This Review Overall Rating
This student decided not to finish their training at this ATO.
Like most embarking on their commercial flight training, I was insanely excited to get started, could hardly believe the day came around. Having investigated several schools, Skyborne sold itself on promises of quality and guarantees of excellent support and learning structures that surpassed other academies. This weighted heavily on my decision to choose Skyborne.
Sadly on starting, the quality as promised was not to be found in the delivery. Yes, the facilities are lovely and new, purpose built and very professional. However, in the short time I attended, there was a clear desire by investors to increase the foot flow through the door, which not only saw a huge up tick in student intake which filled the facilities to breaking point, it also lead to the surprise departure of the Director of Operations in an apparent disagreement over the delivery of the quality promise.
As a mature student, it became a very alienating experience. Whilst this is not in the control of Skyborne, I do feel they failed to support me when I raised my concerns over a number of weeks. This only compounded the concerns about quality. I did not feel valued, and with such a huge investment at stake, I did not want to gamble this on an academy that was not offering an enjoyable or suitable learning environment. However, it should also be acknowledged that after my decision to disenroll, the head TKI was very supportive and helpful. I have a lot of time and respect for him.
The instructors as a whole were very lovely people, incredibly knowledgeable, but each with their own techniques with some better than others. Towards the end of module 1 some subjects did however feel incredibly rushed in order to cram the last remaining complex topics in, which again was not conducive to learning. The overall impression was that with the large influx of student intake, this was applying pressure onto a small pool of TKI's, with their time becoming incredibly valuable as they became stretched.
This is no fault of the instructors - again their professionalism and knowledge was exemplary, but the upper managements push on numbers was clearly evident.
The accommodation, a converted Victorian home, was cramped. My room was a box room, restricted to a fold out table due to lack of space. The bathroom suffered drainage backwash smells, all adding to the issues of not having a good and desirable study environment. Given the depth and time needed, this is an incredibly important element.
Despite this, each cadet had their own dedicated locker and fridge which was a nice addition.
Overall, the resounding feeling is bitter disappointment. I went in with much higher expectations and felt massively let down. Given the huge expense, no statement is truer than saying you need to make the right decision to ensure the best for your investment. I would not necessarily deter people from Skyborne as some of the people there really are wonderful and it pains me to be negative about the experience, but I would say make sure you visit, ask the right questions, and check out other academies also in comparison.
Course(s) taken:
General
Simulators
Theoretical Training
