Written by: The Proficient Airman, Mubashar Yasin.

Attending a pilot seminar: 2Fly Pro Pilot Academy

2FLY is an ab-initio flying organisation providing training to aspiring pilots for 20 + years across the USA and Europe. Recently, I attended a seminar hosted by 2FLY at the Hilton, London Heathrow Airport.

It was a great opportunity to attend for three reasons: First, to understand a little more about the school aside from their name. Second, to understand the future of aviation from the school’s point of view. And third, to have the opportunity to network and speak to other prospective students to find out their route and how they’re looking to fund their training.

Attending seminars like these are important to me in order to ask questions that only schools or students can really answer. For example, I was curious to know about the EASA and CAA ATPL license and how this would work post Brexit – I know of friends who are doing two lots of ATPL exams to gain a CAA and EASA license – it was interesting to hear the schools take on that.

These seminars provide clarity on topics you may be unfamiliar with or give you answers to questions you may not have thought of before. As the saying goes, we as pilot are always learning! So I definitely would recommend people to attend.

The course

So from what I learnt the course duration is 16 months. You will achieve an EASA Airline Transport Pilot’s license (not a CAA). This means you can only work for European airlines (and not UK based – unless you decide to get a CAA license). It’s quite difficult working for a European-based airline if you do not have the right to work in the EU post-Brexit – e.g. in the instance Ryanair switch your base to an EU airport. The school believes there will be integration of licenses at some point to recognise EASA in the UK. Whether that will happen or not is another matter.  

Aside from the EASA ATPL. You will gain your CPL, MEIR, APS/MCC and UPRT. The training locations are across Florida and Spain – giving you a taste of both locations. What I found interesting was a money back guarantee is in place in case your training seizes which I thought was quite nice and shows the confidence in their course.

I was really impressed by their very own airline, Buzz airlines in the Florida and the Bahamas. Each student will have the opportunity to fly with their airline (on the return leg – without passengers). Flying with an airline regardless of how small throughout your training is definitely the stamp that will differentiate you when it comes to airline interviews!

Phase 1: Foundation Training – Merritt Island, Florida

Flying in some of the busiest airspace in the USA and meeting students from different countries and cultures sounds very exciting indeed. In Florida you will be training for your PPL, hour building, MEP, ATPL ground school and IR.

Phase 2: Advanced Training – Malaga, Spain

In Spain you will begin your CPL on the PA28 Piper Arrow. In phase one you gain your single-engine IR whereas in phase two you will gain your multi-engine IR using the BE76 Beech Duchess.

Phase 3: Jet Training – Dublin, Ireland

Interestingly, this stage of the training is completed with a Ryanair approved training organisation – but is that enough to give you the Ryanair stamp? Ryanair like to recruit from Atlantic Flight Academy so where do 2FLY graduates fit in relation to that school?

Here you complete the APS MCC (enhanced MCC in a multi-crew environment) and the A- UPRT course (recover loss of control). I remember speaking to a pilot in 2015 and he mentioned complete an optional UPRT as this will look great in airline interviews. Since then it seems A-UPRT has become a mandatory aspect of training!

Cost

As you may know I’m looking to fully self-sponsor since I don’t have the luxury of being able to borrow money. And having graduated from university I rather not burden myself with more loans. But I am a firm believer you have to take the first step and opportunities will open up for you.

I have to say in comparison to other flights the cost is relatively lower. The total amounts to £86,995 including 16 months of student accommodation.

This is paid across 20 weeks. There is a disclaimer stating training fees may be subject to change without any notice due to third party price increases or that 2FLY has the right to change the programme without any notice – in the current climate we live in with rising energy prices one has to do careful research to determine if a specific school like this is the one for them and what happens if we are faced with another pandemic or if energy prices/the living crisis continues to soar.

Having spoken to the director of the school at the end I think one of the things that put me off was when he mentioned he is a director of a few businesses in other fields, is involved in properties and loves running businesses. Take from it what you shall but personally it did intrigue me as to whether this was just another business for him or is this a school that is truly passionate about their students and their careers. It’s difficult to know unless you experience it yourself or have spoken to students. So it is worth doing all the research you can regardless of how great the pamphlets look as you’ll be investing time, effort and money with a school and it will have to be the right one for you.

If you would like to book onto the next seminar – head over to their website and they will have the next available date. They regularly host talks at Heathrow Airport. I hope this has helped. Disclaimer – I would strongly encourage everyone to do their own research by speaking to schools/students directly.

Blue Skies + Tailwinds.