National Flight Centre / Atlantic Flight Training

Apocalypse

Gents

Any experience with these two company's ? I am considering doing my ATPL with one.

Currently doing my PPL in Weston , so i'm right beside the National flight centre , living in Meath so its only 40 mins away.

I have heard good things about Atlantic flight training down in Cork , but this would be a 3 hours drive down.

Any info greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

martinsvi

if you're doing your PPL in Weston (with NFC? Trim?) you are probably in very good position to assess what NFC is like and whether they will work out for you or not. When you consider AFTA, I don't think commuting from Meath will be a viable option. When I was looking at AFTA I was told most Dubliners just rent something locally or stay in B&Bs. That makes things a bit pricey. I opted to go abroad.

b757

Do them in the NFC in Dublin. AFTA require you to pay 3,000€ deposit on CPL if you want to do ATPLs.

Plus it's half the price in Dublin.

Done my ATPL's in Cork, massive regret as I expected a lot more from the outfit, but then again I'm not complaining as I'm currently on a TR course at the moment.

Johann.

You'll always hear good & bad about any school, best thing to do is visit them both, speak to the students & instructors, get a feel for the place. I know AFTA encourage you to go down and spend a day there, free reign to speak to the guys. Always got a great impression off AFTA at the Flyer exhibitions, down to earth people with a goal in mind.

I know a few people who have trained there, all in employment now.

Just make sure you're not colourblind first, I'll never be able to return to the Mater

yaeger

As mentioned. Nothing beats a personal visit and spend a good day there getting a feel for place. If your in Cork I would imagine you would have to rent a place down there so yea you save some money by driving from meath out to weston but if your cash is that tight I would hang on a little more and buff up the savings..You will have extra and unforeseen costs. Don't rule out the UK either, plenty of great schools over there with good accommodation on field.
Either way enjoy

ohallod

Apocalypse wrote: »

Gents

Any experience with these two company's ? I am considering doing my ATPL with one.

Currently doing my PPL in Weston , so i'm right beside the National flight centre , living in Meath so its only 40 mins away.

I have heard good things about Atlantic flight training down in Cork , but this would be a 3 hours drive down.

Any info greatly appreciated.

Many thanks

Hi Apocalypse,

What did you decide to do in the end for your ATPL? I’m based in Dublin and I’m eager to start PPL training this year. NFC is the obvious choice out of convenience, however in terms of the ATPL, AFTA looks really impressive. I just don’t think that I could afford to move to Cork when I have a mortgage and family in Dublin.

- ohallod

California Dreamer

ohallod wrote: »

Hi Apocalypse,

What did you decide to do in the end for your ATPL? I’m based in Dublin and I’m eager to start PPL training this year. NFC is the obvious choice out of convenience, however in terms of the ATPL, AFTA looks really impressive. I just don’t think that I could afford to move to Cork when I have a mortgage and family in Dublin.

- ohallod

I think you answered your own question there but let me ask you this.

Do you have €80k spare for training?
Do you have the money for mortgage, family, bills etc?
Do you have the ability to put in so much time away from said family with no issues?
Do you also have enough funds to do you for 1-2 years post training with no job?

Even in the good times not everybody walked out of NFC and into one of the airlines. Oh bearing in mind that if you do end up operating a shiny 737 for Ryanair its a slim chance that you will be based in Dublin or even the UK. Are you prepared to do a year in some european base in the middle of nowhere and not having a direct flight home?

There is lots to think about when it comes to doing flight training and its not just the actual training, thats the easy part!

Obviously covid and all that, you would be at the bottom of a very tall ladder with all those other laid off qualified pilots looking for work.

I looked at it 2 years ago but thankfully (now) I failed the medical!

Speaking of which, before you do a thing, get your class 1 medical!!!

1123heavy

Neither nfc or afta in my opinion, they both offer equally poor value for money. Train abroad for a fraction of the price like I did. The only thing I find Irish schools are good for is hype and arrogance in thinking they're the best and everyone from all the other countries are inferior, mostly from people who've never worked in an airline or flown anything other than a Cessna or Duchess around Ireland.

Seriously, check out poland (the likes of bartolini), czech republic, croatia, hungary etc etc and save yourself a ton of cash you can use toward a type rating later on if you need to. These countries listed have a long list of excellent schools for very reasonable prices. Check out Diamond in sweden for your ME/IR they're a good shout too.

Lastly, be careful who you take advice from on here. Make sure they're actually pilots or have been through the process themselves, there's too many non pilots trying to give advice about paths they've never actually been down, they may be convinced they know what they're talking about but their knowledge and advice is often far wide of the mark.

Tenger

Non-pilot here. (never even used MS FlightSim)

Good advice in both posts above regarding critical analysis of your position and resilience going down the path and also of how to interpret any advice given.

ohallod

https://www.boards.ie/discussion/comment/116264332#Comment_116264332

1123 heavy, where did you do your training? I’ve heard good things about Bartolini and yes, it is much cheaper to train there. Obviously, quality of training is the most important factor.

Stovepipe

AFTA will be moving to Waterford shortly as Cork's runway is due for rebuilding.