Local FBO Training Steps.

[dpipes44]

Big shocker, I'm a new guy who is very confused. It is not hard to belive that most of those Large Academies are looking out for your wallet not your career.

My question is while I finish my BS degree. What steps should I take getting my training at the local airport. I have nothing right now. What kind of hours am I looking for to get hired? Every place has different airline brige programs with different hours and simulators. What do you need? What is gonna benifit me the most?

Right now I work for the Fire Dept. so I have a lot of time off and the avaiblilty to work almost any flying job to start.

I'm in Melbourne, Fl if anyone has any suggestions for schools around here that would be great.


Thanks,
Anthony

 

[bobbysamd]

Training

I worked at FSI in Vero several years ago. I would disagree with any blanket assertion that the big schools are out only to rob you. A place like FlightSafety is pricey, but I believe you get what you pay for in terms of good training, great name recognition and an excellent start to your career if you can get a job instructing at one of these schools.

Having said that, there may be one or two schools in Vero that can accomodate your schedule. One was ProFlight of Vero, which was next door to FSI. Undoubtedly it has changed names several times since 1992.

Try taking a drive up to the airport at Titusville. There was a school/FBO there at one time; it still may be there.

Of course, you need your Commercial-Instrument to be a professional pilot. You should consider very serously getting your CFI to have a credential that will help you find work as quickly as possible. Upon completion of all your Commercial and CFI ratings you will have upwards of 250 hours.

Getting hired at the next step depends on your flying goal. Let's assume airlines. You want to find work with a commuter to build the experience needed for the majors/nationals/turbojets. Minimum requirements for commuters seem to range these days from 1000-up and 200 of multi-up. Turbine time is a plus and turbine PIC time is even better to get these jobs. The mins for landing interviews ebb and flow with the economy. These days I'm sure you need 1500 or better, 500 of multi or better and your ATP to get one of the few interviews to be had.

The step after the commuters would be the majors/nationals/turbojets. Probably a good 3000 hours total and at least 1000 of turbine PIC is your start.

I'm sure other posters will have varying opinions on the above.

I'm also sure that no one will disagree that there is no pilot shortage. Maybe with one brief exception 35 years ago there has never been a pilot shortage. Even on December 17, 1903 there was no pilot shortage. There are always many, many, many qualified applicants available for every job opening. The competition is fierce, but that doesn't mean that you cannot succeed. You must be prepared to make tremendous sacrifices and deal with a great amount of frustration along the way.

Hope that helps. Good luck with your plans.

 

[BeachBum]

I did my training in the Melbourne area. If you want to go with a smaller school and not some big academy, there are a few options. I did my initial training at the Merritt Island airport. The place where I trained was bought out, but I'm pretty sure there is still a school there under a different name. I finished up at the Aero Club at Patrick AFB. Unless you're military, you won't be able to train there. It was a great place with cheap prices. You could probably look into joining Civil Air Patrol, and then you would be allowed to fly at the club. I think the only training going on at Melbourne is Florida Tech's program. Don't know much about that. Might be a few schools up at Space Coast, but I'm not really sure. Hope this helps. Good Luck.

 

[Vardog]

How to get a job

My desire to become a pilot was born out of a lifelong dream, and a plan to have a "fun" career after I retire and sell my business. I have been training off and on for almost 2 years and am working on my instrument rating. My answer to you comes from 20 years of being in business for myself for years and the associations with those people that I knew in professional school.

I was not long after I began flight training that I started to hear about building hours, every one of the flight instructors is looking forward to that job that awaits them when they finally get the magic number of hours logged. So I questioned those at the flight school and from what I have heard the flight instructors agree that hours is the key. I remember thinking that this was odd, for my experience in the world, qualifications count for something but do not carry the weight that they seemed to in the aviation community.

If you look around at your FBO, you will probably find that there are pilots with jobs flying charter with hundreds of hours less time than some of the instructors. One example of this is at our FBO there is a guy flying a King Air for a company and he has less than 800 hours - 200 of them are in the King Air that he flies. So he got his job with 600 total hours. He got his ratings at the same FBO that I am training with and he got this job when there are many people that have double the hours that he does. How can this be?

Well, it seems that aviation is the same as the business world in at least one imprtant respect. That is - People hire pilots that they like, they hire pilots with less hours who have made some sort of good impression on them. They hire someone who stands out from the rest.

Put yourself in the shoes a person who is hiring a pilot. All of your applicants have the minimum qualifications. One of the applicants has made it a point to get to know your business and the people that run it. He/she is a likable person, etc. You actually know this person. Who would you call? You have heard the saying "it is who you know, not what you know." This is true in aviation.

I agree that the best pilot should get the best jobs, make the most money, etc. However that is not what is -- that is why they still use an interview in the hiring process.

When I get my ratings the only person to blame for not having the job that I want is me.

 

[dpipes44]

Thank You guys.
Boards like this are so great. It helps alot to get advice from people who hace been there, don't feel so lost.

I think I'm gonna get my PPL at Merritt Island airport. then take it from there.

thanks again

 

[bigD]

dpipes: for right now, my advice would be to go out and have fun getting your Private Certificate. Just enjoy the process, and when you're done, go take some friends flying, and then think about what your next step is going to be. Sometimes pilots get so focused on their overall goal - they forget that much (if not most) of the enjoyment is during the climb to get there. That's not to say that you shouldn't have a plan - just remember to stop and smell the roses along the way!

And the best pilots don't necessarily have to get the best jobs. Employers want a pilot that's going to be safe, obviously, but once a pilot has a good deal of experience, it's that pilot's attitude and demeanor in the cockpit that's going to dictate the safety of the flight, rather than raw skill. That's a big part of what the interview is for.