Erau

[BoDEAN]

Went to ERAU in DAB for 2 yrs, then went to Western Michigan for 2 yrs.

Most rounded education at Western Michigan. They are #3 on flight schools, opposed to ERAU (#1 or #2 depending on who you ask) but you get a more rounded education with your classes, and fly at the same time.

 

[T/SF34/A]

Spent 4 yrs at ERAU majoring in Aero Sci. My back up was an Air Traffic Control minor and the back up to my back up was getting my Dispatch Ticket. I am currently Dispatching for a 121 carrier and flight instructing on the side with the hopes of one day flying 121.

If I had it to do over again, I would probably do the first two years at a community college to get all the general ed stuff out of the way. I lucked out at Riddle when I was flying because I was in the fixed price program; Private-Comm Multi Inst for 21,600. They stopped that for new students after my first semester.
My sister goes there now and has already spent that and more. She's about half way thru her commercial. The prices of classes has shot thru the roof as well, that's why I would recommend going to 2 years of cc. I'm not sure if they allow flying off campus anymore if you are enrolled in aero sci. You would have to ask.
I hear a few flight schools in Daytona went belly up because of this.

Riddle is a big name and big names bring on internships. Riddle can set you up with lots of them. Once hiring resumes you at least have your foot in the door if leave a good impression. Not saying that other schools do not have good internship opportunities.

I would recommend going to Riddle if you have the dough. I enjoyed my time there. All except for the "run around". I did not even get that $krewed. Only when it came time for check rides. It seems I would wait for ever to get on the schedule.

I can not give any advice on any other aviation schools, due to ignorance on my part. I never looked into any other aviation schools. I am also lucky I looked into a few back ups. If I did not I'd probably be night shift at Walmart after flight instructing all day.

The military is something else to think about. Thats probably where I'd be if I had the uncorrected eyesight to do it. Why pay for flight instruction when you can go somewhere where they pay you to be instructed? Plus you train in jets and have the opportunity to be flying C-5's with 500 hours.

Check out these flight schools as well...
Purdue (Lafayette, IN)
Southern Illinois (Carbondale, IL)
Lynn University (Boca Raton, FL)
Miami University (Miami, OH)
University of North Dakota
Daniel Webster College(Nashua, NH)

There are plenty more.

Good Luck

 

[great cornholio]

Heres the deal with Riddle. I went there right out of high school and looking back I wish that I would have done it different. Currently I am lucky as I am a F/O with a 121 carrier. Riddle had very little to do with that part actually. Anyways this is the same advice that I give to all the people that ask me about Riddle. Go to a community college for your first year or 2. This will save alot of money and hassle. While you are at that CC go ahead and get all possible ratings done all the way thru MEI if possible. But at min try to get CFI.

Now lets look at the actual education you will get at Riddle. First off the ground education is excellent. The classes that you must take for the AS degree are great. I feel that Riddle definately is really high quality on those aviation specific classes. However all of the general ed stuff like tech writing and stuff is basically bs at Riddle. I learned nothing in those at all. But hey they just want me to be a dumb pilot so its all good i guess. So to sum it up do the gen ed at a CC those classes are probably better at your local CC (definately cheaper) and then go get the aviation classes out of the way at Riddle because they are better at Riddle than probably most other schools.

Here is why not to fly at Riddle. Number one the riddle run around. The flight dept is all messed up. They just see you as a pay check. They will take all of your money and thensome. You never get to fly as much as they say. Most of my buddies only flew like 2 times a week. Some were even less lucky than that. Also at Riddle they make your flight schedule and tell you what instructor you fly with. If you dont get along or dont like your instructor then you are screwed and cant change. So you either have to drop out or just put up with it. Riddle is also really exspensive for flight training. I think I heard from my buddies that are still down there that a cessna 172 is $165/hr dual. Well thats pretty much it about the flight dept. I was lucky enough to get some of my ratings out of the way before I got to Daytona so I didnt have to do much flying thru Riddle.

Ok now time for some advice that maybe you didnt thing about and they dont put on brochures. 1st Riddle is 88% guys. Yup thats right after 4 yrs there you will forget what a girl looks like. Fall semester at Riddle sucks there is nothing to do in that town after like the 2nd week cause after that youve done it all. Spring semester is fun though. Starts off with speed weeks then bikeweek then canadian spring break then a bunch of american spring breaks. Its fun but you gotta watch out. GPA tends to drop some in the spring.

Well thats about it. I really hope it helps you out. Also it sounds like you arent to sure that you want to be a carreer pilot so the CC time will give you time to see if you really want to do this with your life. Flying is amazing but some people can only handle this as a hobby and thats just fine. But if that is how you feel then Riddle is not the place for you. Anyways hope this helps I wish someone would have given me this advice 4 yrs ago.

 

[Flyguy5432H]

i was another one of the lucky ones that got the option for the fixed price program when i started back in 1998.

i can't even imagine what they are paying now for pvt through CFII.

it was nice going flying and just leaving, with no recipt to sign

 

[weekendwarrior]

Here is an additional point to the military/riddle thing. I spoke with Riddle today on post here at Fort Rucker. Not only am I getting paid for flight training, but I'm getting 54 hours toward their Professional Aeronautics degree. That's almost half of a degree in one year of flight school. Not a bad program. I already have most of my GS done at another school. Basically I'm up against 30 hours of credit for my degree, and not one cent will be spent on flight training. The only money they get is $480/class.

If you went military, then ERAU professional aeronautics, It would cost you about $11,000 for a degree, and you would have been paid for your commercial/inst/ (insert rotorcraft of MEL here).

Ahh..it hurts when I put it like that...

 

[groundpointsix]

Check out these flight schools as well...
Miami University (Miami, OH)

As far as I know Miami of Ohio does not have an aviation program. Perhaps you are thinking of Ohio University or OSU? Or Kent State. Those are the three in Ohio that I know of; Bowling Green used to have one, but I believe they shut that down for financial reasons.

 

[Dutch]

Aero Science degree w/ outside ratings

Just wanted to clarify that you can enter ERAU (at least PRC campus) with advanced ratings and earn an Aeronautical Science degree. The catch is that you will have to pass a check-ride for that same rating at ERAU in order to get credit for the course. Many individuals who attempt this route spend a great deal of money getting proficient to the Riddle standard. This doesn't mean that they don't know how to fly but instead have not been trained with Riddle's values in place, i.e. airline style checklists etc.

 

[T/SF34/A]

I think I wrote Miami, OH with OSU in mind...Anyway, there are plenty of aviation universities out there to choose from. Some have bigger names than others. Does not mean they're any better.

 

[tdwnds1]

As a Riddle Alumni I had to put my two cents in on this one.

1.) I dont regret going to ERAU (Graduated in 1992), but like many posts have said, it is VERY expensive! I am still paying off the student loans. The education was good and I had some very quality instructors and a few I didnt get along with. However, at the time the price per course reflected an amount of flight hours for a WAY above average student and I incurred additional costs in extra training. (Dont know if this has changed since then). Also I WAS NOT happy with their career center once I graduated. However, when I returned in 1998 to obtain my CFI-CFII it had improved dramatically. It also appears the alumni network is improving also.

2.) There are other quality flight schools out there, where if cost is an object, you might want to think about. I have personally flown with people from UND (University of North Dakota) and Western Michigan and they were all quality flyers. I didnt see a great difference between them and Riddle guys. I have also seen good,professional pilots who got their ratings at a local FBO. So, I dont think it is so much the school as the quality of the instructor.

3.) Many people say the Riddle name will give you an edge in finding a job. I only found this true with the early part of my career. The fact is that getting a good pilot job is more a function of: Experience, hours, ratings and how well you network. Whether you went to ERAU or the school of hard knocks (As long as you have a degree) is irrelevant.

4.) Finally, before you undertake this career, make sure you REALLY LOVE IT! If you are trying to be a pilot for the money, then go to something else. The road (especially on the civillian side) is long and often hard. It takes time to get into the jets, unless you are VERY lucky. Flying is more a passion than a career and you have to be dedicated to it nearly 100 percent. If you do decide to enter this field and you love it then wellcome to an exclusive club that I am proud to belong to.

Good luck in your career.

 

[bobbysamd]

Being Riddleized

Just wanted to clarify that you can enter ERAU (at least PRC campus) with advanced ratings and earn an Aeronautical Science degree. The catch is that you will have to pass a check-ride for that same rating at ERAU in order to get credit for the course. Many individuals who attempt this route spend a great deal of money getting proficient to the Riddle standard. This doesn't mean that they don't know how to fly but instead have not been trained with Riddle's values in place, i.e. airline style checklists etc.

This is very true. I was a PRC instructor in the late '80s-early '90s. We had a number of students who came in with ratings. They were given a short flight course and a stage check. We were told not to Riddleize these students, but we couldn't help it. I gave stage checks to a few and they simply couldn't cut it. They ended up taking FA 104 and 105 (now FA 110?), even though they had Private certificates. I also recall giving a stage check to a transferee who already had his multi ratings. He couldn't cut it to Riddle standards, much less the PTS.

Some of us preferred training zero-time students the Riddle way instead of having students who already had ratings. It was easier to train a student ab initio than for having an already-rated student unlearn old habits and learn Riddle.

By the same token, I saw the same thing at MAPD. We had new students come in and challenge the Private Pilot course. All of the ones of whom I was aware failed. Mesa teaches airline procedures from the very beginning, including callouts which students much verbalize. That is challenging. I would say, however, that perhaps some of these challengers were failed because Mesa wanted to make all the money it could off them. On the other hand, I sincerely believe that new ERAU students with ratings were given a fair shot to pass.

 

[ktulu34535]

at daytona

As long as you have completed your ratings prior to the beggining of the semester you apply for advanced standing.

I did this for my private, got the credt and didn't have to re-take anything or have a Riddle checkout. I did have to take Aeronautics 1, which is basically a PPL groundschool, but it was an easy A.

As of now, you have to complete one flight course in residence in order to graduate from Riddle with Aerosci at Daytona.

So get everything out of the way and do your multi here, and you'd be fine.

For the folks who thought it was expensive try this on for size, I started at this school in 2000, tuition was somewhere around 6500 a semester. Incoming freshman this year will pay 10,000 a semester.

The price of a C-172 went from 145 with instructor to somewhere around 176.

 

[banned username 2]

Re: at daytona

For the folks who thought it was expensive try this on for size, I started at this school in 2000, tuition was somewhere around 6500 a semester. Incoming freshman this year will pay 10,000 a semester.

The price of a C-172 went from 145 with instructor to somewhere around 176.

When I was at Riddle it was $135 per credit hour (what an outrage!) and a C-172 was $50 solo / $75 dual. The Seminoles were $90 solo (Yes, we got to solo them) and $115 dual.

At the time the credit price was on the high side, but the rental/dual prices were only "slightly" higher than average.

 

[T-REX]

Don't worry about your grades so much, I have this to say for Riddle in the difficulty department. AeroSci is cake. I have a 3.5 and the only reason it wasn't higher was that I was going to transfer to USF after my freshman year so I slacked off because as long as I got a C in my other courses I would be able to transfer the credit. MOST of the courses at Riddle will not be difficult, I would liken it more to high school when you are taking Technical Writing classes, and anything not associated with aviation like math, physics, humanities etc.

HEY...It was tough for me so BACK OFF!!!

 

[UND84]

Hello,
I am just going off to college so I a year ago was also looking into finding a flight school to attend. My original plan of going AFROTC did not pan out so I then looked at flight schools. Last fall, I took a trip to Embry Riddle in Prescott to look at their electrical engineering department. At the same time, I also looked at their flight school and found out about their program. It looks like a good place but quite expensive. I got accepted for electrical engineering there with a 3.95 gpa. I applied to UND after hearing about their excellent program. I got accepted and that is where I will be attending. In June, I took a trip to UND as well. I can honestly say that I am much more happy going to UND. UND is a real college with a real campus. Their program appears to be quite strong and I look forward to the years ahead. It also being a state school, is a better bargain than Embry. If you are looking at schools, don't count out UND, because there is a reason there are about 1000 kids in their aviation program. I have a check ride in 2 days. Ah! bye

 

[rltoma]

ERAU is a real college with a real campus also (actually 2) .