This Review Overall Rating
I did a fully integrated course with AFTA starting in December 2018 and finished training February 2021 (this included a lengthy period of been out of Ireland due to Covid-19 and family reasons) . The majority of my single engine training on modern Cessna 172 with G1000s and my Multi Engine training all in the Diamond DA42 and the ALSIM FNPT2 DA42 sim. I did most of my training in Cork with the exception of 10 hours solo at Waterford base due to the less busy airspace.
AFTA offers excellent value for money compared to all the other schools I visited particularly. I got on great with everyone at AFTA and although its a large ATO it definatly is still very personal and friendly. You are able to form good relationships between instructors and students allowing you to feel much more comfortable in the cockpit allowing you to learn more plus the instructors are excellent all very good which i flew with.
During my time training at AFTA i stayed in a local holiday home sourced by AFTA along with other AFTA students. Moving from England to Cork was tricky as i had no clue were to even start looking for accommodation however AFTA pointed me in the right direction. The house was very nice that i stayed in on a golf course offering free golf to which is a bonus for any one interested! Typically people pay around 500 euro per month for accommodation.
The biggest negative for me i was the unreliable Irish weather I found it very frustrating at the beginning of my training especially with cancelled lessons. However when doing the instrument flying such as SEIR and MEIR training it was then advantageous and I actually preferred the challenging conditions and opportunity to train in full IFR conditions to minimums, no hood required.
I am currently in the process of finding a job and AFTA have been very useful so far.
Course(s) taken:
General
Aircraft
Simulators
Theoretical Training
Practical Training
