[Bob]

It's 70e including that 7%.

[Pilot Training College]

PM me with those 'issues' you are alleging re certain outfit with connections to a Canadian outfit.

Cheers,

Chaos

Ummm, I suppose that refer to us here in Waterford!

Folks, we will be only too happy to listen to them ourselves, and will make every effort to address such questions. But it's impossible to respond to unspecified hints and suggestions. Please post them here and we will comment. I can also be contacted directly on admissions@ptc.ie, or telephone 051 876706.

D. Owens
General Manager
Pilot Training College of Ireland

[incisor]

Hmmm....I had thought I had talked primarily of issues with a Canadian outfit with connections to a certain outfit, not necessarily the other way round - at least not in Irl.

Then again, I guess there's no such thing as bad publicity?

[Cosmic]

Incisor, Lets be sensible?

Can't comment on Toronto schools, but have heard some really bad reports on a school associated with a certain "training college" which banner advertises on this site.

Right, your not talking about PTC, but by associating them with this other school its making them sound bad. So someone comes on and posts some impartial advice, without actually promoting themselves and....

Then again, I guess there's no such thing as bad publicity?

They sponsor the site by paying for a Banner Ad, do you think they want to get involved in discussions like this. Am I missing something?

[incisor]

Cosmic

Let?s be clear. PTC is an operation which promotes itself as running several schools, one of which is in Ireland on which I have no comment, one of which is in Canada, which is the subject of serious adverse comment, and one of which is in the UK, similarly the subject of adverse comment. If you really want to delve into this further I?d suggest following up the link to pprune which was posted earlier in this thread.

As for ?sponsoring? this site, I am not party to such details, but would suggest that any advertising that is paid for is purely a commercial decision, in the expectation of reaching potential customers from a specific audience, and would have little to do with some altruistic need to promote open discussion on aviation training in Ireland or elsewhere.

[Cosmic]

PTC is an operation which promotes itself as running several schools

Oh really? It as in PTC runs them does it? I would suggest your very wide of the mark there.

I am an avid PPRuNE fan but its good sometimes to read on topics you know about first hand and realise the absolute tosh thats on there at times often written by people with no first hand experience of the subject matter. Name me one school that gets only praise on there!

Incisor it seems you have a bit of a grudge against PTC, did you have a bad experience with them or are you just going on recycled third hand info?

[1800-how'smyflying]

Chaos,

A question I have also asked incisor, "Have you first hand experience?", and gotten no answer.

I arrived in MFC, on Sunday last (for CPL) and have been here a week now, and feel I have enough first hand experience to make some comments. Guys like Clrd2lnd seem to want to make silly points about peoples posts rather than help others find facts, so here's my two cents worth, hope it helps.

On first arrival I was met in Halifax airport, a 3 hour drive by a member of the board of directors, who spent his Sunday driving down to meet me and bring me to the college. He told me alot about the place, and something I did not know, which is that MFC is a 'not for profit' organisation, which basicly means all profits are reinvested in the school, helping to keep prices as low as possible.

As for the 7 points made:

1. I found that all the information I either read on their site, or asked about was honest and accurate.

2. I have found all the staff and management to be very helpful with all the usual 'settling in' problems, management are very approachable should any problems arise.

3. Instruction is top class, the instructors are great guys and from what I can see get along great with all the students, and the school has a very high first time pass rate for JAA courses.

4. The school operates a fleet including Diamond DA-20C-1, C-172's, and PA-44. The DA aircraft are factory new and conversion to this aircraft (should you choose to do so) takes about 2 hours with an instructor. Granted the 172 and PA-44 fleets are a little old, but non the less on site maintainance ensures that if problems do arise, the a/c are fixed quickly.

5. Student accommodation isn't 5 star, but what do you want!!? It could be described as a dorm, with either a single or shared room, and shower facilities are shared. Some students decided they didn't want to stay here, and there seems to be no shortage of local B&B's within walking distance. I have been offered rooms a few times by guys living in B&Bs, but for the sake of a month, I have decided to stay put.

6. Weather at the moment is perfect for flying, much like a nice day in Dublin on the summer, but once November comes it begins to get very cold, but still flyable apparently. Come January it can suddenly hit -30, and yes I'm sure there are big delays if that happens, but the 'extreme' cold is something management are aware of and I'm sure they will advise anybody considering coming during those months.

7. So far, I'm satisfied.

Thats my experience of the college so far.

The locals are really friendly people and the town is fairly big, good night life if your interested in that while your here too. Prices for food etc are reasonable, I had a steak with two cocktails in town last night for CA$23, about 15 quid, great in comparison to Dublin!

If you have any questions or I missed something out, feel free to PM me.

Good luck,
1800.

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=824763&WxsIERv

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=678001&WxsIERv=

http://www.airliners.net/open.file?id=732696&WxsIERv=

[incisor]

1800, I?m glad to hear that you are being looked after. It would seem that my posts have had some benefit, and that you have been ?selected? as the new marketing agent. I?m sure your reward will come at some stage later - I guess that?s just the way of the world.

Let me make one final comment. I know at least one individual very well who was royally screwed about by both PTC UK and your friends in Moncton. To say that dishonesty and deceit were manifest would be a substantial understatement. You have been warned.

[1800-how'smyflying]

incisor - Thanks for the warning, but just to point out I haven't been selected for anything, I choose to let people know about my experience so far. I'm sure not to many people in Canada will be reading flyinginireland.com!

Also your post was something I considered before coming here, so yes, it did have a benefit, thanks, but I choose to make my decision based on a little more than your friends experience, including experiences of others, having talking to a CAA CPL flight examiner and hearing his opinion and looking at other schools.

Ill be sure to keep you updated should anything dishonest or deceitful come about, or any opportuinity that will let you say "I told you so", but lets hope not eh.

All the best,
1800.

[aeronaut]

This dicussion is a great example of how useless these forums can be. One guy asks a simple question because he needs to make some serious decisions about time and money, another issues dark warnings quoting websites and "friends" and when a third person offers his actual experience of the school in question, contradicting all the hearsay, he is now branded an "agent", who has been "selected". What a sh*tty insult.

Can I therfore now ask, with answers from people with FIRST HAND EXPERIENCE ONLY, if anyone can recomend a good place for PPL/hours building in South Africa (sorry for changing the country, guys) In particular I am interested in 43 Air School at Port Alfred - anyone been there? Was it easy to move on into the JAA world afterward? Please, no rumours, hearsay or dark mutterings, just factual reporting.

Thanks

David

[Bob]

This dicussion is a great example of how useless these forums can be.

Your a hundred percent on that one were always told how people had the worst time of their lives and were treated like shit but we never really get examples of actual happenings.
I've a feeling that some peoples expectations do be higher than other's they might not have got their 5* accommodation for example then throw a huff and start bitching on pprune, then the person that would be perfectly happy with just a place to put their head at night sees this rant and gets put off for no real reason.

If you can get people to follow up on their comments and give actual details of what happened them that made them like or dislike the place you may get something a bit more useful out of it.

[Chaos]

Lads I've been sitting back and observing the comments coming in from 1800. As somebody has just reiterated. I simply asked for peoples 'personal' experiences.

Before anyone posts replies, can you please try to remember some of us take our hobby reasonably serious and enjoy it hence the reason some of want to search for quality training at competitive prices.

We all hear about the USA, UK and a few other places such as South Africa (as one guy just posted). We all learn from others experiences and thats great. However, as already pointed out by others . . . it is important if you got some negative points to make that you comment from your own personal experiences and not some hearsay or third party.

Freedom of speech and expression is fantastic but for christ sake can we have balance here please.

Enough of that now and lets get back to the issues:

Can anybody comment further on training in Canada or South Africa as another individual has recently asked?