737 Type?

[tack]

Where is the best and cheapest place to get a 737 type?


Thanks

 

[2000flyer]

Not trying to be a smarta$$, but aren't "best" and "cheapest" contradictory? Remember the old line, you get what you pay for. If you asking with aspirations towards a specific airline, I think the better question would be to find out where the majority of their pilot's received their types.

IMHO of course,

2000Flyer

 

[airlinepilot]

The real answer!

Having flown the 737-700 and completed the Boeing 737 course in Seattle......I can say (after taking a cheap 737-300 course) that all these courses are "cooperate and graduate", the 3 people that took the course with me had little experience and one of them had very limited flying experience(would have never cut it at my old airline...which was easy "Midway"....however they get everyone through the course............no magic...at all....save your money and just cooperate and graduate!!!!

 

[POPEYE]

2000 Flyer is right...you get what you pay for. I can only recommend where not to go - AeroService in Miami. I received my type there back in March of 02 & would not wish that experience on any one. I have friends that received their types at Higher Power Aviation & speak highly of their program & staff.

 

[TurnLeft]

follow up

What type of 737 type rating should you get if you're applying to Southwest Airlines. -300,-700? Does it matter? Is there anyplace in particular favorably looked upon by Southwest?

 

[erkens]

A 737 type is a 737 type, no difference for -200/-700 etc. I don't know if Southwest looks more highly on one or the other. K&S (where I went) is owned by a Southwest captain, and uses Southwest procedures. I would recommend them. I know higher power is in Dallas somewhere near Southwest headquarters, but I don't know anything about them.

 

[Kool]

How can SWA look at either any differently (200 vs 700) as my ticket with the B737 type shows no specifics (BTW, I have done both, classic and NG).

My point, I guess, is that don't pay the extra for the NG differences training (it cost my organization an extra $5,000) as SWA does not care (as far as I can tell).

As for Higher Power Aviation, if you search the forum for similar threads, I think you will find that they (HPA) comes highly recommended (I went there for both quals, and found them to be outstanding!)

Best of luck, and if anyone wants to correct me on the importance of the different training, please correct away.

 

[Flycatcher99]

I got my type at Higher Power, and would highly recommend them. They did a great job of teaching, as well as providing good materials to study prior to arrival. They were very attentive to our needs while down there, and made sure that the associated hotels treated us well. One of the biggest advantages in attending HP was their willingness to work with my schedule. I had some difficulty getting time off from my present job to get the type, and HP was more than cooperative in helping myself and others with similar predicaments in arranging schedules. One of my classmates even split his time, attending the groundschool one week, going home to attend to some business, and then returning later to finish the sim portion.

I don't know much about the other type schools, but my second choice likely would have been K&S. I know present Southwest employees who attended K&S and had many good things to say about them. As was earlier posted, they use Southwest checklists and procedures.

 

[baq]

Another plug for Premair in Seattle. Training is accomplished in the Alaska Airlines training facility in either the 737-400 or 737NG. If your traveling from a city that Alaska serves, Premair will arrange for a roundtrip, positive space pass too.

 

[SammyG]

Well he'res kinda a stupid question. I'm taking my IFR checkride tommorow. Assuming I pass...how long should I wait until worrying about getting typed in the 73 ? I assume I should first worrry about the Commercial Multi and CFI/CFII, and ATP first right?

Thanks..

 

[firstthird]

From between a long time to never. (never if you end up wanting to go to Jet Blue or some other airline, for right now SWA is the only one requiring a type that I know)

The 737 type programs (and others I'm sure but since SWA is the only hard fast type requirement of the big airlines all the discussion centers on the 737 type) require a pretty high minimum of flight time in turbine or big planes. I forget the exact numbers but pretty much ATP mins plus some. Maybe multi-engine turbine with 1000 hours or something with some caveat for air force single engine jet guys. Otherwise you have to take your checkride in the airplane and that gets to be real expensive.

Basically, a 737 type won't do you any good until you are competitive otherwise to get hired by SWA so when you get 1000 hours PIC turbine or when you are getting close is the time to worry about it. The word on the street is that for other airlines unless you have significant time in model (300 hours for some of htem) then a type rating doesn't really mean that much.

 

[kelbill]

I went to Higher Power in Dallas for a few reasons. 1. I was in Korea at the time with USAF and had my buddy and sim partner do all the arrangements, so I figured he would do what was best. 2. It is in Dallas and a young lady from the People Department came to class and passed out SWA freebies, so that was a good chance to get motivated and ask questions. 3. Mark Stearns was (and still is) the president of the company and seemed truly concerned with our training (and believe it or not he isn't a pilot if I remember) AND seemed really interested iin helping us get hired by SWA, hence the visit from the People Department. He said they work closely with SWA, and do some type training work for them. I've been back to visit since getting my type and he was just as interested in my input and life at SWA as he was day one.

On the other hand, as a SWA FO, I would be remiss to not recommend K&S here in Phoenix, as from what I know it is run by SWA pilots and so they know what we want here. Also, I'm assuming they write letters of rec too, at least for those they want here. Plus, if you do get hired, training will be a cinch after doing things the SWA way during type training.

 

[sunburn]

Can anyone put a dollar figure on this type rating endevour? This becomes very important to those of us with no "scholarship" aid.

 

[firstthird]

coming from the same situation, 8 grand. I think most run around 7300 not counting hotel.

 

[CoopDog]

You could look to spend somewhere in the neighborhood of $7000 to $8000 for the type and expenses (2 weeks hotel, food, etc.) Then talk to your accountant about the IRS tax deduction. You might be able to deduct in the neighborhood of about $1500-$2000 on your taxes for the training.

If you happen to be unemployed, look at your state's WIA program (workforce investment act). Many airline furloughees last year were able to get funding paying 100% of the course in many cases.

Also do a search here on this board. This is a ton of info on schools.

If SWA is your goal, get started this afternoon. Good luck.

 

[Kool]

Figure around $7K to $8K for the school plus almost three weeks of hotel, rental car, and food. Most schools have some deal with a local hotel and normally free van service to/from hotel and school house/sims (HPA in Dallas did)

If you don't have your ATP, take the 2 day ALL-ATPS written (Computer based) portion just before school starts. Then when you have your type check ride with the FAA examiner, you get your ATP check ride at the same time for no extra money!

I also have to echo the praise for Mark Sterns and Joe Poore at HPA..they really go out of their way to make everyone feel good about being there and hedging their bets with getting on somewhere.

 

[grinch]

The G.I. Bill will reimburse up to 60% of the Higher Power bill of $7400 for those elligible (mostly former military folks). I believe Higher Power requires 1500$ of the $7400 up front to get the training materials and reserve a spot in their class.

Just like a previous post said, paying big money for a 737 type rating would only be ideal if you get hired with SWA. Also, if you're certain that's the route you want to take then you can hold off on an ATP rating and pick it up with your 737 type rating at no extra cost - as long as you show up with your ATP written complete. I had a buddy that spent 1800$ to get his ATP knocked out in a Piper Seminole. A few months later he dropped the $7400 bucks with higher power to get his 737 type rating. He did not have the G.I. Bill so could not get reimbursed for 60% of the $7400. Sucks to be him.

 

[OPIE01]

Higher Power

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What does that Spell, HIGHER POWER, HIGHER POWER, HIGHER POWER, GOOOOOOO HIGHER POWER.

 

[luvfan]

HPA

1800 jet crew
www.jetcrew.com

Only great things to say about this company; the people who work there are superior!
-luvfan

 

[jergar999]

Sammy

I second the enthusiasm. If you start saving now, you might actually be able to afford a 737 type when the time is right. Don't worry about the actual type, but start puting some extra money away now.