Internship @ ACA or do CFI

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

Wanted to see if anyone has any experience and/or opinion on the following:

I have a friend that is going to an "Airline Academy" training facility (PFT). He has a chance to do an unpaid 13 week internship with ACA in the DC area. Allegedly he is supposed to get an interview with ACA at the end of the 13 weeks. He is debating to do this or pursue his CFI ticket. Either way, both will require additional money. His heart is not into being a CFI.
So with that in mind, does anyone have any suggestions or ideas? My radar says to pursue the CFI ticket. That provides the potential for more opportunity.

I ask this not be a debate about PFT. I am not a fan of PFT and think it is border line criminal the way they pimp their merchandise. Thanks in advance.

 

[bobbysamd]

Choice A or Choice B

What about a Choice C? Meaning, why can't your friend do both? Attend the internship and go after his CFI?

The great thing about any kind of internship is the opportunity to make contacts. That would be the primary benefit. I like your use of "allegedly" regarding the "interview" "promise." So many of these outfits make promises they don't intend to honor.

I hear/read plenty about people who do not have their hearts into flight instructing. I appreciate opinions that such people should do a favor for present and future students and not instruct. However, they are not being practical for the reason you mention and others; the primary reason being that instructing may be the only job they can get.

I appreciate your point of view regarding P-F-T. Other aspects of it aside, I've written plenty about P-F-T's fraud potential.

 

[jetpilotjay]

cfi or intern

A good friend of mine from flight school got the oportunity to do the internship with ACA. He says they treat you well, but he was told that after his interview for an FO position, he would probably not get a class date for at least a year. I believe a lot is riding on whether or not United renews their agreements with them. That decision is supposed to come this week. My .02 is that they will, ACA is their biggest partner. If things stand as they are your friend will have the opportunity to do both(CFI & intern). My friend told me that ACA is interviewing the interns for non-flying jobs until class dates though. He has 4 weeks left in his internship. The plus side of the internship is that you get to know the right people at that airline.

 

[jumppilot03]

my .02

From what I have heard from friends doing the ACA internship, to

be "guarinteed" an interview upon completion of the internship,

the pilot must first have 600 TT. I had many friends CFI up to

the coveted 600 hour mark before going on the internship. After

is said and done, a CFI ticket gives you access to far more jobs

a internship with one company can offer you. What happens if

you are not hired at the end of the intership? Just a thought

-Jumppilot

 

[surfnole]

Buddy of mine did the internship and probably went to same flight school as your friend. He blew the sim ride and did not get hired. However, he had not flown in almost a year.

So...weigh the cost of gaining internship experience versus the risk of busting out of training and what that does to your resume.

13 weeks is not long, and he will make lots of contacts even if he does not get a job. Do Both!

 

[EMcx2]

Spend more time at ATA getting a CFI with little chance of getting a job or do grunt work at ACA hoping to get on a list at least a year long. Or your friend could do Stage 3 and pay mega dollars for 250 hours of right seat time.

Such great choices at ATA

 

[CFI'er]

Quote-Emcx2 “Or your friend could do Stage 3 and pay mega dollars for 250 hours of right seat time.”


EMcx2 does not know the available programs at ATA. First, the 250 right seat program you mentioned is actually 300 SIC multi-engine turbo prop hours working with a 135 airline. Granted Ameriflight flies packages, but the hours are true multi-engine turbo prop hours. The students who complete this program will have 700 total flight hours, 430 are multi-engine flight hours.

Quote-Emcx2 “Spend more time at ATA getting a CFI with little chance of getting a job“

So what you really are saying is: Any student at any school, going the CFI route, will have a hard time working as a CFI. Wrong, there are jobs available as a CFI, you just have to look for them. It might not be at the Academy/flight School where they trained, but there are CFI jobs out there.

Quote-Emcx2 “or do grunt work at ACA hoping to get on a list at least a year long. “

If you do not consider this a door open opportunity, to prove you are worthy as a pilot for this airline, then you are not thinking out of the box. Another example of your lack of understanding of the intern program ACA has. The requirements are a 4-year aviation degree, and 600 total hours, 100 multi-engines. For your information, the list is not even close to a yearlong. At best, it has only been 3 months. They only do the intern program every three months.

Take the internship program. It might be the one and only chance you get to work for an outstanding regional airline. You can do the CFI training if you arn't hired right after the internship.

 

[SDF2BUF2MCO]

Thanks for the responses. At this time it looks like he'll do the CFI training. It's a shame how some of these schools market themselves. Realize you have to have an audience to market to but to allow someone go into debt without a conscience is beyond my comprehension. Oh well, we've got a government that pimps the lottery and infomercials pimping quick rich schemes. Everyone is a winner!
Right now there is more supply of pilots than demand. Very similar to the entertainment industry whether it be Hollywood, music, or sports. Wonder why you don't see the same thing in the accounting profession ?!

 

[Pilot877]

Clarification

For the benefit of anybody who is new to all of this, ACA is not a pay for training airline, but there is an internship program where college students are given the opportunity to learn how our airline works and, if they meet the qualifications at the end of their internships, they are given the chance to interview for a possible pilot position at the airline. This is in no way a guarantee of a job for anybody and no intern has to pay ACA to participate in the program. I was not an intern myself, but those who did should not be labeled as PFT due to a misunderstanding of this thread. Also, from what I understand, the competetion for an intern slot is pretty fierce and is not just given out to anybody who comes through a flight school program.

 

[Bouyer]

IF YOU ARE TALKING ABOUT ATA. ACA ISN'T THE ONLY BRIDGE PROGRAM THEY HAVE (BRIDGE PROGRAM) NOT INTERNSHIP
THEY HAVE A COUPLE OF OTHERS ALSO, AND THEY DO GUARANTEE
YOU A JOB, IN THERE AIRSTAGE 3 THEY GUARANTEE YOU A JOB. THATS RIGHT A JOB WITH ONE OF THEIR DESIGNATED AIRLINES
AND IF YOU DON'T GET A JOB FOR SOME STRANGE REASON THEN THAT IS YOUR OWN STUPIDITY AND YOU PROBABLY SHOULDN'T BE FLYING ANYWAY

 

[Pilot877]

Hahaha, well if there is one thing for sure in this industry, it is that you are never guaranteed anything. I dont know where your guaranteed jobs are, but I can tell you that they are not at Atlantic Coast Airlines.
As far as the term "Bridge Program", it just means that when you complete the 13 week internship you are eligible for an interview if you meet the flight time requirements. In that interview, by the way, you will be with pilots who have far more experience and flight time than you but the interns do have the advantage of getting to learn all about the company before hand if they pay attention during the internship.
Seems like flame bait to me, but I can tell you that there is no room at any airline for people who go around telling others that they are stupid and shouldnt be flying if they happen to fail an interview.

 

[EMcx2]

Here is the deal with ATA. ATA suckered many people into believing that if they paid a LOT of money and did the Stage 1 and Stage 2 programs they then would be hired by an airline. Now nobody will hire these "graduates". ATA now wants these people to pay more money to become an instructor or to buy SIC time at Ameriflight. Lets be clear about that, these people are not getting a job, they are buying 300 hours of SIC time. If anybody really wants the true scoop on ATA, talk to the students, the FAA, or the Better Business bureau. You will hear about how ATA lost its self-examining authority and then its Part 141 status. You’ll also hear about scary planes and fatal accidents. Then you will hear about lawsuits and disgruntled students who cannot get their money back.

 

[Bouyer]

are we talking about the right ata (airline training academy) i dont know where you got your info from, but that is untrue what you are saying. (i am a student there) what about the 12 students that just took jobs with two airlines and the 20+ students a few months back that got hired on, they are hiring the students.

 

[AvJunke]

DO THE INTERNSHIP

Tell your friend he HAS to do the internship. If I could change one thing about my college tenure it would be to go back and take the unpaid internship prior to completing my CFI. I had friends get hired at various regionals with 350/50 who did the internships. I didn't buy into the program, I knew no one has any business flying for an airline with that experience. I went out and got my instructor ratings and a right seat job in a Citation, which hasn't been bad. But........they were given class dates and beat me to the airlines by 2 years and are still going strong while I've had 1 class date canceled and another that may be in the future. I guarantee you it is the only way your going to get an airline to even consider you for an interview with 600 hrs over the next few years. If "he" is dead set on an airline gig, the internship is a must. It's a lot easier to get hired at an airline after you've made some contacts within and have people pushing for you than it is off the street. Good luck.