Schools

[stmltt]

New Cirrus

Thanks everyone for their input. After researching more about WMU I found out that they are getting brand new Cirrus aircraft (30 of them.) Combined with everything else, this makes the school my number one choice at the time. Any more info is always appreciated.

 

[kj6991]

I went to Oklahoma State University, decent size program and very fairly priced. University of Oklahoma is good too, a little more expensive due to the fact that they fly brand new piper warriors.

i went to Oklahoma State as well. great school , great bars, great gals

 

[WMUchickenhawk]

Thanks everyone for their input. After researching more about WMU I found out that they are getting brand new Cirrus aircraft (30 of them.) Combined with everything else, this makes the school my number one choice at the time. Any more info is always appreciated.

We were supposed to have about a dozen of them by now. As of the middle of December (the last time I was at the facilities) we had one. Not that thats has stopped them from selling off the Cessna's that we had been using.

 

[gkrangers]

Cirrus? Thats going to be awfully expensive....

 

[gkrangers]

Oh, heres, as far as I know, the current rental costs at ERAU Daytona.

172S (few years old to new, GPS, etc) 160 dual
Seminole - ~265 dual. Dual garmin 530s, etc..really nice airplanes.

They have Arrows too..but I couldn't find a price, might also be phasing those out. Wouldn't shock me if they started to use Diamond Star aircraft, since the CAPT program up at Flagler X47 uses them...

AND, I also saw 2 or 3 SR22s sitting in the MX area..

 

[WMUchickenhawk]

Cirrus? Thats going to be awfully expensive....

According to the brass, it wont cost anymore than the 172's. They worked out some sort of lease deal that gets us new aircraft every few years, and after 10 years the planes are ours outright. Supposedly rates won't be going up at all. Supposedly.
Im a little sceptical myself.

 

[gkrangers]

According to the brass, it wont cost anymore than the 172's. They worked out some sort of lease deal that gets us new aircraft every few years, and after 10 years the planes are ours outright. Supposedly rates won't be going up at all. Supposedly.
Im a little sceptical myself.

I thiunk you are wise to be skeptical.

 

[CrewDawg]

They let you rent the seminoles solo? Not sure why the insurance co. would allow that. Seems like a high liability. Also only 20 for an instructor? Those guys are not getting paid enough since I'm sure they are probably only seeing half of it. Consider that if you are thinking about instructing there eventually.
-drinkduff

Kent State rents seminoles solo. You just need 25 PIC in the aircraft and a checkout. Whats wrong with that. I would say that most of the hours put on our seminoles lately would be rented solo. Most of the time it's someone with an MEI and another person building time.


I just graduated from Kent State University (currently instructing) and was pretty happy with the program. Like all programs it has its ups and downs. I like the small program atmosphere, maybe because I went to a small school (graduated with 36 kids).

Almost went to BGSU, because it was real close to home and my guard unit but am glad I decided to go to KSU. The program seemed a little shaky at the time. I have heard they have bought a new seminole and arrow or two. Had a few friends in the program who switched to other majors and fly elseware.

As for WMU, I was up there for a competition this fall and it seemed like a nice program. They have lots of planes including a few Extra 300's I would like to get my hands on. Am considering going up there to do my floatplane in there Supercub on floats (if they allow students from outside). They recieved the first few Cirrus aircarft while I was up there. Seems nice and all but I would like to learn on the stardard six pack, not all planes you are going to fly have glass. Breeds to much SJS, I will talk more on that subject later. Nothing like shooting a no-gyro NDB approach to pass you instrument ride, to build your confidence!!

Another thing that can be good and bad is the weather up north. It's good in that you will get more experience with actual IFR, and icing and such. But this can also hinder you getting courses done. I think it's worth it because there is no replacement for some solid IFR experience. I had more actual @ 300 hours than my friend who went to a school down south and was a 800 hour CFI/CFII.

One thing I do not like is the way 141 schools "baby" students. There were many times I would have liked to gone flying and could have did so safely, but due to their rules I was not allowed. I think another thing these schools breed is the SJS. I can not count how many instructors I have watched sit and sit getting close to 1500-2000 hours (some over 2000!!!!) and holding out for a nice shiney jet. They will sit around complaining that they make no money and have no multi time but wont do anything about it. I don't know if its the fear of the unknown or what but i'll never understand it. Many of these guys/girls had enough hours to go to places like airnet, flight express, ram air.....the list goes on. All places where they could gain some GREAT experience but they wont because "there gonna fly a ERJ/CRJ." One guy went as far as to make fun of the one instructor that had enough b@lls to go to airnet becuase they have six week groundschool to, as he put it, "FLY A BARON." Ya, well that guy will be flying his baron through some tough $hit by himself, while you sit with another pilot beside you to make decisions for you. Not to toot my own horn but I am always looking around on here and other places for jobs so when I get enough hours to apply I will know what is out there. I have told many CFI's with many more hours about some of these jobs and that had never heard of them. It was AIRNET, he even grew up and flew in out of columbus for a while!!! Sorry to rant but this is my pet peeve, people who rush headlong into an aviation career and think the airlines are the only place that hires pilots.

Back on the topic. Sorry to sound like a broken record. But if I had it do all over again I would have majored in something other than aviation, or something to do with aviation safety. You will save $$$$ and have your options open in case anything happens to your medical. I have already seen this happen to one of my friends. I am considering working on my M.B.A. to have something to fall back on "just in case."

 

[WMUchickenhawk]

Kent State rents seminoles solo. You just need 25 PIC in the aircraft and a checkout. Whats wrong with that. I would say that most of the hours put on our seminoles lately would be rented solo. Most of the time it's someone with an MEI and another person building time.


I just graduated from Kent State University (currently instructing) and was pretty happy with the program. Like all programs it has its ups and downs. I like the small program atmosphere, maybe because I went to a small school (graduated with 36 kids).

Almost went to BGSU, because it was real close to home and my guard unit but am glad I decided to go to KSU. The program seemed a little shaky at the time. I have heard they have bought a new seminole and arrow or two. Had a few friends in the program who switched to other majors and fly elseware.

As for WMU, I was up there for a competition this fall and it seemed like a nice program. They have lots of planes including a few Extra 300's I would like to get my hands on. Am considering going up there to do my floatplane in there Supercub on floats (if they allow students from outside). They recieved the first few Cirrus aircarft while I was up there. Seems nice and all but I would like to learn on the stardard six pack, not all planes you are going to fly have glass. Breeds to much SJS, I will talk more on that subject later. Nothing like shooting a no-gyro NDB approach to pass you instrument ride, to build your confidence!!

Another thing that can be good and bad is the weather up north. It's good in that you will get more experience with actual IFR, and icing and such. But this can also hinder you getting courses done. I think it's worth it because there is no replacement for some solid IFR experience. I had more actual @ 300 hours than my friend who went to a school down south and was a 800 hour CFI/CFII.

One thing I do not like is the way 141 schools "baby" students. There were many times I would have liked to gone flying and could have did so safely, but due to their rules I was not allowed. I think another thing these schools breed is the SJS. I can not count how many instructors I have watched sit and sit getting close to 1500-2000 hours (some over 2000!!!!) and holding out for a nice shiney jet. They will sit around complaining that they make no money and have no multi time but wont do anything about it. I don't know if its the fear of the unknown or what but i'll never understand it. Many of these guys/girls had enough hours to go to places like airnet, flight express, ram air.....the list goes on. All places where they could gain some GREAT experience but they wont because "there gonna fly a ERJ/CRJ." One guy went as far as to make fun of the one instructor that had enough b@lls to go to airnet becuase they have six week groundschool to, as he put it, "FLY A BARON." Ya, well that guy will be flying his baron through some tough $hit by himself, while you sit with another pilot beside you to make decisions for you. Not to toot my own horn but I am always looking around on here and other places for jobs so when I get enough hours to apply I will know what is out there. I have told many CFI's with many more hours about some of these jobs and that had never heard of them. It was AIRNET, he even grew up and flew in out of columbus for a while!!! Sorry to rant but this is my pet peeve, people who rush headlong into an aviation career and think the airlines are the only place that hires pilots.

Back on the topic. Sorry to sound like a broken record. But if I had it do all over again I would have majored in something other than aviation, or something to do with aviation safety. You will save $$$$ and have your options open in case anything happens to your medical. I have already seen this happen to one of my friends. I am considering working on my M.B.A. to have something to fall back on "just in case."

Id pretty much agree with everything here. Im not to positive about learning with the glass cockpit, but since Ive done the primary training in steam, the SJS in me is looking forward to glass.
And of the couple Cirrus' you saw, only one was ours, the other two were Cirrus demo aircraft. The brought them in for show. Its almost 3 months later, and N1180 is still the only one we have.

 

[FrozenPilot]

Another UND grad here.

Gotta say that UND is a very nice place to go to, besides putting up with bitter cold winters. But what doesn't kill ya makes you a better pilot, right?

The training is good, the rates are reasonable for what you get, you do get babied, they breed SJS, you get actual, the Minnesota women are great (i'm engaged to one), and you can take classes, majors and minors outside of aviation for not too expensive tuition. If you can look through the bull$hit, you'll come out a decent low time pilot with some awesome experiences and not as much debt as your collegiate aviation peers. While Riddle-Prescott still advertises a Denny's manager position on their job site (so i've been told by one of their grads) UND posts somewhat attainable flight jobs, some even with lower minimums. Its definately worth a look.