Are there ANY affordable flight schools?

I

Ice_Hawk

New Member
I'm getting my medical back and I'm thinking about continuing my flight training.

I'm almost done with my private but I need to find a new place to get the rest of my licenses/ratings. I was going to go to WMU but I can't afford that high price for just 250 hours. If there are any quality, affordable flight schools or colleges where I can get all of my ratings then I need to get that done, otherwise I will just stop at my PPL.

And I don't want "Jim Bob's FBO" with a 1959 Cessna 150 held together with duct tape.
 
Not sure what type of equipment your looking to fly in or what your aviation goals are but you might try the below link and look at visiting those schools/FBO's that make your short list.

http://flighttraining.aopa.org/learntofly/school/flight_schools/

At the very least if you find an "affordable" flight school make sure you go over the schools or FBO's insurance policy with great detail. Also if you are up to par with maintenance requirements ask to see the books on the aircraft you're going to fly to make sure they have a habit of the required checks. It might not hurt to take another experienced pilot along to help you look through this stuff. At the end of the day though great equipment will do nothing for you unless you have a CFI who knows the equipment, shares your goals and works to help you succeed. I wish you the best of luck in all of your flight training endeavors.
 
Define "affordable." Some guys think that getting your commercial and then going and doing the ATP career program on top of that to get the interview is affordable. Personally, I view that as an enormous misappropriation of cash. For me, affordable means getting my ratings for the best price possible without skimping on mx issues. There are excellent FBOs out there, and there are terrible FBOs out there. Same goes with the academies. The bottom line is that any school you find, CHECK IT OUT. Even though I'd heard a lot of positives and very few negatives about Skymates, I still flew down here to check out their, planes, instructors and prices before I gave them any of my hard earned cash. I'd do the same thing with any school. My old flight school in Orlando has top notch instructing and well maintained equipment. That being said, I feel their prices have now gone totally out of control. When I can pay the same to rent a 2005 G1000 equipped, air conditioned 182 for the same price they charge for a steam guage, non a/c, 2000-2003 182, I think that might be a bit overpriced.

My advice would be to visit the local flight schools in Kalamazoo. All of them. Get prices, talk to instructors, check out the planes, talk to other students. Do your homework, and you're less likely to get shafted.
 
I'm not sure if you are willing to travel. The most affordable I found was going to Plus One flying club at MYF in San Diego, CA Part 61. The club is pretty much non profit so its the cheapest hourly rate. They are also very big so there are lots of planes and very experienced instructors available in the club and they post a master list with qualifications (includes everything from FlightSafety trained to military and airline pilots). I would be training there if I weren't living in L.A. now. http://www.plusone.org

If you want to go to only go to a 141 school/academy then I would say no, there are no affordable flight schools. But there are some expensive 141 shools that are not famous but worth every penny.
 
You should buy a 1959 Cessna 150 for around 15K and find a good free lance CFI. That's about as affordable as it gets. I don't know why more people don't do it that way.
 
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You should buy a 1959 Cessna 150 for around 15K and find a good free lance CFI. That's about as affordable as it gets. I don't know why more people don't do it that way.

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That would not be much use for your instrument, commercial, multi, CFII, or MEI training. If he is willing to use a freelance CFI, he should find a good CFI through references, then find the cheapest ho-dunk flying club or FBO that has the fleet he needs. I think that is the most affordable route to go. I don't think someone should buy a plane until they have their PPL and they are sure that they are going to stick with it.
 
"I don't think someone should buy a plane until they have their PPL and they are sure that they are going to stick with it."

I knew I was going to stick with it long before I had my PPL, but that's just me. Buying a plane when I was starting out would have been a great decision for me.

"That would not be much use for your instrument, commercial..."

I do instrument training in a 152, works just fine. For the commercial, you could do a lot of flying in a 152. That's how I trained for my commercial. I flew the complex as little as necessary as it was more expensive and I could do a lot in the 152.

Having your own plane could save you money as you build time up to the 500 hour mark. Once you had your CFI, you could use it to free lance in.
 
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You should buy a 1959 Cessna 150 for around 15K and find a good free lance CFI. That's about as affordable as it gets. I don't know why more people don't do it that way.

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That would not be much use for your instrument, commercial, multi, CFII, or MEI training. If he is willing to use a freelance CFI, he should find a good CFI through references, then find the cheapest ho-dunk flying club or FBO that has the fleet he needs. I think that is the most affordable route to go. I don't think someone should buy a plane until they have their PPL and they are sure that they are going to stick with it.

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Bull$hit. He can use a 152 for his private, instrument, lots of commercial, time-building (XC flying), CFI and CFII training. Then, he can get his multi later on down the line.

Like Don said, I already knew I was going to stick with it - that's why I started!
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You should buy a 1959 Cessna 150 for around 15K and find a good free lance CFI. That's about as affordable as it gets. I don't know why more people don't do it that way.

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That would not be much use for your instrument, commercial, multi, CFII, or MEI training. If he is willing to use a freelance CFI, he should find a good CFI through references, then find the cheapest ho-dunk flying club or FBO that has the fleet he needs. I think that is the most affordable route to go. I don't think someone should buy a plane until they have their PPL and they are sure that they are going to stick with it.

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Bull$hit. He can use a 152 for his private, instrument, lots of commercial, time-building (XC flying), CFI and CFII training. Then, he can get his multi later on down the line.

Like Don said, I already knew I was going to stick with it - that's why I started!
wink.gif


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Most of the 152's I flew were not IFR. Can you get one that is IFR certified for $15,000? That would be sweet, but I thought they were much more than that.

I did all my commercial training in the 172RG just because I wanted as much experience on complex as possible, so I guess you could go that route. When I was in my PPL training a 152 rented for about $40 an hour wet at my flying club and they are now around $50 at the same club. I guess you just have to run the numbers after you account for tie-down, insurance, and maintenance vs. the cost if you were renting one at $50 an hour and decide what is the best both financially and experience wise.
 
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You should buy a 1959 Cessna 150 for around 15K and find a good free lance CFI. That's about as affordable as it gets. I don't know why more people don't do it that way.

[/ QUOTE ]

That would not be much use for your instrument, commercial, multi, CFII, or MEI training. If he is willing to use a freelance CFI, he should find a good CFI through references, then find the cheapest ho-dunk flying club or FBO that has the fleet he needs. I think that is the most affordable route to go. I don't think someone should buy a plane until they have their PPL and they are sure that they are going to stick with it.

[/ QUOTE ]

Bull$hit. He can use a 152 for his private, instrument, lots of commercial, time-building (XC flying), CFI and CFII training. Then, he can get his multi later on down the line.

Like Don said, I already knew I was going to stick with it - that's why I started!
wink.gif


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Most of the 152's I flew were not IFR. Can you get one that is IFR certified for $15,000? That would be sweet, but I thought they were much more than that.

I did all my commercial training in the 172RG just because I wanted as much experience on complex as possible, so I guess you could go that route. When I was in my PPL training a 152 rented for about $40 an hour wet at my flying club and they are now around $50 at the same club. I guess you just have to run the numbers after you account for tie-down, insurance, and maintenance vs. the cost if you were renting one at $50 an hour and decide what is the best both financially and experience wise.

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Not hard to have an airplane IFR-legal. It may not be fancy, but you can do it.

Most 152's are going to run a little more than $40 these days....I was paying $38....8 years ago!!!

Insurance won't be that high when you're the only one flying it....maintenance won't be as high if you're the only one flying it!

You probably paid more per month in club dues than most tie-downs!
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Can you get one that is IFR certified for $15,000?

You know that it takes very little to be legal for IFR. At a minimum, I'd look for one with a good digital nav/com with a glideslope receiver, marker beacons, and a transponder. You could legally take an IFR checkride with that. Or, you could do like I did and put in a Garmin 430 IFR approach approved GPS/ILS/comm moving map. It's kinda expensive, though....

You see them on ebay all the time between 15 and 20K. I'd bet one with mid-time or less on the engine would run you more towards the 20K figure. More towards the 15K figure would be one with a higher time engine but I've seen Lycomings that were regularly run go well past TBO.
 
Go to an FBO and do your training.The flight acadmies and ATP are way overpriced.You can go from private to mei under $25,000.
 
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If there are any quality, affordable flight schools or colleges where I can get all of my ratings

And I don't want "Jim Bob's FBO" with a 1959 Cessna 150 held together with duct tape.

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I wanna fly first class from coast to coast in a brand new 777. And I don't wanna pay more than $50 for a seat, roundtrip.

Sorry couldn't resist.

In aviation, for the most part, you get what you pay for. I would consider ATP's 90 day instrument-MEI for $33k "cheap" by any means. If that's not cheap enough for you, maybe you should invest your $$ elsewhere.

~wheelsup
 
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In aviation, for the most part, you get what you pay for. I would consider ATP's 90 day instrument-MEI for $33k "cheap" by any means. If that's not cheap enough for you, maybe you should invest your $$ elsewhere.

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I was pretty high on ATP's program back when it WAS $33K. Now the price is up to $37K, and if you don't have your private, you can toss in another $7K for that.
 
Kell You are right. I think they have a good school, and its great that you get multi, so depending on your situation that may be the best route. They have a good number of people who get hired on pretty quickly. However, 37k????WOW! You can really go much much lower then that. It wouldnt be far fetched at all to get all your required ratings for under 15K. I know I was able to get it way under.
 
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In aviation, for the most part, you get what you pay for. I would consider ATP's 90 day instrument-MEI for $33k "cheap" by any means. If that's not cheap enough for you, maybe you should invest your $$ elsewhere.

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I was pretty high on ATP's program back when it WAS $33K. Now the price is up to $37K, and if you don't have your private, you can toss in another $7K for that.

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No, ATP is now 40K. And the PPL is up to 8K.
 
Ari Ben is $29,995 if you already have your private. And it is almost all twin time. And then you get to instruct in the twins and build all that twin time.

Sounds like a pretty good deal to me.

I guess "affordable" is relative.
 
don't forget Ari's PPL is only 3900 more onto the Pro Course...

So...PPL thru MEI at Aviator is 33,900

260TT/200Multi....plus the instructor job...
 
I was recently looking for an airplane to buy to do IFR and commercial in. A 150 would have been fine except my fat butt would need a pretty thin instructor. My dream idea of buying a tiny single seat bi-plane to timebuild failed. I got out snipered on Ebay. You can find a 150 with midtime engine and IFR cert for 19-25K. Keep it long enough to get your ratings done and sell it. They don't depreciate anymore so you may do pretty good on it. I still think that may be the routew I end up taking down the road but a 150 isn't gonna cut it for my fat self. Great airplanes though! Fun to fly.
 
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