Where to go? - ATP, UVSC

I don't see him now while he's a CFI M-F 8-12 hours a day, +32 hours of weekend work to pay the bills,

Wow. That's dedication, man. He must really want this. You gotta applaud that sort of dedication.

Yeah - so degree now, later - whatever... for him I'm just impressed he's not catatonic.
 
Maybe somebody already got this,
but it really boils down to each individual's situation.
For example, my friend and I are the same age. I am married with kids, he is single with no kids. I have to pay for school on my own, he has financial help from military and parents. I have to rent/buy a house or apartment, he could live in a tent.
My way of doing it is different than his. But as long as we choose what is best for ourselves and our family (be it 5 or just 1 member) then neither of us did it the wrong way.
Oh and Michelle, Kudos to you for being as supportive as you are for your husband!!!
 
I read some people saying that I should go to a local FBO and spend $20,000 to $30,000. Are there really FBOs where you can get as much multi time and get as many licenses as ATP for $20,000-$30,000?

See, therin lies the rub, you DONT NEED that much multi time. Almost all regionals are hiring at or below 100 multi right now, some as low as just the multi commercial license, and they are still struggling to fill seats.

I now know three guys that got hired at regionals in the last three months with less than 50 multi.

You spend a lot less and get the hours you actually need, not what the flashy marketing tells you you need.

Granted, the onus will be heavily on your shoulders to push through, you don't have the same pressure cooker atmosphere of academy style outfits, where you have a checkride just about weekly.

If you decide to quit or go elsewhere the FBO doesn't keep 30% of the loan you took out, so you don't have that huge financial stressor pushing you forward either.

But if you are motivated and work hard you can get your ratings as quick or as slow as you want.
 
I read some people saying that I should go to a local FBO and spend $20,000 to $30,000. Are there really FBOs where you can get as much multi time and get as many licenses as ATP for $20,000-$30,000?

At a particularly good FBO I know of with pretty fair prices:

PPL: 40 hours dual and 10 solo: $5850
Inst Time building: 45 hours solo XC: $3825
Inst Instruction: 15 hours: $1875
Comm time building: 130 hours solo: $11,050
Comm Multi Training: 20 hours: $4200
Comm SE Add-On: $625
CFI, MEI, CFII: Estimated Costs: $4000

That's $31,425 for flight and instruction alone. From that you get about 270 TT, 40 multi.

Add 5 writtens for $450.

Add 6 checkrides (is actually 7, but the initial CFI should be free) for $2100.

Add books, supplies, charts, etc for about $500.

Grand Total: $34,475 - or call it 35k as a buffer. And clearly, it could be cheaper if you got a safety pilot for time-building - you could take that money saved and get more multi if you wanted, or just get hired as an MEI to get your multi and bank the cash. I'm not advocating all that safety pilot time, but you could do it.
 
Grand Total: $34,475 - or call it 35k as a buffer. And clearly, it could be cheaper if you got a safety pilot for time-building - you could take that money saved and get more multi if you wanted, or just get hired as an MEI to get your multi and bank the cash.
:yeahthat: and I would call that the high estimate.

Building total time as a safety pilot is legit.
Going on trips with friends and splitting the cost equally is legit.
Getting a job as a line guy usually gets you discounts.

As a CFI I get as much as a 25% discount on rentals, so I will be using that for CFII, CMEL add on, and MEI.

Not to mention all the time I am getting paid to log right now.

Edit to add:
Ian's numbers also included Private Pilot, ATP requires you to have the PPL with I think 85 hours before you even start, so add roughly another $8000 to the total cost of that program.
 
Maybe somebody already got this,
but it really boils down to each individual's situation.
For example, my friend and I are the same age. I am married with kids, he is single with no kids. I have to pay for school on my own, he has financial help from military and parents. I have to rent/buy a house or apartment, he could live in a tent.
My way of doing it is different than his. But as long as we choose what is best for ourselves and our family (be it 5 or just 1 member) then neither of us did it the wrong way.
Oh and Michelle, Kudos to you for being as supportive as you are for your husband!!!
Very good points! No two people's situations are alike so it's hard to say what is the "right" way to do things, sometimes I forget that and tell people "don't do this or that" when really their life is totally different than mine.

And thanks for the kudos! He must be good for/at "something" ;) if I stick around this long huh?? :D
 
:yeahthat: and I would call that the high estimate.

Building total time as a safety pilot is legit.
Going on trips with friends and splitting the cost equally is legit.
Getting a job as a line guy usually gets you discounts.

As a CFI I get as much as a 25% discount on rentals, so I will be using that for CFII, CMEL add on, and MEI.

Not to mention all the time I am getting paid to log right now.

Edit to add:
Ian's numbers also included Private Pilot, ATP requires you to have the PPL with I think 85 hours before you even start, so add roughly another $8000 to the total cost of that program.

Absolutely.

And this particular school I'm talking about will train their CFIs for the double I and MEI for free. I went high on purpose as a worst case sort of thing.
 
I read some people saying that I should go to a local FBO and spend $20,000 to $30,000. Are there really FBOs where you can get as much multi time and get as many licenses as ATP for $20,000-$30,000?
Yes, UVSC. The Twinstars are only $150 per hour. Also, the program is way better. I'm instructing there now. I was in the whole mess of not getting hired for 4 months but it has been resolved because there are now 4 new faculty people over each area of instruction-private, instrument, commercial/cfi, and multi. I think some of what is written above was true, not any more. Things are looking good around here.
 
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