[mullingar]

Hello everybody,
I have been offered a place with PTC to do their full-time structured modular course (€89,500). I have done alot of research on PTC between talking to pilots,graduates from PTC and using online forums and from my research im getting 50/50 positive and negative feedback but one thing really stands out is that PTC are not very helpfull with getting graduates jobs after training.

I will be honest my leaving cert grades do not meet the entry requirements for oxford or jerez so that rules them out but i have looked at Atlantic air in Cork (€60,000 modular course excluding MCC) and Stapleford Flight Centre in the Uk and Bristol also.

One way or another I know i want to become a pilot but at the minute Im just wondering should I give PTC almost €90,000 (Thats if a bank will give it to me) to a college that has not got the best name in the industry.
I would love if anybody can give me advice or answer some of my questions.

1:I have been told by several pilots that airlines love students who have done integrated courses as apposed to students who went the modular route how true is this??
2: Can anydody reccomend Atlantic Air, their modular programme is only €60,000 and have they a good name with airlines within the industry and are they helpful with trying to get you a job after training??

**I know I talk alot about jobs in my topic and I know the way things are at the minute jobs are very very hard come by, I just want to make a very educated choice as to what school I choose to train**

Any help or info what so ever would be greatly appreciated

[737DRIVER]

I did all of my training at Atlantic. I had no problems and I flew my first passenger's last Sunday with Ryanair on the B738. Airlines are really not worried about the integrated thing, they are more worried about your skill, personality etc. Most of my friends that I trained with have also got into Ryanair so Atlantic's record with helping students speaks for itself. But as I always say it does not matter how good the school is it's up to each student to get what they want in the end. I would not be worried about the leaving either- I got 280 points and failed a subject or two and nobody even looked at my results. I had no interest in school but by feck did I put a million percent into every single thing I did in flying and it has finally paid off. I wish you well in flying and don't believe everything that the flight schools tell you

[Suas]

I echo whats said above. Finished training in Atlantic few months back, great atmosphere there, very helpful staff and instructors. Atlantic are very well respected and have a pretty good record of past students getting jobs, though you have to be proactive about it yourself.
I reckon i did the lot for about 60K including the MCC because i did the ppl and hour building elsewhere, check out clubs in ireland and schools in the US for this, Waterford AeroClub is probably the cheapest place in Ireland to do a ppl and hour build. Really there is no rush getting finished at the moment, not that many jobs out there, so dont load yourself up with debt for the sake of getting done in 14 months rather than 16 or 18 months. You'll still be waiting around afterwards for a job. Best of luck with it and try to chat with as many people and pilots you can about it, go and visit the schools, chat to the student (away from the staff and instructors). And if you are on pprune, only believe half whats on it.

[viz]

This might be of help. This guy has blogged his training start to finish with PTC. Also read his guestbook comments.. http://www.pilotcourseireland.com/401.html

[Sweeney]

I'd also highly recommend Atlantic.

Book a visit, ring the office and ask to speak to Mary. She's Head of Operations.

With regards to the job finding, Simtech in Dublin is an option for your MCC when the time comes and that's a great place to network.

One sure way to meet all the schools in the Flyer exbo in Dublin in May.

[the red barron]

I think its a job well done to PTC in convince somebody that their offered a place on a €90,000 course. Its really ingenious.

How about 0 to Ryanair including MCC in a 737NG for €57,000? - thats what I got from the National Flight Centre. I didnt have to pay any money upfront just as I went along. I found the National Flight Centre is Airline orientated as a considerable number of the instructors are Airline Pilots. Graduates from the NFC who reach the bosses standard have a habit of getting a job rapidly - its that simple. There dosnt seem to be the marketing bs at the NFC. If you can do the job you can get one if you cant they'll tell you before parting with your money.

They will have a degree course and Integrated course shortly.

[mullingar]

How'd you manage 0-ryanair for 57,000?? Did you not have to pay ryanair for yout type rating??

[KeithT]

Yes I would love to know how it can all be done for 57k including flight tests, aircraft rental for said flight tests, any extra hours that may be required,even extra flight tests for a possible partial or two (!) landing fees, approach fees, IAA theory exam sittings, Multi crew course etc?

Not to mention a Ryanair Type Rating IF YOU ARE UP TO THE REQUIRED STANDARD which is a pretty high standard at the moment from what I hear, at over 30K!

Just of of interest.

[the red barron]

Yes your absolutly right it dosn't include the type rating money but it was my assumption that we were talking about Irish Flight Schools bringing you from o to being accepted into an Airline.

I was very fortunate to pass all my flight tests and IAA theory exams on the first attempt. This is not unusual for NFC as the standard of training is well within the parameters for the high standard Ryanair require as you mentioned; which I have experienced first hand. Therfore the pass rate is high.

Approach and landing fees for the aiport are minimal i.e. piggy bank money, which is a great beneifit in saving for the type rating in which im delighted to be offered a place - €30,000 or not.

I think the National Flight Centre is a secret weapon in aviation if your serious about getting a job and eventually the smart guys see this if they look at the pudding.

And for those who are looking for the pudding its the guy or girl upfront in the cockpit with a grin from cheek to cheek after paying €57,000. Im proof that this can be done and I really cannot see the logic in anything else.

http://www.pilotcourseireland.com/401.html makes for some interesting but not unusual reading.

[KeithT]

I take your points and certainly would recommend the NFC over the PTC, but having said that you were maybe lucky to do everything in minimum times, I know many many fellow pilots some of whom trained in Weston with the aforemention flying school and elsewhere and did not make minimums and overspent by varying margins, not that going over minimums matters a flip to anybody.

If I was training all over again I would recommend the Atlantic Flight Centre in Cork. They have a very good rep with the Irish airline mentioned in this thread at the moment and I have yet to hear a bad word about them.

I really cannot see the logic in anything else.

I went with the "anything else" option and I am happily flying around for a major these days so your logic is slightly off

Fact of the matter is, if you train in Ireland, the UK, Spain,the US or wherever don't count on the advertised prices, they are JAA/IAA minimums and you have to budget extra. This ain't a tin of Ronseal at the end of the day.


Thinking logically, for example on a 50 hour MEIR course what are the odds of every single flying session going exaclty according to plan?

I'm not trying to pick fights here or anything but a healthy debate is always good

[mullingar]

I want to do my training on a full time basis but realistically how can how can I draft a business plan with the costs of training when I dont know if I will need extra hours to meet the standard to pass a skills test ?? And also with the Irish weather god only knows how long it would take.

Red barron can you tell us more about the integrated course @ NFC there is only news on their website about the new degree course??

I work 6days a week and for the last 5weeks in a row I have tried to get ppl hours on my days off but there is no flying with the bad weather (Now I know I can only blame mother nature for that)so how long did it take you to get your (f)ATPL @ NFC with the weather in Dublin?

Also how did you find the distance learning for your ATPL'S with NFC??

[KeithT]

I want to do my training on a full time basis but realistically how can how can I draft a business plan with the costs of training when I dont know if I will need extra hours to meet the standard to pass a skills test ?? ??

You can't so be realistic and budget accordingly. When I sat down and did my budget I factored almost 30% on top of the advertised costs at the schools I trained with.

An extra five minutes here and there adds up very quickly, for example during my IR we were frequently put in a hold on the zone limit for commercial flights, at £6 a minute where I trained, that 30% buffer gets eaten into very quickly.