American Flyers CFI School?

More to add:

What made the academy a challenging experience for me was the type of people running the operation. Other than the fact they were all chain smokers (isn't that violation of rule #1?), one receives an uneasy feeling that they were more concerned with their business than your progress. They also lacked professionalism. Over my 30+ days at AF, it was not uncommon to hear racist, sexist and other kinds of inappropriate jokes made in our classroom of four. Cursing was encouraged.

Other locations may be better...
I hope your experience does not mimic the one I had.

Best of luck!
 
Woah, Woah...Holy Smokes dude!!! I was bitching about going over the $2995 that used to get you a 141 -II initial and the -A tack on under 61 (but examiner fees were extra). I don't think anyone in my class spent much more that a grand more than advertised most of us just a few hundred.

I don't think my total cost including airfare, hotel for a month and a couple of weeks rent a car didn't come to $6k. If we factor in beer, well maybe. ;-)

If AF is charging over $5k for the ratings now, I'd have to compare pretty carefully to what other programs are costing these days. Fuel is approaching 3X the cost of what it was when I was there.
 
tobaknight said:
Cody: What was your experience as far as finding an instructor position after completing the CFI Academy? Are there any pro's or con's to the program that you weren't aware of before entering, or things that I should throw into my equation that I might be overlooking?


Mike: Good Luck!!
Click to expand...

oops. just saw this. No, I didn't find any 'cons' so to speak. I would however have a tough time recommending them for primary, IFR or commercial training. mainly because of the costs. However, the CFI was a great value I felt. I spent more then their advertised rate but they told me I would right up front. I knew it was going to be that way before i signed up. they were honest with me.

Just to put the pace of the program in to perspective I arrived at 7- 7:30am each day and left the school at 7-8:30pm depending on traffic for 35 days straight. They gave me a key to the building on day 1. I didn't see any friends or my girlfriend at the time for that matter for 35 days. Of course, i didn't really like her, but thats another story!

You will feel lost the first 4 days, overwhelmed the next 4 days and then you will turn into a sponge and go with the program.

I was able to get hooked up with 2 jobs (both freelance) after I got out, that i had already arranged prior to starting the academy. In todays market you should have no problem getting a job.
 
I got my CFI and CFII at AF in PMP. I would recommand AF to everyone If you work hard, you wont spend more than $4500 total. The $2995 includes about 130 hours of ground, 10 hours in the airplane and 10 hours in the sim. It does NOT include DPE fees, writtens and books. AF is the best place not only for their CFI academy but for all other ratings. Yes, they charge more per hour, but in the long run, you will get done faster, better, cheaper and know much more!
 
Hello Forum. I am a long time visitor to this site but first time to post. I did the flight Instructor route,then part 135, and now I am flying corporate. After reading numerous misleading threads about American Flyers I felt I had to give back and pass it on.
I attended AF's CFI/CFII academy in PMP, but after researching all the schools in the area I decided to work at another flight school that offered the going CFI pay rate in the area of ($20-$30) not AF's($11-$14), also newer and better equipped aircraft (ex.C-172sps w/G1000s). Contrary to what I've read in other posts, AF has the worst planes of all s.florida flight schools, and they cannot afford to update them. They have been keeping afloat the past 10 yrs on their name and cheezy advertisements (check one out,a 2 page ad with cheezy guy from the 70s in a blazer ). The company does not put $$ into their a/c or instructors just into the blazer guys pockets. The company is in a grave-yard spiral as is evident by the closing of many of their schools.
Guess how much for a private at AF??? Well for starters ,when you walk into AF no prices anywhere??Why?? thats because how much they are going to charge you first depends on how much your going to give them up front..The price for instuctor is $90 to $95 an hour (not a misprint) which the instructor sees $14 if he has been there for 3yrs. (I still have abuddy that works there, I know). Oh back to the price for a private, they cannot get a private done for less than $12,000.00.
Be careful of this place, they are very sneaky. I have more stories but no time now. Good Luck and do your research. I hope this helped.

P.S. Ami I can't believe they still are flying N968RC & N5239K, i hear the call signs on the radio ("this place has great planes" not!!!!)
 
SkyGod said:
Hello Forum. I am a long time visitor to this site but first time to post. I did the flight Instructor route,then part 135, and now I am flying corporate. After reading numerous misleading threads about American Flyers I felt I had to give back and pass it on.
I attended AF's CFI/CFII academy in PMP, but after researching all the schools in the area I decided to work at another flight school that offered the going CFI pay rate in the area of ($20-$30) not AF's($11-$14), also newer and better equipped aircraft (ex.C-172sps w/G1000s). Contrary to what I've read in other posts, AF has the worst planes of all s.florida flight schools, and they cannot afford to update them. They have been keeping afloat the past 10 yrs on their name and cheezy advertisements (check one out,a 2 page ad with cheezy guy from the 70s in a blazer ). The company does not put $$ into their a/c or instructors just into the blazer guys pockets. The company is in a grave-yard spiral as is evident by the closing of many of their schools.
Guess how much for a private at AF??? Well for starters ,when you walk into AF no prices anywhere??Why?? thats because how much they are going to charge you first depends on how much your going to give them up front..The price for instuctor is $90 to $95 an hour (not a misprint) which the instructor sees $14 if he has been there for 3yrs. (I still have abuddy that works there, I know). Oh back to the price for a private, they cannot get a private done for less than $12,000.00.
Be careful of this place, they are very sneaky. I have more stories but no time now. Good Luck and do your research. I hope this helped.

P.S. Ami I can't believe they still are flying N968RC & N5239K, i hear the call signs on the radio ("this place has great planes" not!!!!)
Click to expand...
They use these planes for spin training and to solo students. They do have new aircrafts (the R models) and are 5 years old. Out of 7 airplanes only 1 is N968RC and the rest are much better. Buy the way...where did you instruct?
 
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