Heritage Flight Academy CFII rating

[Ridgewoodpilot]

I was hoping that someone might have some input on this flight school. Heritage Flight Academy located at ISP NY. It was the former American Flyers, although I believe its the same owners just doing business under a different name. Anyway it seemed like a very proffesional atmosphere. Apparently they have the identical course outlines as American Flyers, so if anyone had done their CFI/CFII at AF that info would help. If anyone had heard anything, good or bad about the place or its CFI/CFII program its greatly appreciated.

 

[sirius100]

Steve and Neil over at Heritage are real good people. They definitely have a great professional operation going on over there and I highly recommend anyone interested in aviation to talk with them. If I had chosen the CFI route, I 100% would have gone threw their CFII program.

 

[Ridgewoodpilot]

Thanks for the input Sirius. How is it that you know them? Did you take any courses there?

 

[sirius100]

A good friend of mine worked as an instructor for them while they were operating under AF a while back. I went to them a few months ago to finish my commercial rating and they helped me wrap it up quickly. Real professional people. I wish they had their twin at that time I would have done my multi rating with them. It should be operating real soon. Go in there and talk with them. Summer is just about here. If you start training now you can be instructing in May. Now"s the time.

 

[moso23]

yeah, neil's a nice guy.....i believe they have a few 172s now, they're also getting a dutchess pretty soon and maybe even getting a 141 cert...

very professional and very clean office, however, i've never taken any courses there, just from what i've heard

not sure why AF closed down...i think they may have closed their white plains school as well

HFA's very knowledgeable about the industry including everything that's going on locally

ridgewoodpilot, are you looking at any other flight schools @ ISP?
what about @ FRG?
are you going for your CFI or CFII?
if so, which examiner are you taking you checkride(s) with?


GOOD LUCK!!!

 

[Ridgewoodpilot]

Looks like I'm down to 3. HFA, Academy of Aviation(AOA) and Nassau Flyers. I'm actually still debating whether I'm taking the CFI-A or CFII. If I stay at AOA
I'm guaranteed a job immediately after the CFII for the initial. If I take it at HFA, no job so I'll have to take the CFI-A for the initial so that way its easier to find some work. Same at Nassau flyers. HFA and Nassau seem to have better programs and are more expensive but again no job and I'll have to freelance. With that said I'd take any input as far as experience even opinions go.

 

[sirius100]

American Flyers shut down because Steve and Neil left to open HFA. AF was ripping people off and they were sick of it. Both ISP and HPN flyers shut down when HFA opened up.

Where ever you get your instructors certificates will hire you as one of their own. That goes for any flight school. The school that trains you is training you to their standards. You'll be teaching the day after your ride with the feds. I know for a fact they need instructors at HFA. That be my choice.

I personally avoid flying into FRG like the plague. The place is a zoo. 20 min to get off the ground. Tower has you on an extended left downwind over the northport stacks, not to mention the guy on the right downwind doing the same. No thanks.

 

[dueguard1]

Wow, American Flyers is Closed???

 

[moso23]

ridgewood, where is AOA? I've never heard of them...are they at FRG or ISP?

my advice would be to take the CFII as your initial with the FSDO. then take your CFI with a DE. i believe that the FRG FSDO has a huge backlog of CFI applicants, thus they've been farming the checkrides out to a DE. most likely with the DE Bob Ozinsky (sp?) out in ISP.

Nassau Flyers is very expensive if you do plan on training there....not sure how expensive HFA is.

if you're already training at AOA and they guarantee you a job once you get your CFII, then there you go. is AOA willing to pay for your CFI training or any Multi/MEI training later on down the road? do they have a multi where you could possibly get an employee discount?

from what i hear, SUNY FRG is also hurting for instructors. I'm not sure about nassau flyers, i know they have (or maybe had) a lot of instructors the last time i heard. not sure how it is instructor-wise over at nassau flyers now.

again, my experience has been that it's a lot less stressful to take the CFII as your initial as opposed to the CFI. i wish i had done it that way. it would have saved me a lot of grief, time, and money when i was going through it 6 years ago.

also, if you live closer to ISP find a school at ISP and if you live closer to FRG, then find a school there. personally, i think that FRG has a bigger student base than ISP. so from an instructor standpoint, maybe instructing at FRG would be better. i do agree that no matter where you train, you will get hired there.

by the way, did you talk to HFA & NFI and explain your situation (getting your CFII as initial)? is that why you said that they won't offer you an instructing job there until you get your CFI? or did you come to this conclusion on your own?

 

[CaptSeth]

Nassau fliers fleet is junk.

 

[Ridgewoodpilot]

Done deal fellow pilots. It looks as though I'm in at AOA AKA Pilots Haven. I was offered an instructors position right after the completion of training and cert.. As well as back seat ops. in the process. Which I may add at HFA Neil was a little thrown back by it and said " Oh, thats only offered to people we hire". Thats fine but not for me.

 

[moso23]

okay, now i know where aoa is. it's in between lf academy and talon air.

i hear that the owner there at aoa is in a bit of a financial pickle as far as the flight school goes. are you going to freelance there at aoa? i hear lf academy has very well maintained a/c.

by the way, what do you mean by back set ops?

 

[Ridgewoodpilot]

LOL Financial Pickle. To tell you the truth your probably not that far off. As for the fleet, it probably is one of the best on the field. 80% glass and all in sweet condition. Back seat ops? Just observing a full lesson in progress, to get the hang of things.

 

[Ridgewoodpilot]

Hey Moso, You got me thinking, where did you here about AOA being in a financial pickle? As for LF I used to rent there but availability became an issue. Jose is good people and does keep his fleet ship shape but unfortunately when I asked for my refund due to availability it seemed Jose may have gotten a sour taste in his mouth for me.

 

[moso23]

Hey Moso, You got me thinking, where did you here about AOA being in a financial pickle? As for LF I used to rent there but availability became an issue. Jose is good people and does keep his fleet ship shape but unfortunately when I asked for my refund due to availability it seemed Jose may have gotten a sour taste in his mouth for me.

just a rumor i heard from a reliable source about aoa.. it has something to do with the leased a/c and their owners

i've rented from lf in the past. very well equipped and maintained a/c. jose may be getting another archer. he may be also lloking into getting some type of glas cockpit equipped single as many customers have been asking about it.

 

[Ridgewoodpilot]

Just thought I'd let all of you fine people know that my final decision had come down to Heritage flight Academy, and boy oh boy am I ever happy I had gone this route instead of Academy of Aviation. The difference in the knowledge of the instructors, the quality of training as well as the quality of pilots that attend is night and day. I recently ran into a buddy that decided to go with AOA, so we started exchanging experiences so far. AOA didn't even have an outline in the course. Apparently he was just told to go home and study his ass off, go out to the local pilot shop and buy a pre-layed out lesson plan and study it. Oh I forgot he was also forced to purchase the King CFI DVD box set at a cost of 280 bucks even though he's taking the CFI-I for his initial. I hate to put down anyone really I do, but I guess when I was so close to making the same mistake I tend to take it personal. In any case if anyone ever decides to take a course in aviation let me just mention, brightly lit classrooms, the best instructors I've run into (half of them fly for the airlines), Full 3-screen Sim, Lounge, cafeteria, in-house pilot shop, My god I can go on and on. Anyway not to sound like a spokesman I'm really happy with my decision and just wanted to thank you guys for time and input.

 

[moso23]

sounds like you made the right decision

good luck!!

 

[moso23]

by the way, are you going for the CFII or CFI as your initial?

 

[Ridgewoodpilot]

Sorry for the delay, I decided to go for CFII first. Just to take the edge off.

 

[moso23]

i wish i had taken the route you're taking now. getting the CFII as my intial would have taken a lot of pressure off during the checkride with the FSDO.

since the FRG FSDO is so backed up, they'll probably assign you to a DPE, bob oszinsky. i believe he is either a CP or part owner of midisland air located on the other side of ISP.

how many instructors does HFA have right now?
have they gotten the dutchess yet?
what stage/phase of training are you at with your CFII?
also, do you plan on instructing there at HFA once you're done?