Best flight schools?

[Noam]

It has been several years since I learned how to fly, so I need some advice from you guys.

I have a friend who is in his early 20's who just graduated from college and has always wanted to be an airline pilot. He doesn't have any flight time and wants to go to one of those schools where he can get his ratings and certificates and eventually become a regional pilot.

He wants to go to a respectable, well known place. I recommended Flight Safety, but are there any others?

Thanks,

Noam

 

[FSB99]

nope.

 

[Chunk]

uh-uh.

 

[SDdriver]

I would suggest to your friend to chose another career..unless he likes being broke and getting laid off at least once every year or so. I have had 3 furloughes in 3 years, if he still wants to pursue a career in aviation, then there are plenty of schools out there.
I did all my ratings with private instructors at my own pace and saved a TON of money, nobody ever cared if I went to a "Flight School" or just did my ratings at the local FBO. I can tell you out of many jobs flying and even my first job, no employer ever asked where I got my ratings and if it was at a flight school, all they cared is that I had them and was a capable pilot. FLight schools are very expensive so that is why I didn't choose that route. I would just work and save up a few grand and then go get a rating, then work some more and save and go get another, till I had them all. It was a very cheap and easy way to do it. Others might disagree, but that was my experience.

I would for sure DISCOURAGE him from ever doing anything PFT!! Instill in him that when he becomes a employable pilot, that he work for all of his hours, NOT PAY FOR THEM. It is a LONG road filled with lots of sacrafice and I can tell you from experience that it does not pay to take short cuts. The lessons and experience you gain from instructing, towing banners, flying traffic, hauling night freight, and pilot services, is INVALUBLE and helps prepare you for each step up the ladder. Paying for hours and skipping all of that experience and jumping right into flying a jet is not a respectable thing to do in this industry, and only hurts your fellow pilots. If your friend has any doubts that what I am saying is not true, do a search on PFT (pay for training) on this board and read how bad people look upon that practice. The respect your earn, and the experience you gain, from slugging it out in the trenches like many of us have, is well worth it in the end.

Like I said the only advice I can give is from my own experience from getting all my licenses and ratings from the local FBO and a GOOD instructor, I am very glad I did it that way and have no regrets. Maybe some of the other guys here can offer advice on good 141 schools that don't talk you into PFTing after you are done with your ratings. Tell your friend good luck and by all means work hard and get paid for every hour he flyes after his initial investment in his ratings. Tell him don't get caught up in trying to short cut his way to the top, it DOES'NT pay to PAY, regardless of what some might say.

TAke care.

SD

 

[stillaboo]

There are many good flight schools. Search the forum and you should come up with some threads that have covered the pitfalls of each.

FSI is one of the best. You might want to look at Riddle and MAPD too.

-Boo!

 

[bobbysamd]

ERAU, FSI and MAPD

I instructed at all three, in roughly that order. Each has something to offer.

Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University is one of the oldest and best known aviation colleges. It has tremendous name recognition in the industry, positive and negative. I always felt that ERAU Aeronautical Science students received a great education - one that I wished I had. They receive good, standardized flight training - but not necessarily better than other high-quality schools. Riddle students have chances at internships that are indeed "priceless" - but so do students at U.N.D., Purdue, and Auburn, etc.

There is a lot of senseless bureaucracy and politics in the Riddle flight program, which causes many students who came in with the eyes wide open to leave in frustration. Undoubtedly there is a lot of senseless bureaucracy and politics in other flight programs, which causes many of their students who came in with their eyes wide open to leave in frustration.

Riddle students, or their parents, shell out prodigious amounts of money for their education. I feel they get what they pay for, to a point. They very well could get a similar quality education for less money at any good state school that has a flight program and not suffer any disadvantage because their degree does not say ERAU.

FlightSafety Academy is an extremely fine commercial flight school. FSI carries great name recognition in the industry. No degrees. It is a six-month program in excellent facilities and in good, well-maintained airplanes. I did not care especially for my employment there, but I am pleased to vouch for the program. The flight training is excellent and standardized, and includes acro and unusual attitudes training. Not many programs offer such training. The ground school is adequate. Students can obtain their CFIs at FSI and perhaps work there - or perhaps not. Those opportunities are driven by aviation hiring. I heard there is a six-month CFI waiting list at FSI.

While I like FSI's program I've always been concerned about it and other accelerated programs. Becoming a Commmercial pilot in six months requires you to absorb a great deal of learning and unfamiliar concepts quickly. You may not learn it to the depth you should and unless you can use it immediately after finishing you might forget much of what you learned as quickly as you learned it. On the other hand, an accelerated program creates momentum which sustains training and imparts discipline which will help you learn.

We have a good discussion going on this thread on MAPD, so I won't repeat here what I wrote there. The long and short of MAPD, though, is you graduate with an A.A.S. in Aviation Technology, your certificates, and, if you mind your Ps and Qs, you are guaranteed an interview with Mesa Airlines, meaning you can be hired as a regional airline pilot at 300 hours. Do read the thread and run a search on MAPD for more information.

Hope this helps. Good luck to your friend.

 

[LearLove]

"Best flight schools? "

Best flight school you ask? ......

1500 ft grass strip, a J-3 and a full tank of gas.

 

[SDdriver]

Hey Bobbysamd,

Do you think though that getting hired at a regional at 300hrs is a good thing? I mean sure it is remarkable to be flying an RJ at 300hrs, but don't you think that this pilot would be denied a lot of really good experience by going that route? I mean do you think a 300hr pilot is really ready for a complex Jet at 300hrs? I look back to 300hrs and a Baron 58 was overwhelming to me. I can't believe how little I really knew when I had 300hrs and how much experience I needed before being put in the position to fly a transport size aircraft loaded with people under ANY circumstances. I always hear people argue that they pass the checkrides so they are qualified, but you know they already know exactly what is going to happen in those rides, they train specificly for those things, what happens when they are flying a load of people and the CAptain is incapacitated (which true doesn't ever really happen), and things start going seriously wrong? What kind of experience are they going to turn to? NONE cause they don't have any in that sense. I just always think that working your way up, step by step is the way to make a good, experienced, well rounded pilot. It has just never made sense to me to allow a guy to fly a transport size jet, when the biggest thing he has ever flown is a light piston twin, for maybe 10 or 20 hours. THe overall experiece is just not there.
I will never forget, I had an FO one time that was a Mesa grad, first job he gets is flying a Transport size turbo prop with me, the guy could fly ok, I mean his skills were that of an average to maybe a little bit above average pilot, but his problem was when we were real world flying. He couldn't hardly handle flying into a congested airport and dealing with modified procedures such as 200kts to the marker and then shoot the ILS to mins. He had only been taught specific profiles and when those profiles wern't there he was lost, when it didn't work out like back at Mesa under training conditions he couldn't hack it. Not his fault, but he just didn't have any experience and that made my work load twice as hard. I mean if I wasn't there to help him out, I don't think he could have got the thing safley on the ground when we had a high workload and difficult procedures from air traffic. When I would get an FO that had flown checks in a 210, or instructed in multi and singles, or towed banners or flew traffic, they always had a better sense of how to handle problems in REAL life flying.
Just wanted to know what you think, I always respect your views.

SD

 

[FOB]

Get a good CFI!

The secret to any succesful pilot training is initiative and self discipline, regardless of where it is done. That and to absolutely ensure you have a good Instructor. There are great CFIs everywhere, find one of them and you will be all set.

As an ex-Standardization Pilot with FSI, I can tell you we have some real boneheads on the property. Ask around and get assigned to a CFI who is respected and enjoys teaching, not just taking you flying!

As a program, I feel FSI's is first rate. Unfortunately, it is ultimately up to the student to make sure HE or SHE gets the most out of it.

Set high standards for yourself and get a good CFI to help you achieve them. That you can do anywhere.

 

[I.P. Freley]

IMHO, no 300-hr pilot has any place in an airliner.

Unless, somehow, I was an unbelievably incompetent pilot after my ERAU education... I know, sure as shootin', that I wasn't ready for a commercial airplane until I'd logged another 300 or more hours beyond the 230 or so I had at graduation.

Believe me, I've had to play flight instructor with more than one pilot who was sitting next to me with their whopping 750TT, half of which was in 121 flying.

They should never have been there to begin with, no matter what various HR departments at 121 operators seem to think.

No disrespect meant, but for God's sake, get some EXPERIENCE before you sit in a serious airplane.