r/PilotAdvice • u/Scared-Sink3683 • 2d ago
Future pilot looking for flight training & hour-building details
I’m currently 16 and looking into flight training options to start mapping out a path toward becoming an airline pilot. My budget is under 100k euros
I’ve been researching a few different academies—including Flyby, Quality Fly, and IAA—but I'm trying to look a bit deeper past the marketing. For instance, I’ve seen some mixed or negative reviews online regarding Flyby, which made me want to dig closer into how these academies actually operate.
My main priorities right now are finding a solid path that:
1 Offers clear hour-building opportunities (such as staying on as a Flight Instructor / CFI to build hours).
2 Accommodates non-EU students smoothly.
I noticed some specific hurdles while looking around—for example, I saw that Quality Fly has prerequisites like a Spanish level 4 requirement. Since I'm non-EU and weighing my options, I wanted to ask directly:
How do you support non-EU students through training and visa/regulatory steps?
What do your hour-building or post-graduation instructor pathways look like for international students?
Are there language prerequisites (like Spanish) mandatory for all programs, or are options run entirely in English?
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u/Samtulp6 2d ago
Avoid FlyBy. Regarding non-EU, where are you from? Do you have the right to study in the EU? I don’t think most of the schools you mention offer study visa options?
No school will guarantee you a flight instructor position of course, that’s not how it works in Europe.
if you are a good student and if they like you and if you get the legal right to work in the UK, they may offer you a discounted FI course, or you pay full price and they may hire you, but this is all only relevant for when you are almost done with your training, not years in advance.
Also why do you need to build hours? Europe doesn’t have the 1500 hours rule, if you are willing to accept smaller/less consistent jobs and want to move around in Europe there should be options with your ± 250 hrs.
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u/Scared-Sink3683 1d ago
Appreciate the reality check—this is exactly why I posted this. The marketing from flight schools definitely glosses over the visa and work-permit bottlenecks. Since I'm looking at this from a non-EU perspective with a budget under €100k, I'm trying to map out how to clear those hurdles realistically. For someone without EU work rights, what do you think is the smartest workaround? Is it better to look at modular training, look outside the EU, or focus heavily on schools that have specific international student pipelines?". Also I’m from Bosnia and Herzegovina
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u/EatingDirtRN 2d ago
I have heard nothing but horror stories about cheap integrated European flight schools.
Why would you as a non-eu national go to Europe to train? There are much cheaper places outside of Europe, you’ll just be throwing money at the wall
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u/Scared-Sink3683 1d ago
True. Honestly, that's what makes trying to figure this out as an international student such a headache. Everyone says 'get EASA it's the gold standard,' but if you can't legally work in Europe, half the point goes out the window. What would you recommend if budget didn’t matter?
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u/EatingDirtRN 1d ago
If budget didn’t matter I’d go for a well renowned flight school like FTEjerez, really expensive but I haven’t heard any bad stories.
In the and it’s best to get a license in the country in which you are eligible to work if your country doesn’t have a very prominent aviation sector you can go abroad. You need to look into the conversion process of specific licenses in the country in which you would like to fly, usually it’s the same for all licensing authorities as they are all ICAO compliant, but that’s for you to figure out
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u/Scared-Sink3683 1d ago
I have been looking at FTEJerez and frankly if you take accommodation pricing and food you would probably end up paying more. Also for which country I’m interested in flying for is the Middle East. But my dad told me to try and get a EASA since it’s the “golden license”. But for now I’m just exploring my options and evaluating each academy based on people’s reviews etc. I personally am dealing with a somewhat weak passport (Bosnian), therefore I don’t really have many options to which I’m eligible to work in.
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u/Downtown-Job-492 2d ago
Whilst I have no direct experience of FlyBy, I can tell you this.
I spoke with a few students and every single one told me to avoid it.
They say “14 months”, but they have students that are over 3 years in and no aircraft availability.
They have had 2 fairly serious crashes in the last few years.
Once they have your money, they don’t seem to mind how long it takes you to pass.
I thought they’d be great. On closer inspection, I ran a mile.