PPRuNe Forums - Flight school help

I went to FIS for a period to finish part of my flying training in the fair weather. I made myself available 24/7. I received 2-3 hours training per week and left empty handed. However, this was entirely my own fault, and FIS are an exemplary flying school, as you'll see below.

FIS taught me the virtue of patience: If like me you don't possess patience, you'll acquire it, free of charge, at FIS. For the first few weeks I expected my lessons to commence around the scheduled time, subject to weather. After a few weeks I learned to serenely accept that that the schedule on the big screen on the wall was more of a "recommendation". I grew to enjoy sitting for 2-3 hours at a time at FTE's canteen eating pizzas. They also have a pub night on Thursdays.

Aircraft servicability: One of the best things about my time at FIS was that they provided me with multiple opportunities to think carefully about whether or not my aircraft was safe and legal. Unfortunately, I foolishly cancelled a few of my solo flights, and ran out of time to finish. My FIS learning experiences:

a) Oleos: I went out and found that two of the oleos were fully depressed, meaning the aircraft had no suspension to absorb my hard student landings. An instructor tested the oleos and told me they were unserviceable and the flight should be canceled. The beauty of this story is that the Head of Training informed me afterwards that his instructor was wrong, and the aircraft was perfectly safe for a student solo with multiple landings. I learned it's ok to take off with fully depressed oleos, as long as the propellor isn't rubbing against the tarmac, even if instructors disagree.

b) Oil pressure: I went out to the aircraft and found that the oil pressure wouldn't come up into the green during power checks. Instructors told me the oil pressure should ALWAYS come up into the green during the power checks, and so I canceled the flight, but afterwards the head of training told me the oil pressure doesn't need to reach the green portion of the arc during power checks, in old aeroplanes. As long as the needle moves off the stop, you're fine.

c) Radio frequency spacing: While EASA claim flying with a single radio with 25khz spacing is illegal in Jerez and Seville airspace, EASA is obviously wrong, because FIS is a reputable flying school and regularly sent me solo with a single radio with 25khz frequency spacing. I learned that EASA rules don't necessarily need to be obeyed.

3. I also learned how to read the weather: Towards the end of my time we had a spot of inclement weather, even a few thunderstorms. I turned up one day only to find the cloud base was broken at 1200 feet, and the Windy app was forecasting a line a thunderstorms to the north east of the final leg of my planned nav. One evidently timid instructor laughed at me and said "This is IFR weather, you can't go on your solo nav exercise in this!". My own instructor set me straight though: "Climb up to 1000 feet, and fly 200 feet under the cloud base for the first 40nm, after which you'll probably be able to climb up to 2000 feet for most of the rest of the nav. On your way back to Jerez, if the local cloud hasn't cleared, descend back down to 1000 feet as you approach Jerez airspace". When I asked about the forecast thunderstorms he said "I don't trust Windy". Yet again, I canceled the solo flight, I guess I'm not made of the right stuff for flying in thunderstorms.

If I learned anything at FIS it's that you should generally go ahead with VFR student solo flights regardless of pre-flight checks, the absence of legally required radio equipment, prevailing IFR conditions, and forecast thunderstorms. In my experience, you will only get this kind of down to earth teaching at FIS. I've never come across another flying school offering such an intense learning experience as this.

Oh, and if you're worried about the fact that EASA have recently temporarily suspended FIS as an ATO, please don't. As you've read above, they're an EXCELLENT ATO, second to none, and I'm sure EASA will soon realise they've made a mistake in falsely identifying problems at FIS.