Flight academies

[Archer]

What are, in your opinion, the best flight academies out there, that provide you with good training, good equipment, in a short period of time ( no more than 1 or 2 years) and help you out with at least instructor jobs...perhaps hiring you as one of their own instructors...perhaps with a chance to upgrade to larger planes.

I am interested in FlightSafety Academy right now as a possible choice after I graduate from uni. They have a 35 week professional pilot program, and they seem to have a great reputation among airlines and business flying.

do you think these places are a good investment of time and money for a corporate pilot's career?

 

[Kream926]

flight schools

hey
let me start off.......im at spartan in tulsa and i love it. i heard bad about those flight school that give you an atp in 2 months and guarantee you a job with who ever (ATA). flight saftey is good i hear, spartan is kinda long because they give you a degree in business . ive been here since august 2002 started with 0 time, got my private, inst, and im half wayt hrough my commercial and wil start cfi and my MER together hopefully by june.
tulsa's not bad, i dont know what your life style is but theres enough to do here at night, but not enough to get in trouble. the only downfall that i can see is that most of private and comm. training is done in a 152, well maintained and not that expensive. i was quoted 46,000 dollas from 0 time to ppl, inst, comm, cfi.cfii, and mei...............
feel free to email me or PM me if you need to know more.....hope this helps

 

[Archer]

FlightSafety seems to be around that mark too. about 40 grand or so.

I was attracted by Pan Am's multi time...but when I looked at it...it comes mostly from simulators!

And I think there is a big difference between a simulator and real life multi flying

 

[bigD]

I have a good friend that did his Instrument through MEI at Flight Safety. He thought the facilities and quality of training were very, very good.

Going through a place like Flight Safetly is going to cost you significantly more than doing the same training at some 61 school, but you'll probably get your tickets sooner, and the schools are a known quantity. My friend mentioned that he's the type that thrives in a more structured program like Flight Safety - and that's the main reason he didn't train at a smaller school.

 

[banned username 2]

And I think there is a big difference between a simulator and real life multi flying

There is...

If you can find somewhere that has you do a large portion of your training in a twin, I think this will give you an excellent foundation. When I went through ERAU we did things in this order:

Private (SEL)
Multi-Private (MEL)
Instrument (MEL)
Commercial (MEL)
Commercial (SEL)
CFI (ASEL)

I came out with about 65-70 hours of twin time out of about 250 hours. I felt very comfortable flying a twin. Guy who graduated from other schools typically had 12-15 hours of Multi time and did it merely as an "add-on" rating.

 

[Archer]

I was wondering if training at FlightSafety Academy or Pan Am is worth those extra bucks as you mentioned.

They do seem to have the biggest, most advanced and well maintained Piper fleets in the nation. They also seem to have very good simulators, for example Pan Am's ACE simulators...the 2 million dollar a piece CRJ-200 sims that they seem to only ones to have.

Plus these "academies" seem to train the pilot to high professional standards...and train you to use FMS, IFR GPS, EFIS etc...and get you used to airline type environment.

So I was wondering, in your opinion, would you get such high quality training from FSI or Pan Am and spend 40 grand to get some 350 hours with perhaps 60 hours of multi...or would you go train at some cheap FBO (yet good training) and gain some 450 hours and some 100 hours of multi with 40 grand...

Basically...do you believe in quality of flight hours? Do employers?

Archer

 

[CitationLover]

buy a book on fms, ifr gps, any aviation topic etc and teach yourself.

use the savings by going to a cheaper school and buy all the multi-time possible.

the "airline training/type environment" argument is hysterical. the cheapest (and some say best) way to get your license is through uncle sam, who gives two $hit$ about "airline environemnt". do you see colleges (real colleges not some sally struthers/lincoln tech) whoring themselves on the "microsoft/computer", "corporate" environment? all these schools care about is $. erau is nice due to the fact you may get a college degree out of there.

my $.02.

 

[bigD]

Woohoo - I've passed FlyChicaga's reading list with a perfect 8/8!

Archer - I think you *can* get pretty much the same level of education by going the Part 61 route, but you gotta shop around for a good school, and you have to be self motivated to work hard on your own. From what I understand about schools like Flight Safety - the rigor of the program pretty much forces you to work at a high level, whereas at a lot of Part 61 schools, you could skate by on the bare minimums. It'll be on your shoulders to work hard and make sure you're well beyond the minimum standards set by the PTS. There ARE Part 61 instructors that'll work you hard, but many are just looking to get you past the checkride and move on, and if that means you're just barely within PTS standards - so be it. This is why my buddy flew at Fight Safety - he thought he wouldn't have the proper motivation at a 61 school.

 

[Gulfstream 200]

I think the structured FSI route is the way to go.
Its a known syllabus, timeframe, lots of aircraft to fly, etc...

Just go, knock out the ratings, and get out and start building time and contacts (most important)...

Oh yes, I agree, that "airline training" crap is a JOKE. I hope they truly dont waste your time and money teaching you to use a FMS on a 737. How stupid is that?

All you need to learn at this point is how to get point A to B without getting lost and to learn how to keep a student from killing you. Save the 737FMS $hit for another day, thats what initial schools are for later on...

Although... I would NEVER EVER EVER attend FSI "academy" if they still make them wear those god awful stupid A$$ dorky uniforms they used to wear. That would never happen. Nothing like pre-flighting a Piper Warrior in full blown epaulets and $hit!!! Funniest thing I ever saw!

anyways....wait...Archer might just like that...sorry...

 

[FSIGRAD]

When I was a student at FSI I was never too big on the whole uniform thing, but as an instructor there I don't really mind. At least I never have to think about what to wear to work.

As far as "airline training" there is very little of this taught in the standard CIME syllabus. Contract groups like Swiss Air or Asiana do fly in crews, but a regular student is trained for single pilot IFR flying in a twin. The fanciest piece of equipment is Garmin 430 GPS's in the seminoles, sorry no FMS's.