Especially given the way they do exams over there.
Could you elaborate?
although I have no idea what’s the school situation over there
Indeed 
If Greece had well organised schools, a lot more people would head down there. One of the main operations down there doesn’t even bother to reply to emails, IME.
Peter wrote:
But you can’t sit the FAA writtens in Europe anymore so the US route is pretty unattractive now.
That’s no big deal. Even when I did my last FAA written (in 2000, I think it was, for my IR) you got the result and certificate the moment the exam was over, and generally you could book one with no more than a couple of days notice and an instructor signoff.
If you’re going to the US to bang out a PPL in 3 weeks, the written isn’t going to be a hurdle.
The TSA and visa stuff is a far bigger deterrent to training in the US (and of course means the really good training – the part 61 stuff – is off limits). The written doesn’t even register.
Peter wrote:
The schools in the better-wx parts of Europe tend to be slightly cowboyish outfits. I recall visiting one FTO in “the south” (for the FAA IR to JAA IR conversion) and I was immediately fed a vast amount of obvious bullsh*it about their operation. There was no need for this but clearly they could not resist. Plus the “of course you must wear the full uniform; we are a professional school” crap which was just great for sitting in a DA40/42 in the heat.
What the actual f…..?
I can understand the uniform thing for airline cadets that have been sent there by British Airways or someone like that, but they seriously make people paying privately do that, in (for example) the heat of somewhere like Jerez in the summer? I guess they don’t need the business of people privately, then. I’d rather deal with all the TSA and visa bravo-sierra to do training in the US than have to wear a uniform!
Peter wrote:
Could you elaborate?
You just sit at a computer in one of the numerous test centers with seats available at short notice. It’s not like you get a window once every four weeks in one test center in the whole country with all seats taken a month in advance and then have to wait for the results. That would be a problem, especially with multiple exams.
Martin wrote:
You just sit at a computer in one of the numerous test centers with seats available at short notice. It’s not like you get a window once every four weeks in one test center in the whole country with all seats taken a month in advance and then have to wait for the results. That would be a problem, especially with multiple exams.
Yes, that would be an absurd system – oh wait…….
alioth wrote:
The TSA and visa stuff is a far bigger deterrent to training in the US
I see it the same way.
JasonC wrote:
Yes, that would be an absurd system – oh wait…….
Exactly.
My point was that a prudent candidate will get his/her ducks in a row before going to the USA, because the exams are not trivial (despite what some say) and the M1 visa is valid for only a certain time.
And that isn’t possible anymore.
oh wait…….
Peter wrote:
My point was that a prudent candidate will get his/her ducks in a row before going to the USA, because the exams are not trivial (despite what some say) and the M1 visa is valid for only a certain time.
The exam (well at least the IR exam) is not trivial, but it is trivial to get a date and time to take it, and you don’t have to wait for the results. You can get your ducks in a row without actually taking the exam quite easily since there are multiple guides, the question bank is public, and you can get to a stage where you can be confident to pass the exam before even booking the plane tickets or applying for a US visa. I didn’t even book my IR written exam until I could get consistently over 90% on multiple practise tests. If I were in the position of living here at the time, I would have just done that at home and booked the actual flight training once I was confident that the written was in the bag.
Peter wrote:
My point was that a prudent candidate will get his/her ducks in a row before going to the USA, because the exams are not trivial (despite what some say)
I personally would’t bother going to the US on a separate trip (now) before doing the practical part: You can study here, read the book once, cram the question bank, and when you get consistently >90% you basically know you’ll pass once you take the real test.
They are not per se less difficult than the EASA ones, but since large number of questions on all subjects instead of several tests on specific types of questions, you can even afford putting much less effort in some questions than in others / know the more exotic ones.
If you do enough question bank, you can do the test really quicky. When I did my IFP, I think I had seen pretty much all questions, and was done in something like 30/40 min with 100%
172driver wrote:
What surprises me a bit here is that the price difference between Europe and the US appears to have largely vanished, at least here in SoCal. Training here used to be about 30-40% of what it would cost in Europe, but reading the figures in this thread, there is hardly any difference. Most schools here quote IRO USD 10k for the PPL. Wonder why that would be the case.
I’d guess it’s schools doing training mostly for overseas students, often at a different and fixed price, who can’t be bothered with individuals looking to satisfy individual needs. So they quote a high enough price to keep non-contract students disinterested. There are less expensive and more flexible options.
