A Few Questions From A Possible Future Student

Originally posted by mattjenna:
Always good to read other people's views and input. Appreciate your post.

Good luck.
To mattjenna, I live near San Diego and was wondering about the skywest program. price, duration, etc and if they guarantee you a FO position after you complete the program. Im probably going to the ASA phase I program in mid april but would consider going to a program in SO Cal to stay near family and friends. Appreciate your response. Thanks john f.



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On Top:

I am in a similar situation as you were in, just PPL and not a whole lot of hours. I guess $ 32k is a good budget figure for me, too. How about the ASA program? Do you know how much it will cost you?
 
John F - Phase I and II - from what I gather, it's all pretty basic approaches - VOR, NDB, ILS, and holds. I'd also refresh knowledge about back-course approaches, but they're rare. Anyway, if you come in to Phase I and II current with your IFR and decent multi skills and radio work, you'll do ok.

Nosser - if you come in to do the Comml-Inst-Multi program, you'll get about 55 hrs of multi time. This doesn't count apprx 30 hrs of multi sim time in a Frasca 142 (any school that tells you sim time counts as multi time is lying to you). Then in the ASA program you'll get another apprx 30 hrs.

Smith - the ASA Phase III and IV is $25,000. If you come in from outside and have to do Phase I and II, it's another $5000.

OnTop
 
Question: Does anyone know if FSI will pay for your trip down there? Or will they reimburse for your trip if you decide to go there? Thanks.
 
ATAorFSI -

No they don't, and no they won't. Don't let that be a selling point for you though - to me it smacks of "gimmick." If it's that important that someone pay for your ticket, schedule a trip with Comair and jam down to Vero Beach when you're done at Comair. A lot of the students who work in marketing are there until 9pm sometimes, so you can almost always get at least an impromptu tour.

Look at the schools, the equipment, the maintenance department, the academic facilities, and talk to some students away from the marketing people. The tour guides (at FSI)are a great source of info - they are regular students getting paid a whopping $8/hr to show you around. They are not the 'silver-tongued' marketing people described elsewhere. They simply believe that FSI is the best bet for the money. As do I. I haven't talked to anyone yet who thinks they're not getting their money's worth.

Good luck with your decision.
 
On Top,
I hear ya, it just sucks because even getting down there I'd need to look for a place to live at whichever academy I choose. Well, I guess I'll just pay for a second trip. Thanks for the info.

[This message has been edited by ATAorFSI??? (edited March 16, 2001).]
 
Hey all, I'm at Ohio State in the flight program right now and I desperately want to to get out. I've been looking at ATP, Mesa
Development Program, and Flight Safety. Just wondering if you could give me some insight on FSI. If you have no college education or an equivelant of 2 years like my situation, can you continue that at FSI or not? I have my PPL and hopefully my instrument rating by the end of summer, would that decrease the price much if I decided to go to FSI? Just worried about Multi-time though. At ATP, all of your training is done in seminoles and you graduate with about 170 hrs. ME. Can you get descent multi time at FSI? Thank you for your time and help. Fly safe
 
ATP's "170-hour" multi engine program is a little bit misleading. I believe they include 60 hours of Frasca 142 (me flight training device or FTD) time in their program. This is not really loggable as ME time. Not to mention that you won't be able to get a job with only the hours you get in their program. You would then have to instruct there (or somewhere else) to build the needed time. The upside to teaching at ATP is you get about 50% multi dual given. The downside is you work like a dog 7 days/week for about $800/mo. You've got to be VERY committed and VERY self-sufficient in their program, too, as it is very fast-paced and there is NO ground school (self-study only).

FlightSafety offers their ASA fast track program to get you to the airlines quickly. However, it's not for everyone because it's expensive and quite challenging. You have to go through essentially the same interview with ASA that any higher-time prospective hire goes through. There are no guarantees in the program, but if you make it through and pass the final checkride, you are then an ASA new-hire and get assigned a training date.

I was torn between ATP and FSI. I had paid my $500 non-refundable deposit for a start date. Then I visited FSI - the facilities, maintenance, academics, aircraft, instructors, etc are all top-notch. I lost that $500 deposit to attend FSI - it's that good.

Anyway, it's a tough decision - good luck.
 
For those interested in FSI or ATA: I took a tour of both. From a flying perspective, FSI seems better. Vero Beach is less croweded than ORL, and they have two runways. Vero beach is also, well, uh, on the beach.

FSI's ramp and campus are also more spread out. At ATA in Orlando, I hear parking is so bad that you will need to park in a remote lot and take a shuttle to the school *because thats what they do in the real airline world*

Regarding the ASA fast track program, I would be careful. ASA has stopped hiring for now, and it is possible the economy will stall. Who knows when they will start hiring again. I would hate to spend 30K and not even have an instructors rating to teach.

But, take a tour of both schools for yourself.

I really liked it at FSI when a student showed us around. No fast talkers with sales pitches.
 
Thanks for the info OnTop. Do you know the average price for the ASA program? I know it varies from student to student I was just looking for a ballpark figure +/- $2,000. How long are you usually in the program before you are a CFI? Does it vary depending upon if you come in with ratings? Thanks for the help
 
By expensive, I mean EXPENSIVE! The ASA program is $25,000 if you got your commercial instrument multi-engine at FSI. I you come in from outside, it will be $30,000, and if you only have a commercial single you will need to get the multi-commercial add-on, which is another $6000.

Regarding ASA's slow in hiring - I just went on a tour of ASA and FlightSafety in Atlanta. They have slowed hiring right now because the Delta contract negotiations have dramatically slowed attrition from ASA to Delta. Once the contract is hammered out, it will pick up again. ASA has also said that for any hiring needs, they will look to FSI first to fill those needs. The reason for this is that FSI has worked very closely with ASA to create this fast track program. The people in the program have already begun learning the "ASA way" of doing things. They have already proven that they can handle ASA's training program. So what they get from FSI is a "known quantity." They told us that ASA new-hire training has about an 85% pass rate, but that 100% of the new-hires from FSI have been successful. That speaks volumes. I could tell that the training I am getting now will definitely ease my transition into ASA.

We were told that new-hire training classes will pick up again in April, and that once completed with the program we could probably expect a 6-week wait before starting new-hire training at ASA. I won't mind having a 6-week vacation!

There are no guarantees with the ASA fast track program, but to get into it, you have to interview as if it were a job with ASA - which it ultimately will be. They may have stopped hiring from outside, but they are still conducting interviews here - there was one last week, and I believe 6 of 7 got the letter of acceptance (conditional offer of employment).

The point is that yes, it's expensive, but ASA is still looking to FSI (and I never heard mention of ATA, by the way) to fill slots. There is no better, faster way to the airlines.

By the way, all of ASA's training in Atlanta is done by FlightSafety, which is right across the street from ASA. FlightSafety has 3 CRJ sims, an ATR sim, an EMB-120 sim, along with several others. All the CRJ sims are dedicated to ASA. We got to check one out - it's pretty awesome!
 
Thanks ontop!! So I should expect around $40,000 for my certificates then whatever is is for CFI, CFII, and MEI. Does flight safety still have the program, where you instruct for them for 800 hours and they pay for CFII, and MEI and once that is completed you have the chance of getting the right seat in the CRJ? Just curious. Thank you for all your help once again.
 
I think the "ab initio" program, from pvt through multi-engine, instrument and commercial is around $38000-40000. To get single-engine commercial add-on and CFI is another $8000. Then if you are hired and commit to 800 hrs dual given (airplane time, not sim or brief), they will pay for your CFII and CMEI. To skip the instructor route, the ASA fast track is another $25,000.

Another way to reduce costs is to get a job at FSI. Whether it's in marketing giving tours or pumping fuel, you will get about $8/hour and free ground schools. This can save you $2000-3000.

If you want to go the ASA route as an instructor, you can go through the interview after about 500 hrs dual given, then teach in the ASA program (flying Senecas). After completing the contract and starting with ASA, these instructors are guaranteed the RJ.

However, so far all of the fast track people have been assigned the RJ. The reason for this is that ASA only wants to train you once. If they assign you the Brasilia and you really wanted the RJ, then you can bid into it later on, and they will have to train you again. They save money by putting you there in the 1st place. Plus they are getting 14 more new CRJ-200's this year that they need crews for.
 
Great info On Top, please keep it coming. Anything else?
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Hello I am a 20 year old guy who is interested in becoming a pilot. I am almost finished college and was wondering if considering a career having no flight time is unreasonable? If not how much will it cost me? Very interested.
 
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