0 hours to CFI...What to do?

[Bombgod]

In 2 months exactly I will be getting out of the Marine Corps, with 0 hours of flight time, and I will be enrolling in a School????? That has the best program for going from PPL-Instruments-Commerical-Multi Commerical-CFI-CFII, and maybe a little Multi Instructor too. I also want to complete my BA Degree after completing flight training up to CFI, so I need a school that is tied in to a degree program.

I have been reading thread after thread trying to see what people have to say about all the shchools out their and I have even visited Markarion Institute of Aeronautics here in California, I want to stay in the area, and go to the best school, that can do VA benifits, and not rip me off!

What is the best trainging rout to go (PPL-CFI or what?), and does anyone else have experience with using the VA benifits recently?

I have talked to DCA, but thanks to the threads in this forums and others I have decided to choose other options , Thanks Everyone!!!!!

 

[bobbysamd]

College flight programs

You will need to go to a Part 141 school if you want to use your GI Bill benefits for flight training.

A good place to start might be to check into colleges with flight programs. You likely would earn an Aeronautical Science degree along with your certificates.

You might begin by investigating Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Prescott, Arizona. I instructed there. ERAU is a school that people either love or hate, but, at least it's a place for you to start. ERAU provides a great pilot education and carries great name recognition in the industry. There are any number of other private and public college flight programs that will do the same job and may be less expensive than Riddle.

Another idea is Mesa Airlines Pilot Development in Farmington, New Mexico. Mesa Airlines operates this school, with graduates being eligible to interview for an FO job with Mesa at 300 hours. I instructed there, also. Commercial-Instrument-Multi (and maybe Commercial Single) certificates and an A.S. in Aviation Technology are earned in this program. It accepts GI Bill benefits.

Three things to bear in mind about MAPD: (1) A common misconception is the airline interview is guaranteed; it is not guaranteed. Though the interview is yours to lose, you still have to do everything properly and act properly to keep it; (2) Being hired is not guaranteed, and (3) You may be accepted but placed in a hiring pool for an indeterminate period; in the meantime, your skills are eroding at a time when they should be used and honed.

I am sure there are other university flight programs where earning an aviation degree is not required.

Hope that gets you started. Good luck with your training, and thanks for serving us.

 

[Flechas]

Good thing you didn't go to DCA.
If you go to Riddle, or any other university, I recomend you get all your ratings before going there, it will take a lot less time. Then when you are getting your degree you can also do instruction to get some cash and to build your time while you finish your degree, that way when you are done with school, you may be able to go to a regional or some other job.
Try to see if FSI has VA benefits, I highly recomend it.

 

[bobbysamd]

Fsi

Try to see if FSI has VA benefits, I highly recomend it.

Having instructed there as well as the other schools I wrote about above, I, too, recommend FlightSafety. It is a Part 141 school and likely qualifies for veterans' benefits. It, too, is expensive, but the quality is excellent and the FSI name carries name recognition.

I would have written about FlightSafety above, but the poster seemed interested in college degree/flight programs only.

 

[pilotyip]

Alternate Career Path Part II

Get your ratings from a non-university based certificate mill that may take your GI bill benefits. Get your private. Join the Army National Guard as a weekend warrior, continue civiliain flying on the side, put in for Rotor Wing Flt School. This is an alternate career path I have seen succeed. We are hiring a 21-yr. old Army C-12 driver who followed this career path. BTW no college degree required along this path.

 

[bobbysamd]

Degree debate redux

Get your ratings from a non-university based certificate mill that may take your GI bill benefits. Get your private. Join the Army National Guard as a weekend warrior, continue civiliain flying on the side, put in for Rotor Wing Flt School. This is an alternate career path I have seen succeed. We are hiring a 21-yr. old Army C-12 driver who followed this career path. BTW no college degree required along this path.

. . . never mind the glass ceiling that a degree can pierce.

You will find you still need the degree. Get it sooner, rather than deferring it, and get it out of the way.

 

[Goose Egg]

I'm steering clear of this one.

-Goose

 

[pilotyip]

Oh! Boy oh! boy

Welcome back Bobby, Goose is a chicken, trust me 167 of the 172 airlines could care less about a degree. This man is leaving the military, he is older, if goes the degree first route he will be getting a late start in the flying business. He needs his rating and quality time building jobs. He can do his degree on the side, if he feels he needs that to make the final leap in his career. Bobby surprised I never saw you chime in on the "Fallback value of the College Degree". Most guys agreed with me, after being flying for 20 years and becoming unemployed they found their college degree had little value in the job market.

 

[CheeseHead13]

Having instructed there as well as the other schools I wrote about above, I, too, recommend FlightSafety. It is a Part 141 school and likely qualifies for veterans' benefits. It, too, is expensive, but the quality is excellent and the FSI name carries name recognition.

I would have written about FlightSafety above, but the poster seemed interested in college degree/flight programs only.

FSI does qualify for veterans benifits, all the way through CFI. My student used his VA benifits here and saved a ton of money and the training and student moral is excellent.

 

[Bombgod]

Thank you for all your guys support, I guess I should say that I have about 40 units I completed already, and I am only 24 years old, so I dont think that I am getting off to a late start, I planed that I would be gettting all my ratings and building hours for about 2 years before I go fly for someone, I really dont want to go back into the military (and could never join the army, no offense), because I would probably be sent back to Iraq, and thats ok, but I need to get started with my career, and that would delay it. I spent 8 months in the sand.

This Forum is great, everyone's input really helps, and I will keep updated threads, so maybe it will help other Veterans out if they decide to take the path that I have, to become The Best........Pilot in the world

 

[bobbysamd]

Thrill

Welcome back Bobby, Goose is a chicken, trust me 167 of the 172 airlines could care less about a degree.

. . . . but with the degree one qualifies for the other five, too. With the small number of employers available and the hoardes of pilots trying to get what few jobs there are, those five companies become significant.

This man is leaving the military, he is older, if goes the degree first route he will be getting a late start in the flying business. He needs his rating and quality time building jobs. He can do his degree on the side, if he feels he needs that to make the final leap in his career. Bobby surprised I never saw you chime in on the "Fallback value of the College Degree".

I never saw that thread.

Most guys agreed with me, after being flying for 20 years and becoming unemployed they found their college degree had little value in the job market.

Little is still better than none, Yip. As long as you have the degree, doors that are otherwise closed can open and glass ceilings that are otherwise impernetrable can be pierced.

Moreover, Yip, without even reading the thread, I know your spiel. "Forget college, start flying because flight time, in particular 'TJPIC' gets you the job." What you (continue to) fail to recognize is the competition is still primarily college-educated, and, without the degree, the playing field is not level. Moreover, unless one has quals, getting that coveted "TJPIC" job is like being a salmon swimming upstream. Not all the salmon make it.

I'll give one of my standard responses to, e.g., the "Waa, Waa, Waa, I don't wanna go to college, I wanna be a pilot" argument. That response would be that despite someone's wants, if there is a goal and something is needed to achieve that goal, sometimes one just has to suck it up and get that something, even if it means having to put forth a little extra effort and putting one's desires aside.

The degree debate turns its need for succeeding in this business. Perhaps this individual, who is older and probably disciplined, could go to college on the side. However, your anti-college-first arguments are still read by impressionable teenagers who likely lack the same discipline. These teenagers may have been geared to go to college, but, after reading your irresponsible recommendations, may have second thoughts. Second thoughts which are unwarranted. Discouraging a young person from going to college right after high school is irresponsible, for all the arguments previously set forth. A few of these arguments include (1) it's hard to get back in "school/study mode" after being out of school for a couple of years; (2) going to school while working is tough, at best; and (3) after working for several years, despite all good intentions, sticking with school is tough. They say the road to hell is paved with good intentions.

There is the degree debate, in a nutshell.

 

[Goose Egg]

Welcome back Bobby, Goose is a chicken...

Naw, just a pragmatist.

-Goose

 

[pilotyip]

Value of unused college degree over rated

Bobby, you know I have couple degrees, but at age 53 I was making $250/wk loading cargo. After Zantop pretended to go out of went out of business in 1997, I became a temporary High School Chemistry Teacher up until the end of the school year. But they do not teach school in the summer. So two weeks later I got the cargo job. The value of an unused degree is highly over rated. 53 year old unemployed airline pilots are not eagerly greeted in any industry that I know of, even of having a couple degrees. Of course I did not apply for many of the "College degree preferred jobs" such as apt manager, telephone direct sales, plumbing floor manager at Home Depot, etc. If you get a college degree you have to use the knowledge gained in college to develop a career or the degree is basically useless. After getting a degree, flying an airplane is not a knowledge expanding experience; it is skill development experience. Anyone care to chime in and share their experiences on entering the non-avaiton job market after being out of college 20-30 years?

 

[bobbysamd]

College degree need - now and later

I have couple degrees, but at age 53 I was making $250/wk loading cargo. After Zantop pretended to go out of went out of business in 1997, I became a temporary High School Chemistry Teacher up until the end of the school year.

Your degrees still got you work. Your Honor, I rest my case.

I like how you said that Zantop "pretended" to go out of business.

The value of an unused degree is highly over rated . . . . If you get a college degree you have to use the knowledge gained in college to develop a career or the degree is basically useless.

I agree fully. I have a degree in Accounting. If I ever went after an accounting job, even at the lowest levels, I'd be laughed right out of the door, but,

Anyone care to chime in and share their experiences on entering the non-avaiton job market after being out of college 20-30 years?

Yeah. Me. I went back to school eleven years ago, twenty years after graduating from college, to earn a paralegal certificate. A four-year college degree was required for me to be accepted, and exhibiting the piece of paper wasn't enough; I had to order an official transcript from my college. Thank G-d I had my degree, because I would not have been accepted to my school otherwise.

As it turned out, in my legal jobs I finally have used my accounting training. In one job I was preparing estate accountings and tax returns. I wouldn't have had a clue on how to do either but for my accounting background. In my current job, I prepare funds distributions, which is nothing but accounting.

Circumstances vary, but I believe that my case proves that learning gained from college can be put to use - sooner, or later.

 

[pilotyip]

The Zantop pretend shutdown was a going out of business shutdown under railway labor act where we were all given 6 weeks notice of the airline's intent to cease operations on the day of the first pay raise under Teamsters contract. They kept two management crews to keep the certificate alive, one for the L-188 and one for the DC-8. Then they worked a deal with the Teamsters to cut pay and days off. Once they had the new contract they started recalling. I was two from the bottom when they pretended to shut down; I was not going back. They still have two or three L-188's still flying, one or two crews.

 

[Goose Egg]

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