Pilot training via the South Africa route...

[ukutensil]

Hello everyone,

I am looking for some guidance with regards to pilot training via South Africa.
I have recently returned from SA where I obtained a PPL. I now plan to take my JAA ATPL with Bristol Groundschool. I am then planning on returning to SA where I will hour build then obtain a Night, ME and Instrument rating and then the SA CPL. I will then return to the UK and convert the CPL and IR at Bristol.
Firstly does this seem like a reasonable plan of action?
What I have noticed from this forum is that there does not seem to be many people taking this route to being a professional pilot, it seems more people go via the USA. Can anyone tell me why this is? Am I missing something vital? Cost wise I believe that South Africa will be the cheaper option. But is South Africa training not held in such high regard or something along those lines?
Also what is a reasonable time to take on the ATPLs, I will be distance learning but will be on it full time 6 days a week?
I am, like most people, trying to achieve my goal at the fastest pace possible while keeping the costs down.
Any help on this subject would be greatly appreciated. Thanks Guy

[AlphaMale]

So mixing South Africa and Bristol would give you something like this then?

Bristol Aviation, Bristol Flying Centre, Flight Training UK, Pilot Training UK, Flying School UK, Commercial Pilot Training UK: Bristol Aviation

Looks good to me.

[davey1082]

hi guy...i did exactly that, i obtained my cpl multi/ir in south africa and was going to convert to frozen atpl jaa as soon as i came back in march. with the things the way they are regarding employment in europe though i have decided not to convert for another year or so as the costs of keeping a jaa license current in the uk are too much for me to afford. instead i am doing my instructors rating in s.a and hopefully build close to a 1000 hours in the next year or so. then come back to the uk and convert the license this will make me more employable rather than having 200+ hours fresh comm. i went to s.a origionally as the training is great there and some graet schools too. i did my jaa ppl and night rating in florida and found its very very different to the uk with airspace etc. s.a is alot closer to what you will find at home. also bear in mind if you do an saa cpl you will have to sit the 8 exams then the 14 jar exams, then the practical conversion for the i.r and cpl will cost you around 6-8000quid. i think this is why alot of people travel to florida as at the end you get a jaa license. there can be good training in florida but you can also get screwed around pretty badly aswell. i hope this helps and good luck with your decision.
p.s where did you do your ppl? i did my training at aptrac in port elizabeth and lanseria flight school. if you plan on instructing i would try and complete all your training at 1 school as the school has to apply for your work visa and if they like you 9 times out of 10 they will. i have lots of european friends who are now instructing in s.a

cheers dave

[AlphaMale]

Instructing in SA for a year would be great - I'm sure you'll enjoy that.

I've still not made my decision on what to do next. FAA IR in Florida next summer and convert to JAA MEIR or if I could do what you are doing and spend some time in a different country as an instructor then I'd be pretty enthusiastic about doing that.

[ukutensil]

cheers for the reply

Hi there, much appreciate your reply. Sorry for the slow response been working hard. Ive taken note of the needing to take the 2 sets of exams and conversion. This has been worrying me but still think this should be a decent option and the level of instruction out there was good, I went to FTC in George, great place and a good crowd. I hear Aptrac is good my mate went to Algoa and had a blast. Cheers again, good luck with the flying Guy