Skyways Weston

Roblestone

Hey, I have started my PPL with a school in weston, only have a few hours at the moment. I saw a new school called skyways on Facebook and apparently they are a good bit cheaper per hour than the school I'm with now. I am going to take a look around the school in the coming days and more than likely switch from NFC to them, as with the amount of hours i have left i will be saving over €2500. Does anybody have any information on the school that they would like to share? The main thing I want to know is does it have ANYTHING to do with the old skytrace or PTC?

Has anyone ever changed schools midway through training? Is it straightforward?

Thanks

Xpro

Hi, I was in Weston today and was looking at the two 150's they have. Very nice planes, i think they were privately owned before hence they are so well kept.
One of their instructors is Shane G. used to be with NFC before, very nice guy.
(I spotted him today for the first time)

Other then that i don't think they are associated with ptc.

However, always pay as you go!!! You fly, you then pay!
That way even if the school goes bust, you still have something left over.

LeftBase

Roblestone wrote: »

Hey, I have started my PPL with a school in weston, only have a few hours at the moment. I saw a new school called skyways on Facebook and apparently they are a good bit cheaper per hour than the school I'm with now. I am going to take a look around the school in the coming days and more than likely switch from NFC to them, as with the amount of hours i have left i will be saving over €2500. Does anybody have any information on the school that they would like to share? The main thing I want to know is does it have ANYTHING to do with the old skytrace or PTC?

Has anyone ever changed schools midway through training? Is it straightforward?

Thanks

If you want a PPL then go the cheapest way but if you want to go the full CPL/IR route you are best staying in the one place

Roblestone

LeftBase wrote: »

If you want a PPL then go the cheapest way but if you want to go the full CPL/IR route you are best staying in the one place

Yeah i am planning on going on to do the CPL and MEIR. Why do you recommend i stay with NFC? I know an airline might not want people jumping around a few different FTO's but i assumed as the PPL is so minor in the grand scheme of things that it wouldn't matter where it was obtained. I had actually been planning to get my PPL with NFC and then do the rest with FTE or CTC due to their reputation with the airlines. Like i said I have very little hours so a change at this early stage wouldn't even go on my training CV.

Plan would be skyways for PPL, bristol for distance ATPL, FTE for CPL/ME/IR. Doing the rest of my PPL and the majority of hour building with skyways will knock off quite a bit of €'s compared to staying where I am.

Oscar Bravo

They operate EI-AVM,which was with Aeroclub 2000 in Abbeyshrule and G-BAEV which was based at Spanish point.

Roblestone

Oscar Bravo wrote: »

They operate EI-AVM,which was with Aeroclub 2000 in Abbeyshrule and G-BAEV which was based at Spanish point.

I haven't seen AVM yet but G-BAEV is absolutely stunning looking aircraft, it looks in great nick as well.

Bogroll

skyways aviation are a new outfit, but interesting that they are predominantly airline pilots and having the link to the joc/mcc course would be a great advantage to any young student pilot looking to go down the commercial route. Going down the modular route to obtaing your CPL is the cheapest and getting experience at different flying schools is the way to go. You gain more experience from different aircraft/flying envoirnments / airports etc. This nonsense of doing it all in one flying academy is old hat. At the end of the day its down to the individual

Xpro

Bogroll wrote: »

skyways aviation are a new outfit, but interesting that they are predominantly airline pilots and having the link to the joc/mcc course would be a great advantage to any young student pilot looking to go down the commercial route. Going down the modular route to obtaing your CPL is the cheapest and getting experience at different flying schools is the way to go. You gain more experience from different aircraft/flying envoirnments / airports etc. This nonsense of doing it all in one flying academy is old hat. At the end of the day its down to the individual

And the price more important.:)

folbotcar

Although I don't think it's relevant in this case as it looks like Skyways have the right people in place and their prices may reflect their lack of overheads. I'd like to offer some advice based on some bad experiences.

But cheaper is not always better when it comes to getting your PPL. Particularly for someone interesting in progressing to professional licences. It's easy to dismiss the PPL as merely something to get through on the way to the 'real flying' later. But remember the first few hours of training are critical to developing good flying skills. Poor training at an early stage will be very difficult to overcome later. I know whereof I speak. My early flight training was appallingly bad. No pre or post flight briefing. Seven different Instructors in the first 11 hours, basically anyone who happened to hanging around in the clubhouse. They didn't even explain that I needed an SPL or how to go about it. Actually no one explained anything. I asked the boss once how to go about getting a CPL. He answer was 'Get your PPL, do the hours, pass the exams and pass the flight test.' Yeah thanks, :mad: and this man was well known and respected in Irish aviation. (Not Darby Kennedy BTW) Where is this terrible school? Don't worry they went bust in the last century. If they were still around I'd like to sue them!

It wasn't until after my CPL that the last of bad habits were ironed out by an excellent Instructor.

Anyway my point is that poor initial training will work out a lot more expensive in the long run. So be careful where you take your initial training.

I suppose I should say that you can pay premium prices and still get bad training. If you feel you're not gelling with your Instructor. Ask to fly with someone else. You're the customer.

Stovepipe

Nice one, folbotcar. parallels my own experience. One should never forget that it's your money, probably hard earned and you have to power to vote with your feet. Customer service in Irish GA is still an exciting new concept in some quarters...

Xpro

@Robelstone:

How you getting on with your PPL? what school did you go with in the end?

Cheers