Michael’s Flight Training Diary

Following a highly enjoyable and productive week recently in Jerez, I’ll give you an insight into how to get the most from your visit. If you’ve been there, and you’d like to add something, please get in touch or leave a comment.

The Fly-in-Spain Operation

My earlier comments on Fly-in-Spain, first impressions written after my first day there, turned out to mostly be near the mark. Some people would call it “laid-back”, and those of a more North European disposition might use the word “disorganised”. Compared to the pseudo-military vibe one occasionally encounters in aviation, especially at the commercial end of it, FIS is really quite hippy-ish: it appears to be a bunch of people who are in it primarily for the lifestyle, presumably since there’s not a huge amount of money to be made from non-commercial flight training.

You’ll typically get one flight a day, with duration limited by your concentration. Most people start to fade soon after 90 minutes airborne, and start making mistakes: fortunately, the instructors recognise this and know when to end the lesson. The instructors are proper career/lifestyle flying instructors with vast experience, so the standard of instruction is high. Hours-building airline wannabes they most certainly are not. Expect to fly with several different instructors over the course of your visit: FIS are generally fully-booked all the time, so they have some difficulty fitting everyone in. This is a bit frustrating as the instructors have hugely differing styles, so if you’re looking for ultra-fast learning to pass your skills test in the minimum possible hours, you might be disappointed. On the other hand, the breadth of instruction that comes from a number of different instructors might be valuable. One of the German instructors while I was there had less-than-fluent English, which combined with his highly-demanding style of instruction, occasionally made our time in the cockpit rather difficult. On the other hand, the rudder co-ordination techniques I learned from him were pure gold, and well worth the perseverence.

Staying in Jerez

I strongly recommend you rent a car while you’re in Jerez: the airport is a 15-minute drive from the town centre. I rented a VW Polo for about £75 for the week, with full CDW and zero excess, via one of the car hire links on the Jerez Airport website.

Hans, the proprietor of FIS, has an apartment in central Jerez which is available for instructors and (if there’s space) visiting students too. It’s cheap, convenient, and unless the weather is cold, quite pleasant. It’s not very well maintained though, and half the appliances were broken when I stayed - including the fridge, which had been broken for a month when I stayed, despite Hans’ efforts to get it repaired. But one of the most attractive things about the apartment is that since it sleeps up to three people, you’re likely to meet others to socialise with.

Apart from that, the best starting-point to find accommodation might be the Jerez Tourism website. Another student while I was there was staying in the Prestige Palmera Plaza, a beautiful 5* hotel with off-season rates starting around €100.

In the apartment, I could occasionally pick up an unsecured wireless internet connection from some neighbouring apartment. But another student had discovered that one could sit in the lobby of the Tryp Hotel Jerez, the smart 4* hotel at Alameda Cristina 13, and get 24 hours of wireless internet connection for 6€. That’s 24 hours of connected time, not 24 hours in which you might be able to connect - a pretty remarkable deal. (However, don’t bother eating at the restaurant in the Tryp: the food is OK, but the place is amazingly dull.)

Life in Jerez

When you’re not at the airport, which will be about half your day, you’ll be looking for things to do. Old Jerez is spectacularly beautiful. There are many great bars and cafes with pavement seating to while away the hours and swap notes with other students and (if you’re lucky!) instructors: a favourite seems to the the Gorrila bar in the little open square at the south-eastern end of Calle Francos. Another wonderful place was the little cafe overlooking the amazingly beautiful square in front of the town hall, off Calle de Jose Luiz Diez: they do great snacks! It’s definitely worth making the effort to meet up with other students: it can otherwise be a bit lonely and isolated staying by oneself in Jerez, and there can be a lot to be gained by discussing the lessons and flying too.

If you’re in self-catering accomodation, you’ll need to get food. There are plenty of little grocers and similar shops in the town centre, but if you’re driving to the airport you might find it easier to stop at one of the epic hypermarkets in the town. There’s a huge Hipercor/El Corte Ingles store just near the junction of Avenida Andalucia and the N-IV main road, on the northern outskirts of the town. You’ll drive past this junction when driving from most places in the town to the airport, so it’s convenient. It’s also a good idea to stock up on water, and take a small bottle with you when you go flying. Although it’s usually pleasantly cool once you’re up at 3000 ft, you can get quite dehydrated by the time you’ve walked to the plane, pre-flighted it and taxied out in 38-degree heat.

Trips out from Jerez

If you’ve got your car and you’re at a loss for how to spend your afternoon, or the weather isn’t flyable, why not go for a drive? There’s a great beach with proper Spanish seaside town vibe at Chipiona, about twenty miles to the west. Cadiz is well worth a visit, for a wander round the beautiful old city, and you can head south along the Costa de la Luz to the huge beach at Conil de la Frontera. There’s so much building and development around there though, that I wonder for how much longer it will be a pleasant place to go.

Alternatively, head inland and go to the mountains: this is a good option when the weather gets really hot, because 35-40 degrees in Jerez can be a comfortable 20 degrees at 3000-4000 ft up in the mountains. The spectacular rural town of Ubrique is the first stop, and from there a road winds south along the high ridges in the cool pine and olive groves, with spectacular views towards the Rock of Gibraltar to the south-east. Alternatively, you could head north into the spectacular Sierra de Grazalema national park: these are the huge mountains that are visible on clear days from Jerez.

Enjoy your time in Spain.

Do drop me a line if you have any questions, or would like further tips. And finally, many thanks to Liz Inwood for the inspiration for this page, the social marshalling, the great company, and the excellent flying instruction!