Want to be a Pilot?

From humble beginnings, and the dream of creating an Irish college to train pilots, the Atlantic Flight Training Centre at Cork Airport has come a long way in just 15 years.

Originally founded by Captain Mark J Casey back in July 1994, with just two aircraft and one room and with no more than 15 students being trained by one fulltime and three partime instructors, the school now boasts a fleet of seven modern, fully equipped aircraft, a large school building comprising several classrooms, offices, ops areas and a canteen, ninety six students and twenty one instructors, of which ten are fulltime and eleven are partime.

The staff of instructors have pretty impressive credentials also with the Head Of Training Mark Casey currently working as a senior Captain on the Boeing 757 with Jet2.com and a Flight Examiner with the Irish Aviation Authority, the Director Of Operations at Atlantic is Captain Peter Van Lonkhuzyen who is currently a senior pilot with the Fastnet Jet Alliance and also served in the past as Captain with Airlines such as Aer Lingus and Ryanair, just to mention but a few, plus seven of the part time instructors who are currently flying aircraft with companies such as Aer Arann and Ryanair.

Our students have been employed by national and international Airlines and we have placed more than 400 graduates over the 15 years. Traditionally our students have come from very diverse backrounds, school- leavers, bankmanagers, lorrydrivers, teachers, waiters, carpenters, you name them, we've trained them, and of course all ages from 15 to 50. One of our last senior students was 48 years old when he completed his training with Atlantic and got his first Airline job flying an Airbus.

We not only specialize in people who are both starting out with their first job and those considering a career change but we also recognise the need for both full time students and part time students, after all , there are so many people who have to hold down a part time day job while they are training due to family or other commitments.

We feel that it is our flexibility, in being able to train people according to their schedule, which is one of the major factors for our success. Of course I would need to mention some of the other variables that have greatly contributed to our success also, one of course being the fact that we are now undoubtably one of the cheapest schools in Europe while still maintaining an extremely high standard of training.. don't believe me?, just ask the airlines, what better proof could you have.

Here at Atlantic we have strived for years to keep our costs and overheads to an absolute minimum so we can pass this saving onto our students in order that they can reap the benefit of top quality training for less than they would pay anywhere else. This of course also helps us in our quest for our other great passion IE to keep the training of Irish Commercial Airline Pilots in Ireland. Unlike other schools we dont believe in charging huge fees and sending our students abroad for training just so we can make big profits, if we dont put that extra effort in we could be in danger of not having any commercial students being trained in Ireland in the future. We believe very strongly that we need to support the future of our own national airline economy.

At Atlantic we also train people who just want to gain a Private Pilots Licence and enjoy the fun of renting an aircraft on a sunday or maybe perhaps owning their own aircraft, but primarily we are a training college for Airline Pilots run by Airline Pilots.

To celebrate our 15 years in business we have created an unbeatable offer for anyone who maybe considering a career as an Airline Pilot, we are now offering a full training package from start to finish here at Atlantic for only €59, 999, and there has never been a better time to start training with a hugh upturn expected in aviation in the next 18 months creating an enormous pilot shortage in Europe.

We have thoroughly enjoyed the last 15 years and we are really looking forward to the next 15 years so please feel free to contact us at any time on 00353 214888737 and dont forget to visit our website at www. atlanticair. ie for some great stories, interviews and up to date monthly info on whats happening in the world of flight training.

Until then... safe flying.