This Review Overall Rating
Hi, I would like to share my experience at SA in 2022.
Below you'll find a brief summary of my experience and after that a justification of the ratings given.
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Summary:
The price/quality ratio is excellent but there is a caveat.
The quality of training is excellent, most guys are from the airlines or making a career out of instruction. I found the simulator sessions especially good. My compliments to Karol. The planes fly fine and the facilities are allright. The office staff and most of the instructors are very friendly. They try to get you finished within 8 weeks but in the end this is up to you, which is the caveat;
There is a severe lack of organization. You are basically responsible for your own progress. The office will assign you an instructor for every module, but that's it. Your progress isn't tracked by anyone. If the instructor is fully booked/sick/whatever nobody will take the initiative to notify you. If you run into trouble no-one will help you without you asking for it first - often repeatedly. You're all on your own and you need be willing to handle that, otherwise I would advise you to look elsewhere.
I finished within budget and timeframe that was promised, but not without some major initiative on my part. A large part of my class didn't finish within 8 weeks despite it being (verbally?) promised.
The price of €17.5k is definitely something to take into consideration while reading my review. I am aware that you can't expect the world at that price.
So in summary: great price, quality instruction, friendly people, great location and facilities, but it comes at the cost of being very poorly managed.
If you are willing to accept the negatives; go for it and you'll enjoy it. But remember to take any (verbal) promises with a pinch of salt.
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General
Facilities Rating 4
The school's facilities are good, everything is available at the school. SA is located in the old GA terminal of Poznan, which is shared with a couple of other aviation companies. It is accessible 24/7 to the general public so don't leave anything unattended.
It is about 15min taxi / 25min bicycle away from the city center. One-way with Uber/Bolt/Freenow will cost about 25zl, down to 10zl during a promotion. You can rent a bike (1zl/30m) or buy a used one. I haven't tried public transport but apparently there is a regular bus going from the train station to the airport.
The briefing room has about 5 computers available for your preflight and a free-to-use color printer. The printer was out of ink quite often and they didn't seem keen on refilling it. Quite unpleasant if you have an exam and you can't print out your M&B etc. There are supposdely EFB's (iPad) available but I've never seen/used one.
In general the facilities are fine but everything could use a touch up. Their (maintenance) facility at EPZG has a briefing room, classrooms etc. aswell. It looks very neat and brand new.
About EPPO: I often see that being trained at a controlled international airport with large jet traffic etc. is a plus. The only thing you'll get out of the airline traffic is extra waiting - either in the hold or on the taxiway. In both cases you'll waste money.
Customer Service Rating 2
The customer service at the school was poor. The office staff is very friendly and tries their best but everything seems severely disorganized and mismanaged. A proper management system seems absent. As a result you will be involuntarily responsible for your own training schedule.
This is something the school should definitely improve on, and I think the main reason for a bunch of recent negative feedback. This problem has been occuring in the past, present and most likely the future if things don't get fixed.
Atmosphere Rating 5
The atmosphere at the school is outstanding. Most of the instructors and staff are friendly and willing to help.
Communication Rating 1
The communication is very poor - both internal (instructors <-> office) and external (school -> student).
Nobody will alert you if you are about to run into trouble. Nobody will take initiative to help you when you are in trouble, unless you notify them yourself. And even if you do, it will take 1-2-3-4 reminders before something happens. Other times you will just have to take matters into your own hands and try to arrange your scheduling by contacting all of the available instructors. Or ask your current instructor to work something out with other instructors. Once again: management appears to be non-existent.
Summarizing: absolutely below par and immediate action is required from the school.
Graduation Support Rating NA
Graduation support isn't part of the package so I did not rate this.
Student Support Rating 4
If don't know which department is considered to be student support, I am assuming it to be Bartho.
My contact with him was very good both before and during the training. He was transparant about everything and always quick to respond/resolve issues.
That being said I recognize that quite some of my classmates had a different experience.
I would advice him to avoid making hard promises (e.g. 8 weeks) and clearly state his do's/dont's at the introduction lecture. To prevent confusion about his responsibilities amongst students.
The student support from the school itself was poor but that is interrelated with the disorganization and mismanagement. The office staff is very friendly and willing to help so I don't like to blame them. The management - as far as it exists - can be less friendly/helpful.
I would advice the school to tackle this problem as soon as possible. A lot of students are disgruntled at this moment. I am aware that you can't expect the world at €17,500 - but the current state of affairs shouldn't exist.
Social Life Rating 5
Poznan is a very pleasant Polish city to live in, enjoyed my time there. Life is cheap(ish) for Western Europeans, but don't be tricked. Some average prices: Takeaway dinner 5-10 euros, Short stay rent 400-700 euros, Pint of beer 2 euros.
There will group of international students in training so enough people to share a beer or dinner with.
If you are sensitive to the atmosphere in your area of residence I can readily recommend Poznan, unlike for example Lodz - which takes you straight back to the Soviet era.
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Aircraft
Aircraft Overall Rating 4
The aircraft are mostly new and fully equipped.
Aircraft Age Rating 5
Mostly new - can't comment.
Aircraft Availability Rating 3
The aircraft availability was mediocre. They went into maintenance quite often which is acceptable given the hours flown. However any form of preemptive planning is lacking, which often caused almost all planes to be in maintenance at the same time. Once again not being properly managed. Maintenance was usually fast though, 1-2 days.
FYI: Don't get tricked into doing a ferry flight to the maintenace base EPZG - you'll pay for the flight and landing! Simply refuse if you don't feel like you'll learn anything from it.
The same principle holds for picking up a factory aircraft, flying x hours IFR on the magenta line is wasted money, shoot some approaches instead!
Aircraft Maintenance Rating 3
The aircraft are new yet worn out. Every aircraft in the fleet has at least one minor defect at all times.
They are stored out on the apron and not taken care of propely. They are dirty and worn, both inside and out.
This could easily be improved on by the school. Take proper care of your machines, clean them, repair minor items aswell.
Aircraft Reliability Rating NA
I can't answer this with anything other than a unsubstantiated guess. There hasn't been any incidents/accidents that were related to aircraft reliability, as far as I am aware.
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Simulators
Simulator Age Rating 5
Both the ALX and AL250 are up-to-date. Respectively 5- and 2 years old.
Simulator Availability Rating 5
The simulator is widely available. I did my IR training in 8 sessions of 5 hours (more or less consecutively).
Simulator Maintenance Rating 5
The ALX had some issues with the hydraulic actuator cycling now and then, offsetting the rudder and yoke - which is quite annoying when flying a raw data approach.
In general the sims were well maintained but I feel like they are about to gi down the same hill as the planes; dirty and worn, with at least 1 defect at all times.
Simulator Reliability Rating 5
I never had any issues during my sim sessions (AL250).
Simulator Overall Rating 5
Overall my time in the simulator was great. The instruction was excellent (KW) and well planned - his IR sim course is running like a well-oiled machine.
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Practical training
Quality of Practical Instruction Rating 5
This is absolutely the strong point of this school. The quality of instruction was great all around. Most guys are active/ex airline pilots or career instructors. Some can be blunt while talking about your performance, something to take into consideration if you are easily offended.
Every single instructor that was assigned to me was great.
I think periodical standardization training among instructors would be beneficial, as all instructors do little things in their own way.
Standard Operating Procedures Rating 2.5
There are three sets of SOPs (P2008, P2006, ALSIM). So during the course of 8 weeks you will need to learn all three sets.
The SIM SOPs were well written and technically sound. The P2008/P2006 SOPs not so much - they contained some technical errors, spelling errors and ambiguities. All SOPs have different templates, and they all look a bit unprofessional. The P2006 checklist doesn't have a version number on it (safety!) and the Tecnam SOPs are waiting for a revision (both still in v1.0).
I think the SOPs should compliment each other in a way that allows for a natural transition from on type to another. As an example; every SOP has a different departure briefing format.
I would advise the school to let Punda/Wisnia write the P2008 and P2006 SOPs aswell, and standardize/align them as much as practically possible. Furthermore I would advise to implement some form of document control.
School Manuals Rating NA
An actual school manual containing things such as max. student flight hours per day or an explanation about SMS etc. was not provided. Can't comment on this subject.
Practical Instructors per Student 5
I personally did not experience a lack of instructors, however I know that this was an issue with many of my peers.
Lesson Regularity Rating 5
The lesson regularity was actually pretty good. Good balance between on/off days. I have to say that this wasn't the case with my peers. Apparantly I was lucky with the availability of all my instructors.
Lesson Scheduling Rating 5
The lesson scheduling is upto your instructor and mine all did a great job - I usually asked them to fly with my via Whatsapp and provided some days on which I was free. Again, I was lucky with their availability unlike my peers.
Course(s) taken:
General
Aircraft
Simulators
Practical Training
