This Review Overall Rating
I completed my Multi Engine Instrument Rating at Skyborne in Gloucester, taking 8 weeks including a 2 week festive break. The facilities were (and still are) virtually brand new, which meant that everything worked exactly as it should upon entering, no issues at all with the building facilities available to us.
We started off in the AL42 simulator, again, brand new - working exactly as it should. The DA42 aircraft were bought second hand by Skyborne and were by and large absolutely fine for training in. I have found the DA42 to be fairly unreliable throughout all of my training, across all facilities I've been to and the smaller issues were still there. The maintenance team are located on the airfield so it was quite easy to get things sorted out.
Whilst flying, we were equipped with iPads which featured the Jeppesen plates, a really handy bit of kit and something I hadn't interfaced with until going to Skyborne. Was really impressed with this and the ops side of things. Although, at times I thought that the schedule could have been published a few days at a time due to there not being many people doing their instrument rating then.
Instruction was the best that I have experienced to date. There is a wealth of information in the instructors who have real life experience working 'on the line' and have since moved into instruction. All of whom are exceptionally friendly, will give advice and are there for the students. We were encouraged to think as if we had passengers on board when deciding when to go or not go, which, provides a sense of the operational pressure most line pilots are put under. I personally found this method of thinking really beneficial. I think I'm a much more confident pilot as a result.
Quite a few other students there were converting from the military to holding a civilian licence - I found having the opportunity to get to chat to these people on a regular basis really improved morale too whilst getting to see how they operated in a civilian scene.
Accommodation was by far the worst part, I was put up by Skyborne in a fairly noisy neighbourhood in a building which was in the worst condition of the 5 locations I have lived at in training. A former university halls, which felt as if the last students had been given permission to wreck the place. A quick lick of paint and we were put in. I believe there is now different, much better accommodation.
Positives and Negatives of Skyborne:
+ Top class facilities
+ Instruction has been second to none throughout my training
+ Hadn't found a single member of staff who wouldn't be happy to help if you asked
- Accommodation
- Occasionally scheduling could have been more forgiving
Course(s) taken:
General
Aircraft
Simulators
Practical Training
