JAA Partnership

[WakeMan]

Has anyone seen any progress at FSA with the partnership between FSA and PTC (Pilot Training College of Ireland)?

I heard that FSA will be offering JAA training at Vero Beach rather than sending students over to Ireland. Does anyone know if PTC will have any involvement in this, as it is kind of putting me off attending FSA, PTC has one of the worst reputations and Im thinking that the standards will fall as low at FSA too.

Any news I would be grateful.

[unclenobby]

Originally Posted by WakeMan

Has anyone seen any progress at FSA with the partnership between FSA and PTC (Pilot Training College of Ireland)?

I heard that FSA will be offering JAA training at Vero Beach rather than sending students over to Ireland. Does anyone know if PTC will have any involvement in this, as it is kind of putting me off attending FSA, PTC has one of the worst reputations and Im thinking that the standards will fall as low at FSA too.

Any news I would be grateful.

I think if you do the JAA training at PTC they send you to FSA for a portion of the training (not the other way around), private to JAA Comm. As far as I know you cannot get the JAA ME IR in the US and I presume you would complete this portion at PTC in Waterford as part of the programme. You can't get an airline job in Europe without the ME IR.
I also beleive the the JAA ATPLs are compelted via distance learning and not in a classroom environment but I could be wrong on that.

As far as FSA standards falling just because it's affiliated with PTC don't know about that. What have you heard about PTC and it's bad reputation? It's just like any other "academy", overpriced!!

Anyway, there's a long discussion on pprune.org (pro pilot training forum)on PTC, a lot of opinions on there.

[WakeMan]

Thanks,

Ive read the pprune.org thread and seen all the negative comments about PTC.

PTC is not an academy, its a small school that charges $120,000 for their course, this course includes what you could get for $40,000 somewhere else.

Pilots in the UK are absolutley amazed that a name like FlightSafety wants anything to do with them.

[unclenobby]

Originally Posted by WakeMan

Thanks,

Ive read the pprune.org thread and seen all the negative comments about PTC.

PTC is not an academy, its a small school that charges $120,000 for their course, this course includes what you could get for $40,000 somewhere else.

Pilots in the UK are absolutley amazed that a name like FlightSafety wants anything to do with them.

Prices in Europe are a lot more than over here. It costs me $45 to fill my car in Boston, to fill the same tank in Ireland (and Europe) is triple that amount (hence cars are generally smaller and more economical in Europe!!).

There is also way less pilot training facilities in Ireland in particular, and Europe in general, than over here. Less schools, less airfileds, less aircraft. Competition = savings.

With the Dollar at an all time low against the Euro training over here is now even more relatively cheap, on the flip side training in Europe is relatively more expensive!!

What I am saying is, $120,000 in florida will get you X-amount of gas. That same $120,000 in Waterford will get you X/3 amount of gas, or the equivilant of $40,000 gas in Florida!! (obviously an over simplified argument, but an attempt at illustration)

I'm not saying the price is OK or defending PTC. But comparing what your $ gets you in Florida vs what it gets you in Waterford without taking into account the local cost of living is oversimplified (trust me, my $ gets me fu*k all when I go home every christmas!!)

[WakeMan]

I know exactly what you're saying.

I don't know what it is like in Europe, but in the UK PTC is massively overpriced compared to UK prices, and they are really high. In the UK you could get what PTC is offering you for £23,000, they are charging approx £55,000 (I don't know the Euro rate)

Anyway I wasnt really worried about what PTC charges, as I would never go there. I'm more worried about them bringing all the problems over to Vero Beach with them. I read an article saying that PTC will have a new base at FSA, as the Irish Authority has authorised FSA to conduct JAA training at Vero Beach. Ill post it if I can find the link again.