-ICAO english exam fees
-some schools will charge you money for flying hours once you start the engin:, and that is PURE stealing. you should only pay from take-offs till landings, the start-up and taxi time should be free(you will write these time as a flight time on your log-book which is good).

Make sure the school is not crowded, they will not give you the attention you need at the beginnings, cuz you like a child that has many questions how's ever-things works, or how the wings lift the fuselage fully school will also make the aircraft booked all the time and you will fight to have a flight also the briefing and debriefing would not be enough....if you need to coup your mistakes and weaknesses.....

you will also fly and practice with many different instructors, be aware not all of them are friendly & cool if you ask them questions or the way to teach does not fit you..for me, i practice with many instructors but i only go with with 2 ! was really cool flights.... i still great full for Tomas who gave me an advice to simulate my flight on the real cockpit on the ground and practice the check list while the aircraft on the ground, was really smart idea...thnx captain.

I had some friends who flew hours more than required and pay money that should not be paid...if you feel such a feeling change the instructor immediately. i called the vampire instructors ! if still the same you should change the whole school by looking for another one and ask them if you can transfer you syllabus.. probably the school have been vampired.

i have some time now if any one need help in Czech republic we can visit some school and give you some advises... you can buy me a lunch in exchange.

Do you have a list of schools which you would recommend? Purely in your opinion (but following your own guidlines) of course.

Not true - it is normal to charge by the engine time.

I was getting my frozen ATPL in Czech Republic so I can share some experience.

There is one website which I truly recommend to everyone who considers going there:
Aeroweb.cz - Informa?n? server pro piloty a z?jemce o l?t?n?

It is in Czech language but take this as your first challenge. You'll be struggling the language barrier in Czech Republic here and there, but eventually you'll figure it out. Try Google Translate as the first aid.

So, the section on AeroWeb you're most interested now is this: Flying Schools
Letouny - Kvalifikace pro vícemotorové letouny MEP(A) - Pilotní výcvik, letecké ?koly a pilotní pr?kazy, licence - Aeroweb.cz

I noticed it's being updated at the moment but normally it contains a list of all Czech schools with prices displayed. The price is the reason to go to CR, isn't it, so here you get them all in one list.

Feel free to ask questions. I'll be glad to share my experience.

As a rough indication of a cost, I can tell that getting the PPL in 2014 took me 8000€.

Of this amount, the training itself took around 6000€ and the rest was the transport and living cost.

it is really hard to give names since i have been at only 2 schools!!! one of them was NOT good experience. it is FAIR school...benesov airport

there is ALPHA aviation in prague which i did ATPL theory with them and was really great.. i would continue with this school but my budget will not allow such thing...

still looking for new one and i will let you know

Sir...:confused:
You can call Flying academy school in Brno and ask about that !!!
let me know what there reply

It doesn't matter how they charge you. The standard for PPL is 45 hours and you don't really care how it's calculated as long as you get it into your logbook.

Things get different when you start timebuilding, though ;)

Hey Simon, could you share more about your experience at Alpha? I am currently in Prague and looking for a school to start my ATPL theory course in English. There is also CATC, which I think works with Czech Airlines. Their price is quite good and they seem trustworthy. How much did you pay for your course in Alpha. Was trying to PM you, but couldn't figure out how. Thanks!

Quote: some schools will charge you money for flying hours once you start the engin:, and that is PURE stealing. you should only pay from take-offs till landings, the start-up and taxi time should be free(you will write these time as a flight time on your log-book which is good).

every school I have been charge you from engine start to engine stop. Of course, you have to pay the instructor for sitting with you in the airplane, unless you want to steal his time.
Free taxi time? never heard about it in any of my training.

Quote: I had some friends who flew hours more than required and pay money that should not be paid...if you feel such a feeling change the instructor immediately.

How do you know the hours were not required?
the minimum required is a minimum and if you don't perform you need more hours.

if you change instructor you might need to demonstrate again your performance and then fly more hours.

I did my IR & CPL in EDFC and they charged only the flight time; no Hobbs or block times, just T/O to LDG.

Show me the Czech school that can train in English, has enough fleet and instructors for flying every day, and who charges T/O to LDG time! Alpha aviation? Come on, they train mainly on Cirrus, and their least expensive aircraft is Cessna Skylane! Imagine flight hour price...

The first thing that website price is always a minimum price, and it is never real. You should text and call, and talk. Don't sign the contracts blindly. And don't pay huge amount upfront. Even in the 'best of the best' school you can have some personal problems.

Of course all CAA/exam fees are on you. It is not 'hidden' cost, the good school usually just does not include them in the program. Ask the costs breakdown, any good school will provide it before starting your training. Also ask about so-called 'hidden' fees. The school will provide them as well, but you pay directly to the service providers (CAA, examiners, insurance company). YOU are a pilot, and you should plan ahead. If your school promises to pay those fees (with additional benefits like free uniform, free iPads, free books etc.), I am 100% sure they will charge you much more than the school that does not include those fees in the training program. Nothing is free, and nobody wants to pay external expenses instead of you. Just sit and calculate yourself, it helps a lot.

Actually in terms of price you should look on a flight hour price and instructor hour price. It is the main component, at least 90% of your expenses.

Landing fees. Yes, you should ask about them, and possibly choose another school that locates in another airport. Usually towered airports charge those fees, but it depends, the school can have agreement with the airport.

VAT. Again, show me the school that includes VAT in its quotation. Again, you should explicitly ask about it BEFORE signing the contract.

Instructors - from my opinion, one average instructor during the PPL is much better than 5 different (even good) instructors. Just because during the PPL you cannot evaluate them properly, but with more instructors they are just not able to track your progress. You will repeat the same things several times with different people. Actually it's arguable, every person makes a progress in his own pace, but the universal advice is "BE PREPARED". Prepare yourself as much as possible, and ask proper questions. Don't waste flight time on it. Be prepared BEFORE takeoff.

Plan ahead, ask as much as you can, calculate the costs, and don't pay upfront. Those tips work in any country, not only in Czech.

I found only 3 schools in the whole country that can teach in English, have enough fleet and instructors (i. e. instructor+airplane per students ratio), and have a reasonable flight hour price. Aviatickyklub, fly-for-fun and OK Air. All of them are out of Prague area. It was an advantage for me though: living expenses are less (cheaper rent), more calm area, more airports without landing fees around.

Personally I have experience with Aviatickyklub. I did my PPL for about 9000 Eur including living expenses and all fees (2017). Not extremely cheap, but I flew about 60 hours totally. And these hours still count towards my CPL. The school is good, but in 2017 they experienced lack of instructors in LKLN base. In LKRO it was OK. Their ground school was awful (mainly I had to prepare myself), but instructors are very professional and can answer all the questions. No landing fees in LKRO. Of course no any fuel surcharge. They have some mentioned signs of 'bad' school in terms of money (hobbs time, all external fees like insurance, exams etc. are on you), but I consider it as an advantage, not disadvantage. They provide a full breakdown before your training, and you can easily calculate. And they don't charge instructor time. At all. I suppose that I paid a reasonable price for my PPL.

I believe that for local it works a little bit differently, and it's possible to find a local flight club, fly enough hours, complete a ground school and pass exams and a check-ride. But the thread is about flight schools.