Building Time!!!!

[mcooper]

Let me say straight off, for the purposes of THIS post, I could care a less what people think about the cost of the academies, or what promises they do or don't keep! I have been doing a lot of reading on this site and jetcareers.com lately and know all the different opinions, etc.

That said, my question is mostly for those folks that keep saying the academy is too expensive, there are no guarantees and you could do just as well going the FBO/CFI route. Please, I am looking for ideas, not opinions. There is a fine line.


I am 33. I have just over 200 hours with a PPL-Instrument. I have a family and a successful career for all intensive purposes. However, I have had the desire to make a career of flying since I was probably 10 -12. Without going into all the details of why I didn't do this earlier, all I can say is, I am at a point after 11 years of the corporate world, I want to do what I enjoy instead of doing what makes the most money, but being miserable? Yeah, I know there are a lot of miserable pilots right now too, but that's a different kind of miserable.


Anyway, to my question...(sorry for the long prologue)

With me being 33 and time not on my side, why wouldn't I choose the academy route if there is a chance (notice I said chance people!) that I could get my career in a regional with around 1000/100? There are several examples of people on here and that I've talked to that actually have successfully done the academy route so I know it works in some cases. Once again, I know this is SOME, not all cases.

Personally, I could go out tomorrow and buy into a partnership or buy a slighty older plane to build my time, but by my calculations, that would take a lot longer to built the time that people are saying you would need nowadays not going through the academy. I'd have to be working at my current job still to afford it, so it's not like I could be flying all the time.

If I just went ahead and got my CFII-MEI, quit my job and managed to get a job at an FBO, how long would it take to build the time necessary to have a chance to get on with the regionals?
2, 3, 4 years?

Just a final note...these are not sarcastic questions to voice opinion for the academies and I'm not looking for arguments about whether academies suck, etc. Since there are so many people saying the FBO/CFI route is cheaper/better, I am simply looking for realistic examples/suggestions of how I could get enough hours going the FBO/CFI (or ownership route) where I would have the necessary qualifications to get interest from the regionals in the same timeframe?

 

[hydroflyer]

I did the FBO route and felt I did receive very good quality training. Time has not really been an issue for me and I never considered the academy route so I will stay neutral. It is possible to do the FBO route at an accelerated pace, however I would suggest finding one that is Part 141 (more likely to have a consistent schedule). As far as an FBO competing with the academies for time to a "potential" spot with a regional, hard to say. Likely an academy would be better for what you are looking for due to more people that will personally know you and your performance who have connections with higher ups at a regional. If you go with a FBO, I would ask questions about where the instructors who left there have been going, as often times you will find a good percentage of them going the same places due to connections that have been built. If they are going the same places as you want to go, maybe consider it, but there would need to be more than a just a couple that went off to the same company.

If you are seriously considering doing this, then I would strongly suggest you start reviewing any and all material you've gathered earning your private and instrument. Maybe buy a new PPL and Instrument textbook (or a current edition used) and go through it chapter by chapter. You already have the hardest two out of the way and everything else will be built upon the foundation you've already laid. Whichever route you go, one thing will be the same; if you want to do it fast, you will have to do a lot of self study. Better start now.

 

[Whirlwind]

I know three CFIs who went the local FBO route, they paid a whole lot less for their licenses than the big boys charge, and they are now working for a regional, they were hired three weeks ago.

They all got there with between 1,200 and 1,500 hours total time and between 100 and 200 multi. They got the jobs because they were professional, they networked within the business, and they kept after it.

The pay isn't great flying the right seat of a turboprop, but it is a Part 121 job.

Fly safe!

 

[mcooper]

Followup for whirlwind

Were your friends recent or pre 9/11?

 

[Vladimir Lenin]

Go with the academy, knock your CFIs out of the way in a few months and make sure your savings account will support your familia for a couple of years. And by now you probably have acquired quite a few toys to pay for, so make sure you can live no income.
Still a tough choice, I'd get an aerobatic single and just do it for fun at your age.

 

[WrightAvia]

Followup for whirlwind
Were your friends recent or pre 9/11?

Recent or pre 9/11, what?

 

[WrightAvia]

I mean your question does sort of make sense to me, but doesn't.

Considering it takes 6 to 12 months to get all your ratings at a 141 school, much less how long it takes to go the FBO/91 route. Then build time at 500/700 hours a year. Basic math would say they were PRE-9/11, if you're looking at when they started getting their ratings.

 

[bobbysamd]

Academies

I was about your age when I started flying. I learned under Part 61. It took me a few YEARS to earn my ratings because of my work schedule. I had no designs on a career at the time, so it didn't matter that much; however, I'm convinced that I would have learned more, better and faster had I trained in a more disciplined situation, i.e. a school or academy.

Then, when I went to work flying full-time, I taught at ERAU, which is as much an "academy" as they come. Then, I taught at FlightSafety, which, too, was an "academy." I saw from the other side of the desk how effective academy training can be. So, those are reasons why I like Part 141 flight schools. They are "schools," which imply motivation, hopefully, studying, preparation, and discipline, all of which foster momentum, which, in turn, fosters time-effective training. For these reasons, I think you have the right idea. If I had it to do all over again, I would have opted for full-time attendance at an aviation college to finish my ratings and to earn a second Bachelor's, in Aviation.

In your case, the key would be to get a job instructing at your school. That way, you at least have a fighting chance of building time. If you finish your training fast but cannot find a job, then, as you have observed, you'd be in the same boat as if you went to work at an FBO.

That's my $0.02 on the 141 school route.

One other suggestion for you might be a place like Mesa Airlines Pilot Development . This is a 141 school operated by Mesa Airlines. It is an 18-month program where grads finish with their Commercial-Instrument ratings and an A.S. in Aviation Technology. Grads can interview with Mesa Airlines upon course completion. Contrary to what you might have heard, the only promise Mesa makes to new students is they might get "the interview." The truth is, the interview is yours to lose. You have to screw up badly not to get it, though you have to jump through myriad hoops to get it. I saw it happen, though, with one of my students. The best recommendation for MAPD is that it works.

 

[wingnutt]

what??? when they started their ratings? lol...since when does that question hold any significance whatsoever? for all we know they started their ratings 5 years ago as part time students, but just recently finished.

point being, that normally anytime the 9-11 question has been brought up is in reference to when they were hired. who the heck cares if they started their training prior to 9-11.

so, using that line of logic...

...they were hired three weeks ago.

...perhaps cooper just missed that part

P.S. wright...if your gear went up and down, perhaps it would make more sense

 

[ReportCanoa]

I am 33. I have just over 200 hours with a PPL-Instrument. I have a family and a successful career for all intensive purposes.[/QUOTE

FOR ALL INTENTS AND PURPOSES

I HATE WHEN MY FAMILY AND CAREER GET USED FOR INTENSIVE PURPOSES!!