Central Oregon

DrewS

Well-Known Member
Does anyone have any experience in central Oregon, specifically Bend? After I get out out of the military I am going to continue my flying using the GI Bill in Bend. I am going to finish up what I have left on my commerical airplane and get my CFI then continue to rotor wing. Just wondering if anyone has had much experience up that way. Thanks
 
There's not a whole lot of flying in Bend/Redmond. Lancair is there, and iirc glassair might be to? Amflight has 2 daily runs to Redmond and horizon flies in there as well. Life Flight network has an a350 in Redmond or Bend, I forget which. Forest service contacts are kind of big out that way.
 
Central oregon community college has a decent aviation program from what I hear. You could finish your ratings there and probably instruct there.

My cousin lives in prineville and went to COCC for aviation. He's currently commuting to SFO with skywest.
 
Hillsboro Aviation just opened a location in Prineville. Might be another good option to train at and then instruct. Don't know if they'll send a lot of their foreign students down there. Might be good for hours and Multi time.
 
Hillsboro Aviation just opened a location in Prineville. Might be another good option to train at and then instruct. Don't know if they'll send a lot of their foreign students down there. Might be good for hours and Multi time.
I can't believe I forgot about that! I've heard good things about Hillsboro. But they do not have a program for the G.I. Bill to cover the OP's cost to finish commercial and cfi do they?? I think they would if he went through Portland Community College but that means he would need to go to Portland.
 
I actually am going to attend COCC and go through that program. Just was curious if anyone had experience there. Good to hear there is a good restaurant there
 
I actually am going to attend COCC and go through that program. Just was curious if anyone had experience there. Good to hear there is a good restaurant there
My cousin said that you have the option of bunching your flight training at the beginning with the GI bill. He recommends this with COCC so you can instruct and build time while finishing your degree. Your situation may be different...just giving advice.

Good luck!
 
My cousin said that you have the option of bunching your flight training at the beginning with the GI bill. He recommends this with COCC so you can instruct and build time while finishing your degree. Your situation may be different...just giving advice.

Good luck!
Sounds like something to look into. Thanks
 
I went through the program at COCC, airplane and heli. Great experience that lead to my current job. Be happy to answer any questions.
 
Oh thats great to hear. Like I said I am going to enter the program to finish my commercial airplane through my CFII. I have about 200 hours right now, but I'm guessing Ill start back over in the commercial program which really isnt a big deal since I havent flown in a while. Then as soon as that is complete I am going to transition to the heli program, sounds like you did something similar. Anything you can tell me about the program? I will be using my GI Bill so there will be very minimal expense to me, hardly any really. It seems that professional air is the place to train for fixed wing and leading edge for heli. Is that accurate? How are the classes at COCC, how are the instructors and how is everything in general? Anything you could share would be great, even as far as good places to live in the area. Thanks in advance!
 
Used to live and work in Bend back in 06/07. I worked for Professional Air as a CFI/Pilot and did some sim instruction for COCC. Was a decent program back then, not sure how it is these days, I know there have been lots of changes.

Great area for learning to fly!
 
Yes, GI Bill will cover all flight training expenses, FAA written tests, and examiner fees. You'll also get a book stipend to help purchase academic books in pursuit of the AAS degree. Headsets, flight gear, and miscellaneous stuff is on you, but often you can get a college discount.

Yes, you can earn all ratings up to CFII/MEI in both airplane and helicopter.

Give the program director, and VA rep at COCC a call as the starting point. It's a close nit student body group, and you'll end up knowing a lot of your peers. There are a lot of vets in the program, from all services.

Bend is an awesome place to live and fly. I'd like to be able to move back there some day. The program and town are a hidden jem.
 
I 2nd and 3rd the restaurant recommendation and it's gorgeous out there. With regards to scenery, I can't think of too many other places better for flight training.
 
I instructed at Professional Air a few years back and we interfaced with the COCC program quite a bit. I honestly wasn't such a fan of the program. The folks in charge did some goofy things like having students fly >50 NM X-C flights VFR in the simulator, which had many of us instructors scratching our heads. It's likely the program has changed quite a bit since then and all my experiences are now outdated.

As far as a learning environment, Central Oregon is unbelievably beautiful and you'll manage lots of interesting weather, but I felt it was a less than ideal environment for IFR training. Seattle Center radar coverage begins at 7,000 MSL or so and with weather/icing/routing/alternate considerations, practice approaches under IFR are pretty much out of the question most of the time. Sure you can do whatever you want under VFR weather permitting, but I always felt that option came in 2nd to actually being in the system and getting some actual. If you head west over the mountains to Eugene in the Willamette Valley, you will find one of the best IFR training environments around.

But many pilots have learned in Bend and have no deficiencies in their instrument flying skills, so I suppose at the end of the day it doesn't really matter much.
 
And there will be days up there so beautiful you will want to cry. Being in Pittsburgh right now, I almost cry just thinking about the beautiful country I used to live in....
 
It has changed. More emphasis on Part 141 syllabus, though they are still flexible. It's not a pilot farm by any means. The aircraft are top notch as well, not too many other small schools offer a Cirrus/Avidyne, Garmin 430/530/650/750/G1000 equipped fleet. I'm a former instructor at Pro Air as well. Probably easy to tell we all really enjoyed flying in Bend!
 
Thats a great to hear. As far as the aircraft I noticed the fleet offered by pro air is pretty nice. Cant really beat that. Im excited to get started up there, I have heard so many great things about the program and the area. The 141 program is actually what i am used to since thats the program I used when I first started flying. Does anyone have any experience with the heli program at leadinge edge aviation? Thanks for all the responses.
 
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