Flying Lessons in Weston

cowsfriend

Hi all, I realise there are a few threads already on this topic but as they are kind of old I thought I’d start a fresh one.

I am looking to buy a 60 min introductory flight for my boyf for his bday, he’s always wanted to learn how to fly so figured I’d get him started. I was looking at the 3 schools out at Weston - NFC, Flightwise and Skytrace. Would you recommend one over the others or are they all pretty much the same for an introductory flight? I want to be sure I go with the best possible choice for him.

Cheers

Wats_in_a_name

I have flown with all three but NFC & Skytrace where about a year or two ago.

My general impressions are:

NFC good instructor, plane was very old & uncomfortable.
Skytrace Lovely plane & good instructors
Flightwise Great plane (not quite as nice as the Robin with skytrace but streets ahead of NFC.) instructor was very friendly and really good.

Skytrace & flightwise are much smaller which I like.

John_Mc

cowsfriend wrote: »

Hi all, I realise there are a few threads already on this topic but as they are kind of old I thought I’d start a fresh one.

I am looking to buy a 60 min introductory flight for my boyf for his bday, he’s always wanted to learn how to fly so figured I’d get him started. I was looking at the 3 schools out at Weston - NFC, Flightwise and Skytrace. Would you recommend one over the others or are they all pretty much the same for an introductory flight? I want to be sure I go with the best possible choice for him.

Cheers

Good choice of Gift! My GF did the same for me

My introductory flight was with Flightwise, and it went really well. I booked a follow up lesson for 2 weeks later, but when I went out to the school I was told it would be a 2-3 hour wait because things got delayed earlier in the morning. No advanced phone call to save me the trip, and no apology either.

I walked out of Flightwise and into NFC, and was in the air within 10 minutes. I continued with NFC because they are a bigger school with far more aircraft, so there's less chance of being delayed or prevented from doing the lesson due to technical reasons.

As for their aircraft being uncomfortable and old, yep Cessna 150/152's are old and they each have their own character. They are the standard training aircraft throughout the world for good reason though so I wouldn't let that affect my choice.

TW Mr Tayto

cowsfriend wrote: »

Hi all, I realise there are a few threads already on this topic but as they are kind of old I thought I’d start a fresh one.

I am looking to buy a 60 min introductory flight for my boyf for his bday, he’s always wanted to learn how to fly so figured I’d get him started. I was looking at the 3 schools out at Weston - NFC, Flightwise and Skytrace. Would you recommend one over the others or are they all pretty much the same for an introductory flight? I want to be sure I go with the best possible choice for him.

Cheers

I've been around Weston a lot recently. I'm not there long enough to actually have you base your views on mine... but if it helps: I've found that Flightwise and Skytrace staff are slightly friendlier. It might just be becuase they walk past me more though... :P

Looking on the websites:
Flightwise have things like this, which I'd find helpful.

Skytrace have things like this, which show they've been set up for a while.


Really I can't see it making much of a difference - with jobs so hard to come by in the aviation industry all worthwhile instructors will go that extra mile even if they really aren't in the mood. If he does his intro flight, then finds he loves it but didn't like the plane/instructor he could start his training with a different company and still have that 60 minutes count towards his licence.

westonflyer

I'm really surprised by John Mc's experience with Flightwise. Flightwise don't do random follow up lessons, they would sign someone up for the course and have a planned schedule in place and not randomly book a repeated intro with an individual.

I think the selection of a flying school is extremely important and can save you time and money! This was my experience...

I went for an intro flight with NFC. I found it enjoyable and flew a further 6 hours with them. There was no schedule set out, I went flying with an instructor no briefing or debriefing. On my 4th lesson a training schedule was opened for me. I was sat in front of a computer and watched an Oxford training presentation whilst the instructor sat beside me texting on his phone. I felt the training was hit and miss. Every time a new instructor. I found one good instructor amongst them and was quite surprised to find the other instructors making fun of him behind his back. I was just drifting along with nobody focussed on my ultimate goal of getting a PPL.

I then signed up with Flightwise. Before my first flight I was given a training schedule which was explained and had a plan set for my future flying taking in my budget and my time available. I was allocated an instructor who would be assigned to me throughout my training unless I was unhappy with the instructor and a new instructor would be assigned.

I attended the groundschool run by Flightwise from October to December and sat the exams in January (which I scored in the 90s). Once the weather and clocks changed in April I seriously commenced my flying. I flew on average 4 evenings a week and finally did my flight test in August which I passed first time.

In my opinion I wasted 7 hours burning holes in the sky and in my pocket with NFC. They're a large operation but the instructors are just there to build hours, they don't really care about your training. Whereas, in Flightwise the instructors are in their positions because they want to instruct and not to build hours. They have two aircraft a C172 and a Grob. They take extreme care and attention with the maintenance of their aircraft and I have always felt safe in this knowledge.

All flights are booked on an online booking system. The only time my bookings were cancelled were because of weather and not because of delays. Of course there will be delays, but anything more than 30 minutes there has always been a phone call to advise. If the weather is not suitable for instruction they will advise you not to fly, because you're wasting your money. Their objective is to give you value for your money and get you ready for testing in the minimum number of hours. I did my test after 54 hours. 7 of which I wasted initially with NFC. So technically Flightwise got me through in 47 hours.

The team at Flightwise are amicable and approachable so I would suggest John Mc puts a call into Brian <SNIP> to discuss his disappointments. I know if I have ever been dissatisfied with any aspect I have spoken to Brian and he welcomes any feedback, good or bad.

Anyhow, choose wisely because flying is a costly hobby. Hope this helps.

Safe Flying!

John_Mc

I can assure you Flightwise were willing to do a random follow up lesson with me because they accepted my booking 2-3 weeks in advance. Maybe if I had €10,000 to start out with, Flightwise would have been a wiser choice. But I didn't, and only wanted to fly when my budget allowed for it. Another thing that put me off was the monthly fee just to stay on their books.

In terms of trainers, yes I had a cowboy instructor for the first two flights in NFC. He is actually an FO with Ryanair so was only trying to stay current. The lessons were great fun but he did no theory with me and my paper work was seriously behind by the time I found a solid instructor and stuck with him. Similar to Flightwise, you can book an instructor and stay with him with every lesson.

I think you should have done this and you would have had a similar experience to Flightwise. It's a bit of a broad statement to say that none of the instructors in NFC want you to progress to the PPL - I know my instructor was not like that.

westonflyer

I can assure you I didn't have 10k in my back pocket for flying either (I wish!). I paid as I went but there was a programme put in place before I even began flying. I am commenting on my experience with NFC. I had a different instructor for each flight and there was no structure or progression in those 7 hours. Which is the reason I went looking for a different school.

As I said, my post was about my experience in gaining my PPL. I know there are other experiences and opinions out there...

Su Campu

I did my PPL with Skytrace and would recommend them no problem. Very professional in all ways, good instructors, full briefing and debriefing, good aircraft, and most importantly - they care about the student.

My experience with NFC is totally the opposite, though that was a few years ago. I would echo the westonflyer's comments, they were really a bunch of cowboys back then, with absolutely no interest in me....except my wallet.

I've had no dealings with Flightwise but have heard good things about them.

Naked Lepper

John_Mc wrote: »

I can assure you Flightwise were willing to do a random follow up lesson with me because they accepted my booking 2-3 weeks in advance. Maybe if I had €10,000 to start out with, Flightwise would have been a wiser choice. But I didn't, and only wanted to fly when my budget allowed for it. Another thing that put me off was the monthly fee just to stay on their books.

In terms of trainers, yes I had a cowboy instructor for the first two flights in NFC. He is actually an FO with Ryanair so was only trying to stay current. The lessons were great fun but he did no theory with me and my paper work was seriously behind by the time I found a solid instructor and stuck with him. Similar to Flightwise, you can book an instructor and stay with him with every lesson.

I think you should have done this and you would have had a similar experience to Flightwise. It's a bit of a broad statement to say that none of the instructors in NFC want you to progress to the PPL - I know my instructor was not like that.

Did you complete your PPL or are you still doing it?

Id like to get mine but dont have the cash to pay up front either, how often do you fly?

John_Mc

Naked Lepper wrote: »

Did you complete your PPL or are you still doing it?

Id like to get mine but dont have the cash to pay up front either, how often do you fly?

Still doing it, but I stopped after I went solo for the first time with 14 hours under my belt, as that was as good a milestone as any. Will take it up again when my finances allow it, possibly doing it in the U.S.

In flightwise he explained that I would have an account and I would need to keep that topped up to fly. They offer discounts if you put larger sums into your account with them. There was also a membership fee of about €40 a month.

In NFC I just paid as I went along after each lesson. It was easier for me that way. I'd be very apprehensive about giving any flying school large amounts of money in advance - the recession is hitting them hard and any of them could go into liquidation (not that I've heard anything of the sort, but companies are doing so every day).

Naked Lepper

John_Mc wrote: »

Still doing it, but I stopped after I went solo for the first time with 14 hours under my belt, as that was as good a milestone as any. Will take it up again when my finances allow it, possibly doing it in the U.S.

In flightwise he explained that I would have an account and I would need to keep that topped up to fly. They offer discounts if you put larger sums into your account with them. There was also a membership fee of about €40 a month.

In NFC I just paid as I went along after each lesson. It was easier for me that way. I'd be very apprehensive about giving any flying school large amounts of money in advance - the recession is hitting them hard and any of them could go into liquidation (not that I've heard anything of the sort, but companies are doing so every day).

sounds good.. is it not a bad idea to stop taking lessons though, i know from people i spoke to about lessons (my gf bros has a ppl and my nextdoor neighbour is a retired pilot for klm who works contracting now, flying cesna citations etc) that you really need to keep a steady routine of logging hours or else you wont be as sharp and will forget things.

all i ever wanted was to get my PPL, and i had the money around a year ago but decided that given the current climate, having a PPL wouldnt really be beneficial to someone looking to make a career in aviation, i know its a stepping stone to your CPL, ATPL etc but if youre going to fund that yourself you might as well get it all done at the same time IMO

kinda regret not getting the PPL when i had the chance but its an expensive recreational activity to fund.

John_Mc

Naked Lepper wrote: »

sounds good.. is it not a bad idea to stop taking lessons though, i know from people i spoke to about lessons (my gf bros has a ppl and my nextdoor neighbour is a retired pilot for klm who works contracting now, flying cesna citations etc) that you really need to keep a steady routiene of logging hours or else you wont be as sharp and will forget things.

all i ever wanted was to get my PPL, and i had the money around a year ago but decided that given the current climate, having a PPL wouldnt really be benefitial to someone looking to make a career in aviation, i know its a stepping stone to your CPL, ATPL etc but if youre going to fund that yourself you might as well get it all done at the same time IMO

kinda regret not getting the PPL when i had the chance but its an expensive recreational activity to fund.

Yeah I stopped because I didn't have the funds to do it regularly enough, and it just makes it harder.

When I go back to finish it off, I'll do it all in one go over a few weeks. The hours I've done will still count and stand to me.

Would love to go the whole way to ATPL but I think the current setup out there is crazy, and there's no way I'd put myself €100k in the red without a secure job at the end of it

John_Mc

I see you stopped regurgitating that joke over on EMI after Jay made sh*t of you, so now you resort to it on here?

You're one pathetic fella

Naked Lepper

John_Mc wrote: »

Yeah I stopped because I didn't have the funds to do it regularly enough, and it just makes it harder.

When I go back to finish it off, I'll do it all in one go over a few weeks. The hours I've done will still count and stand to me.

Would love to go the whole way to ATPL but I think the current setup out there is crazy, and there's no way I'd put myself €100k in the red without a secure job at the end of it

flybe are doing some cadet program at the moment but its through that school in waterford and they wanted 300 euro off me for a days worth of aptitude tests, if successful theyd put me through for interview with flybe and theyd pay a PORTION of the training, while youd need to get the rest yourself (through puttin mortgage or something up as collateral)

sounded like a bit of a shady deal so i didnt bother, although i did get some comfort from knowing that their oldest newly qualifier ATPL holder was in his 40s, plenty of time yet...