Gulfstream Academy Feedback??

[dmac530]

I am a current student at Western Michigan University and had just the other day attended a career day info meeting for Gulfstream Academy. My plans are to finish with WMU and possibly enter their 1st officer program if an attempt to get an internship does not work out. Becoming a flight instructor is not something I really want to do after graduating. Pro and Con feedback would be great, especially from current or former students of the program. Plus any views from current regional pilots will also be helpful.

Dustin

 

[justmeinmsp]

Do a search on this subject. You will get plenty of hits on it.

 

[rchcfi]

I am a former CFI from that Academy but don't want to (or feel like) badmouthing them on this board again(waste of my time). If you want more info you can PM me.

And why don't you want to be an instructor? It really is amazing how much more you learn when you have to know it to be able to teach it.

 

[de727ups]

Gulfstream

Gulfstream PFT is bad for the piloting career because you are paying to sit in a seat that should be occupied by a paid crewmember. You, as a pilot, become a revenue source for the company. That's just my opinion.

It sounds like you want to buy your way into an airline job with low time. I think it's better when airline pilots earn the job by gaining experience working their way up the career ladder....not just become one with low time because they have the cash.

I've only met one pilot at my airline that came from Gulfstream...that speaks for itself....

 

[CFI'er]

OUOTE BY TOM COOPER, PRESIDENT & CEO:

"Once the candidate finished the First Officer programme, they become a First Officer for Gulfstream International for a certain period of time, on a probationary basis, after which we decide whether we want to keep the applicant or graduate him out."

This statement, reading between the lines, is saying: We got you money, you acted as a First Officer, for cheap wages, and we don't need you any more, other students are willing to take your place. "See Ya!!!" T. Cooper LOL all the way to the bank.

It is a cheap way for the Gulfstram International Airline (CoEpresss) to satisfy the FO requirement and pay little. AT $8.00 and hour, what a joke.

 

[350DRIVER]

I would highly suggest doing a search prior to doing anything else. Enough information to keep you reading for several days on the topic.


3 5 0

 

[100LL... Again!]

Saying that you do not want to be a CFI is not a very popular statement with a lot of folks on this board. You need to build meaningful experience to be a qualified crewmember. Why not be a CFI? I'm not sure of the reasoning.

 

[bobbysamd]

P-F-T and instructing

Please, do yourself a favor and run board searches on Gulfstream and P-F-T. Neither is anything you want to do because it can very well endanger your career. There are no legitimate shortcuts to building an aviation career.

Having said that, so many people don't want to instruct. It is their prerogative, but I don't understand it. Perhaps it's because instructing means not flying the airplane much, and there goes all the fun, because flying the airplane is fun. Notwithstanding all the knowledge and experience you will gain when you are teaching a subject, there comes a time in your life when not everything can be fun. There comes a time when you actually have to work, and sometimes work is not always "fun.". But that doesn't mean that it cannot be satisfying, which can be a different form of fun.

I wasn't doing a whole lot of actual flying during my hours as as instructor, which, if you look to the left, were quite a few. Many of those hours were at ERAU with people very much like you. But, that does not mean that I did not have fun. I had fun working with (most of) my students. I derived a great deal of satisfaction when I soloed students, realizing that I had molded someone into a pilot. I derived similar satisfaction when my students passed their rides - and I enjoyed the same feeling as I saw them progress and achieve their goals. All this was fun. There's a lot to be said about exerting a positive influence on people.

As a practical matter, flight instructing is the most available entry-level piloting job around. There are so many 250-hour wiseguys who are so full of themselves that they have no doubt they will find a non-instructing job immediately. They change their tunes and get their CFIs as soon as they realize that there are tons of people like them looking for the same jobs. If you can get a non-instructing, non P-F-T job right out of school, more power to you. Just to be on the safe side, better get your CFI. It'll look good on your resume.

Good luck with your plans.

 

[bobbysamd]

P-F-T

Dustin, I can sympasize with your lack of desire to be a CFI, I didn't want to be one either. May I suggest you also look in to Tab Express, you can go straight to the right seat of a Beech 1900, totally bypassing the need to be a CFI.

By the way, the word is "sympathize."

Flamebait??

Assuming not, TAB Express is no longer only an expensive flight school that claims airline connections; it is a P-F-T airline!! Just like Gulfstream.

 

[CFI'er]

Looks like the TabExpress/FO is trying to join the ranks of the Riddle Rats and expound the virtues of high cost flight training. Good training, but very expensive. Be sure and check out all options before you give TabExpress any money.

 

[350DRIVER]

Dustin, I can sympasize with your lack of desire to be a CFI, I didn't want to be one either. May I suggest you also look in to Tab Express, you can go straight to the right seat of a Beech 1900, totally bypassing the need to be a CFI.

Tab,

The program and set up is a complete and absolute joke to be quite honest with you... Once you get to the regional level you can expect a can of a$$ whoopin to be poured upon you since most you will fly with came up the ranks the hard way. It is always quite comical to hear about the Colgan guys getting stuck with these 350 hour "wonders" who bought the job and now cannot even play with the gear and work the radios. There is a reason bud why we do not have a single bit of respect for you guys...Your life at the regionals is not going to be nearly as "sweet" as it appears to be present day dressing up and playing "pilot" on a King Air. You are in for a very very rude and abrupt awakening but you asked for it.

There is a reason why only a select few regionals will even take you, and that ain't going to change anytime soon.


enjoy "playing" pilot now cause those days ahead are not going to be nearly as "fun", trust me.


3 5 0

 

[SigAV8R]

Re: P-F-T and instructing

As a practical matter, flight instructing is the most available entry-level piloting job around. There are so many 250-hour wiseguys who are so full of themselves that they have no doubt they will find a non-instructing job immediately. They change their tunes and get their CFIs as soon as they realize that there are tons of people like them looking for the same jobs. If you can get a non-instructing, non P-F-T job right out of school, more power to you. Just to be on the safe side, better get your CFI. It'll look good on your resume.
Good luck with your plans.

I can sympathize with you on this subject. I wasn't to thrilled about instructing either...but after 600+ (and counting) hours of dual given, I can honestly say that flight instruction has taught me a h*ll of a lot about flying. Some of my students are now some of my best friends. Even getting a good CFI job is difficult as a 250hr pilot with a fresh CFI. If you work in a small aviation community, it'll be easier finding an instruction job. BTW: All 600 of those dual given hours have come within the last 12 months! Instruction (in the right situation) can help you build hours very quickly too.

Looks like the TabExpress/FO is trying to join the ranks of the Riddle Rats and expound the virtues of high cost flight training. Good training, but very expensive. Be sure and check out all options before you give TabExpress any money.

At least the Riddle Rats aren't P-F-T (job-wise) though and they do know some stuff (down to those minute details). I'm not a Riddle Rat, but I definitely wouldn't insult them by putting them on the same level with TAB and GIA. If you insult ERAU grads, you might as well knock any aviation college or dedicated 141 school. If they want to pay higher $$$ for their a/c rentals and instructors, that's their choice.

SigAV8R

 

[bobbysamd]

Instructing

As a practical matter, flight instructing is the most available entry-level piloting job around. . . . .

I can sympathize with you on this subject. I wasn't to thrilled about instructing either...

As a point of clarification, I was very proud and thrilled to death when I got my CFI. I was thrilled to instruct, excited beyond belief when I got my first full-time instructing job, enjoyed the great majority of my students, and am proud of my accomplishments and contributions as a flight instructor. I'd go back to it happily part-time if it were practicable to do so.

 

[jws717]

Is it just my imagination or do all gulfstream pilots have some sort of attitude problem?
Or do they just hate me because i make alot more money than them teaching in a 152?

 

[bobbysamd]

Legitimate employment

Is it just my imagination or do all gulfstream pilots have some sort of attitude problem?
Or do they just hate me because i make alot more money than them teaching in a 152?

Perhaps they don't appreciate the value of getting an aviation job without having to pay the employer, that they are jealous that an employer actually saw value in your abilities and qualifications and wanted you to work for him/her, that you were actually able to get a flying job without having to purchase it.

A person has to do what he/she feels is right for him/her. To paraphrase all the TV prescription drug commercials, ask a veteran pilot if P-F-T is right for you.

Just for grins, here's a link to a synopsis of the story of Faust by Goethe. And this is the long and short of Faust:

The Devil appears, and Faust tells him of his longing for youth and pleasure; Méphistophélès replies that these desires can be realized if he will forfeit his soul.

It's up to you. To thine own self be true.

 

[cargodawg]

I instructed for almost 2000 hrs and I'll tell you what when I started intervieving at airlines I felt I was definately an asset to their operation rather than an $8.00 per hour guy that talks to atc and bothers the cap. Also if you try to take shortcuts (like skipping the CFI bit) several airlines will notice and not want you. Your career WILL be in jeapordy. As much as you think you know now instruct for a few hundred hours then, if you can tell me you didn't learn a LOT I think you should then go buy a job.

 

[ilinipilot]

For all the money you would spend to PFT why dont you either:
a: buy a type rating and try and find a job that way.
b: use the money you would spend and but multi time or a twin engine plane. You can get 100 hours of multi for 6000 bucks or so. for 20,000 you can have 300 hours of multi and be very competitive in this industry.

just some thoughts
Dana