Recent Feedback FTE Jerez
 

Hi everyone,

I am thinking of doing my CPL at FTE. Has anyone recently done their training over there? Any feedback on the quality of training, instructors, timing respected? etc..

Thanks a lot

You haven't had much response here, which is a shame. Jerez is one of the most, perhaps the most, highly thought of integrated schools with no adverse comments that I can recall, ever. For modular CPL/IR, I don't know, but you can expect a high quality of training. There have been many occasions in the past where integrated-type schools have taken on modular customers when their primary market was not well subscribed and the modular students have been treated as second class customers, long waits for training etc. I have not heard this of FTE, but someone may have feedback. It was mostly L3 and CAE who were the culprits. If you are Scandanavian and looking for modular you should also consider Diamond Flight Academy in Sweden, which has a very good reputation.

Thanks a lot.
Indeed, a bit disappointed in finding no feedback.
I would like to do only my CPL and unfortunatley Diamond does not offer this option. FTE seems a good opportunity for me as a modular, a bit expensive that is why I want to make sure I make the right choice.

I have a friend there at the moment. I'll ask them for some feedback on your behalf.

Standby!

Stapleford Flight Centre in the UK? They have direct EASA approval, we use them a lot, similar reputation. It depends a bit on the GBP/euro exchange rate EASA brexit approvals

student88

Thanks a lot for that :ok: Looking forward to hearing from you

I have only heard positive things about this school, where as CAE and L3 come in for a lot of stick.

In the case of L3 Fred, with justification. Overpriced and toxic.

Anyone here currently training there? thanks

If you go for their assessment, stay on the campus accommodation and speak to some of the current students in the canteen, and at the bar. This will give you a really in depth taste of the place and you'll get a solid idea for it. I did this and found the place was excellent. I ended up going the modular route in the end for cost reasons.

Thanks a lot for your feedback !
If I choose them, will be modular route too.

From two students currently studying at FTE on the MPL scheme, nothing but positive feedback (to my surprise, as there is always something to complain about!). Sorry I couldn't come back with anything more detailed.

Thanks a lot for getting back to me ! Really Appreciated

FTE Jerez Feedback?
 

Hi,

I am planning to do my MEIR & CPL next year and one of the schools I am looking at doing it is FTE Jerez. I wondered if anyone has trained there in the last year or two and would be able to share their opinion on the school (quality of aircraft, quality of instruction, organisationof the ATO, accommodation, food etc etc)...any feedback would be greatly appreciated.

Very professional
 

It is one of the world's top 3 aviation schools.
AC maintained to the highest standards, FI I know are super professional, accommodation is expensive but very convenient, you will be able to focus on flying.
Weather in Jerez is amazing and you can expect no cancelation nor delays.
Expensive but top quality.
I fly often in Jerez, and I know their staff and some students.
If you can afford it, go for it.

Consistently good.

Does the name of the school make a difference and get higher chance of getting a job?
In other word, is it worth paying more money for such school (espcially in these tough times)?

No.
Except I have always wondered if you chose a truly terrible ATO and managed to stagger through the licensing process despite them whether an airline recruiter would actually mark you down for previous bad judgement; I suspect not.

Alex Whittingham interesting thought. I've often wondered whether it should he compulsory to declare previous 'training methods' including self sponsored type ratings and p2f on an application so that a recruiter can better gauge the candidate's judgement and mindset.

FTE I've heard they're good but so are many other schools of which the majority are significantly less expensive

Thanks for all the responses! Pleased to hear they're a good school. Looks like they charge around £30K for MEIR & CPL which is about the same as various UK schools:)

Be carefuk about the price. It is more than what you mention. They are some additional cost, such as Landing fees, skill test, charts and so on...all of this will make the final bill quite high. These big pilot factories are sadly v good with hidden cost.

From the ‘big 3’ they seem to have quite a good reputation.

However, if you’re looking to do your CPL ME/IR with the price you’ve quoted I’d seriously consider Diamond Flight Academy Sweden. Based in Kalmar they take around 4 pilots per month and have a seriously good reputation. All flying done in the DA42. I’ve spoke to numerous ex-students who have nothing but praise for them. Last time I checked taking into account the exchange rate the whole course (flying, test fees, accommodation) worked out just over 28K GBP.

I believe they’re a Wings Alliance partner so Alex may be able to shed a bit more light on them as I can only speak from my own research.

Yes, Diamond are very good indeed. There are several blogs out there from past students.

From what I’ve heard from ex-students of DFAS, it seems to be an excellent school. I have a place for January however unable to make up the PIC hours to start so now awaiting on standby for the Feb course.

FTE Jerez is my back up who start their FD+ programme on 21st Feb. It seems they include the skills test as per their PDF of the course that you can access on their website. From what I’ve heard and speaking to fellow students, FTE Jerez appears to be a very good option with airline links and high standards however as mentioned before I’d say similar prices to the UK schools.

"Licence issue and skill test fees not included." (from FTE pdf)

I’m just going through the pdf, whereabouts did you find that? Looks like we need more £s!

FTE vs CAE
 

Just looking for any perspectives here: engineering graduate in the UK (fallback!), I hold offers to both CAE (Gatwick) and FTEJerez for their fATPL programmes and I'm wondering whether anyone has anything good or bad to say about either of them.

Before someone chimes in with modular is cheaper; the funding I have is about 75% from the family who would much rather see me on an integrated course despite the financial ramifications.

I am currently erring towards FTE because I have yet to hear anything bad about them and the training all being in one place feels like a very good thing indeed, but I might have missed something and since Brexit I'm wondering if CAE training and airlines they interact with primarily being in the UK would be more compatible with my UK passport - how I wish I had Irish heritage right about now.

Any input or recommendations are appreciated as always :)

Can you do both exams and get both licences? I would check that possibility before ruling out one or the other.

Does your family have any experience in aviation?

The problem with integrated courses at this time is that they have hard time in the last few years with customer numbers well below their budgeted levels - I often hear numbers like a third of capacity - and as a consequence many are financially stretched and are using the up front payments of arriving courses to fund the training of the courses in front of them. You can see how this could go wrong as we enter recesssion, numbers fall off even more, costs go up, school goes bust, and you lose all your money having not had any training. I cast no aspersions on the two ATOs you mention but a smart move would be to negotiate a payment schedule that does not leave the school holding all your money in advance. Absent this, there are schools that will take £100K off you before you have even seen an aeroplane and then you are a complete hostage to fortune. Up to you, of course, and you may well be OK. FTE in particular have a stellar reputation but I don't think they can offer dual licences, whereas modular ATOs like Stapleford can and, as you know, the costs are much less as well and they don't take enormous amounts up front. It might be worth raising these points with your funders.

Looking at the economy I reckon it's not a good time to start commercial pilot training in Europe full-stop. It looks like we're about to have a major cost-of-living crisis resulting in a recession and since flying for both leisure and business is discretionary, people will cut back on flights.

If have the funds for integrated training, then it's worth looking at a tagged scheme, though most of these involve the MPL licence which has its own pitfalls.

The only place in the Western world where it appears to be a decent time to start at commercial flying career at the moment is the US, where there is a current pilot shortage.

Edited to add:
Modular training spread over a few years may still be worth it, so long as you take it slowly. If you do go down this route, make sure you pay as you fly, as has already been suggested never pay large amounts upfront. Regarding integrated training, a lot of the training schools have relied on parents remortgaging their homes to support the career aspirations of their offspring. If mortgage rates keep rising, this part of the supply to the inetgrated flight schools may well dry up.

Do your family know enough to dismiss modular? I think you're mad to go to either of those places, it's not 2016 anymore. Anyhow, if I had to pick one it'd be Jerez.

There's a common misconception that modular takes longer. This is nonsense - the flexibility actually means you can get a fATPL in a shorter time than integrated if you study and fly your ass off. If its employability that's the concern then why not take that integrated budget and get dual rated?

To add:

Your best bet is to be on an airline tagged scheme if going down the integrated route, that however has its pitfalls as we’ve often seen and more so now with the current financial situation. Integrated is nothing more than marketing, a licence is a licence. The training quality is more important and that’s not necessarily better at larger ATOs. Networking is your best friend.

Good luck.

Thanks all for the input, based on the above I'll probably end up at FTE - I have heard good things about their training.
I believe there is scope to get a dual licence there at no extra cost, but I'd have to look up how many airlines that accept only EASA ATPLs would actually accept UK citizens without the right to work in the EU - I dare say it's highly likely I'll end up at a standard low cost carrier in the UK like every other British low hour fATPL out there, so the lack of an EASA ATPL might not kill me.

In answer to the statements about what my family knows, the answer is not enough, but I am confident that they would not be prepared to fund 75% of modular training despite the savings and nothing would convince them, because to them integrated is more akin to a degree (I know it's an identical licence at the end) and they are from the walk of life where that is more important than anything else - money is not their concern. In other words, I can assure you that you are flogging a dead horse if the aim is to get me to convince them to fund modular training!
If things still look terrible for pilot recruitment in 18 months because of the cost of living crisis when I graduate, I can always become an engineer and wait; unless someone knows something I don't I highly doubt I'm throwing my life away doing an integrated over a modular path at the start of next year.

I've always wondered how far networking can get me what with everything being standardised assessment centres and interviews nowadays but I do know a few people at easyJet so with any luck that may help my cause!

A key point to note is who you want to work for at the end of it.
easyJet and CAE are pretty hand in hand but they have also taken from L3 recently. Haven’t heard of them taking any FTE students.

As mentioned go for both EASA and U.K. licences if you can, this will keep the door open to go to Ryanair.

Of course there are more places to go than ezy/ryr but these are the two big frequent hirers and the most likely way to the RHS.

Also to be honest there’s no good/bad time to start training, you’re going to have Atleast an 18-24 month lead time and as the past few years have shown anything can happen.

The easyjet/CAE thing is a good point given I live next to Gatwick so I would aim to start my career with them to be honest (shamelessly live with parents for a year or two so as to afford a house deposit) - I dare say though that if they're hiring from L3, which I understand to have a less than stellar reputation at this point, they're likely to look to hiring from FTE as well? I know in 2017 they were hiring FTE graduates, but 2017 may as well be 1000 years ago with what's happened since, and I can't seem to find any information since.
The whole 'a licence is a licence' thing was mentioned so I'm not quite sure whether CAE actually gives a tangible advantage insofar as easyjet is concerned, but I guess training next to the MPLs must confer something.
I would have gone for the easyJet MPL but, without wishing to sound too cynical, I don't want to be shafted if easyJet decide they can't afford to take on all their graduates or enter financial troubles before I hit 1500hrs - whether my cynicism is misplaced or not I don't know but the two things I see often here are modular good (which I know, but can't do) and MPL bad (which I know, and can avoid)!

If we take it from the perspective of "I want to work for easyJet" which is somewhat accurate, would you say CAE is the wiser choice regardless of whether FTE provided better training?

What has caused your family to take that view? Something must have, my guess is perhaps fancy marketing brochures with pictures of 19 year olds with 4 gold stripes, a bomber jacket and RayBans? It’s all guff, you get the same bit of paper at the end.

As excellent and respected posters have said (when Alex Whittingham replies, listen) already, integrated schools risk becoming a bit of a pyramid scheme with regards to their financial bedrock. It all collapses and you’re in a far worse position being integrated than modular.

You are in a sausage factory if you go integrated, the last thing you want in the current climate is to have your licence issue date controlled by the school. Go modular and you can control it, you want to be able to time it when the jobs are, as they are now, finally re-emerging.

If it’s just arrogance then, ultimately, at least it’s mostly their money they’re wasting and not yours.

If this is the case then CAE is your only option. EasyJets future recruitment of low houred cadets will only come through CAE, this has been confirmed by the company. EasyJet rely heavily on the CAE for sims and you’ll see the EasyJet presence there when you visit. A deal was agreed between both parties that CAE will provide cadets to EasyJet for the foreseeable future. Controversially the EasyJet MPL scheme is probably your best/only chance to get into the RHS and the course provides the structure your family seemingly need. However, be aware of the risks and be prepared to pay extortionate sums of money for the privilege, particularly if it all goes wrong. If money isn’t a priority then that’s the route to go.

Re EASA/U.K. and low houred U.K. jobs: be aware you only have two real options in the U.K. presently and one of those requires an easa licence (Ryanair), they do not accept U.K. licences. The only other option would be Wizz and they require a U.K. licence.

Ryanair require EASA licence even if living in the UK. Would your family be happy with you flying for RYR?

Have you got your class 1 yet? worth thinking about getting both CAA and EASA class 1 initial if you're looking to obtain both licences