Whats better an FBO or a Academy?

[turpentyine]

What would be the best place to take flying lessons for a 19 year old college sophmore who hopes to have a career as an airline pilot instead of in his major an FBO or one of those avaition Academies?

 

[stillaboo]

it's all in who your instructor is, honestly.

FBO is cheaper, may be faster.

Academy usually offers more connections within the industry (some connections may turn out to be bogus, though).

There has been a ton of info posted on this board already concerning the various methods of getting to the right seat 121. Most include getting your CFI and instructing for 2 years or so. There's tons of info posted on that too.

Do a search for more info.

Good luck,
-Boo

edit: I'd go do a Cessna intro flight to make sure you like flying, then go get a first class medical (to make sure you can qualify for one. If you can't, you won't ever fly 121, IMO). Then go get your private at a local FBO while you continue to go to school. Maybe get your rateings at an FBO over the summers. Graduate with your CMEL-I and maybe your CFI-I and go from there to either an academy's quick program or instruct at the place where you got your CFI. Talk to your instructor and others ofr advice, and ask questions of the various academies (who all have internet sites). And do searches on this board before you commit. There's allot of good info on here, and allot of garbage too.

 

[turpentyine]

what keywords should i put in the search box?

 

[bobbysamd]

Training choices

Try searching using "flight school," flight academy," "Part 61," "Part 141." You can try searching by names of flight schools.

Do you plan to learn how to fly while you go to college? How about checking into your college's flight program? You can earn your ratings and your degree.

If that's not a choice, your availability to fly might dictate the choice. Going to college full-time, i.e. taking 12 or more hours a semester, and learning to fly might be too much of a load. Learning to fly may be fun, but still requires a great deal of preparation and study to maximize your training experience and training dollar.

I tend to favor academies because they impose a beneficial structure and discipline. Non-academy learning can be unstructured and disorganized. That might be fine for someone who is learning to fly for fun, but may not be the best thing for someone who wants the career.

In any event, going to college and learning to fly, even if done separately, requires good time management skills. Doing both at the same time requires very good time management skills. Only you can make that determination. If you don't have such skills, both flying and school will suffer.

Having said that, if you don't choose a college flight program, why not first get college out of the way and then learn how to fly? That way you can put forth your best efforts for both and enjoy both. You can finish a flight program full-time in a year.

Good luck with your choice.

 

[turpentyine]

but if i do college first and then flying lessons wont i b really old before i finally have nice flying job with a major airline?

 

[100LL... Again!]

Probably, we're all going to be very old before we work for a major airline.

Pick a good regional and try like heck to get on there.

 

[stillaboo]

but if i do college first and then flying lessons wont i b really old before i finally have nice flying job with a major airline?

No. When you start 121 regionals at less than age 28 or so, you're still pretty young. Yeah, there's a couple guys who are RJ CA's at age 24 or on at a major at 25 (UA ), but you won't be behind if you start flying after college.

I too prefer the 141 'academy' approach, for what it's worth. It just didn't seem like the best fit for you since you should consider getting your 4 year as your #1 priority right now.

-Boo!

 

[bobbysamd]

Age

but if i do college first and then flying lessons wont i b really old before i finally have nice flying job with a major airline?

Define "really old." When you're young, thirty seems like it is really old. Younger is better, but being thirty does not mean that you have to give up and go to the old folks' home. You're still plenty employable, for the airlines and other flying jobs.

As a practical matter, it will be years before the majors hire in the numbers they did in the late '90s. For one thing, the economy has to improve. When the majors start needing pilots again, they will first recall furloughees, who number in the thousands. It will take a few years before the airlines absorb the furloughees. Then, it will draw from the ranks of other experienced pilots. So, it might be a few years before you get your turn.

The long and short of it is you won't miss out on anything if you finish college first and then devote your energies to flight training. In fact, times might improve by then, so your chances of finding your first flying job right after graduation may also improve. If you're really anxious about starting with aviation, you can always go to summer school and/or take a bigger courseload and finish college in less than four years.

Good luck with your decisions.

 

[greyhound]

Hey turpintyine........

Look at it this way, I'm 26,
I feel that even if it takes me until I'm 30 to get to a regional, that is still a 30 year flying career. That's longer than you and I have lived!
Consider stillaboo's advice about the four-year degree if the major's are what you are after.
Then you can decide which path is better for you.
Or as bobbysamd suggested, get it all in one place. That is, go to a college that offers flight training and a degree.

I did it all at a school near my home, and after 7 months, 250hours and $21,000 later, I was comm. multi-instrument rated.
However, it was not as structured as they say the academies are. So I structured it myself by setting up a plan to complete the course in as little time as possible. Scheduling aircraft ahead of time, same hours, 6 to 7 days a week in advance. I was also booking my instructor the same way.
At the end of a lesson, I would ask what we were going to do the next day.(Example) If it was going over stalls, I would look-up what the completion standards were, and learn the proper way to configure the airplane, stall-it, then recover. I forced myself to do it the same way over and over until it was like walking.
You are probably wondering why all this, doesn't everybody do the same thing when they learn to fly? NOPE!
When you decide to study at an FBO, it is way more laid-back.
Many students would show up like, "O.K, what are we going to do today?" Spending time and $$$ just for preparation.
At an academy, you are (from what I hear) pretty much doing things a standard way. Things are EXPECTED from you at certain levels of your training. Some academies won't let you advance to the next lesson until you master the previous one.
Not the case at your typical FBO. You have to be realistic and responsible for your own learning sometimes.
It's cheaper at an FBO, that is why I went there. But I would have gone to an academy back then if I had the money,. Now, I’m glad I didn’t. Yeah the connections to the airlines at some of the academies are attractive, but the chief pilot at my local school is also well connected to his school and offered me an instructor opportunity if I ever wanted it.

So you have some time to think about it, and hopefully you’ll get a lot of responses to help you make a decision. Good luck!

 

[acaTerry]

but if i do college first and then flying lessons wont i b really old before i finally have nice flying job with a major airline?


MATURITY IS THE ABILITY TO ACCEPT DELAYED GRATIFICATION.....
And besides, history has shown that "nice flying jobs" are earned, not given.

Don't worry about age too much, I saw an article about a 50 year old who got hired at SWA. Besides, being old makes people less apt to argue with you, and the FA's are nicer to you