FSI Costs

I would imagine you guys are slammed with work and study but, could anyone comment on the questions I posted regarding the ASA program above. Please
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OK Ophir, I'll try and help you out.

The CIME (commercial instrument mult engine)=44,059
CFI = roughly 8,000

I'm not sure what the CFII or MEI cost. If you are hired, your CFII and MEI costs will be reimbursed if you sign the 800hr dual given contract. Your initial CFI certificate is NOT reimbursed.

Your Single engine add on price seems a little high. I'm guessing this is the part 141 price they quoted you. I did mine part 61 and it ran me about 1600 or 1700 bucks. I've heard of people getting in at other places on the field for under 1000.

Ok, now for the one we've all been waiting for, ASA.

I can only speak on how it used to work pre 9/11. Someone in marketing will have to tell you how it's going to work now and in the future.

"If you want to do the ASA program you pay them $26k, but you need to have gone through to CPL(MEI) with the single add on? And then at that point they will pay the rest? But, you will need to be accepted to their program based on ability? What are the criteria? "

The $26,000 is in addition to your CIME and single engine add on. You interview with ASA, and if they want you, you are offered a conditional offer of employment. That means you are hired unless you don't make it through FlightSafety's ASA training or the actual ASA training in Atlanta.

As far as the criteria, I'm not sure. My GUESS, technical skills, personality, work/driving/criminal histories, and performance at FSI.

"So if you are accepted you will then proceed through the FSI contract instructor program and once you have completed your 800hr obligation you then are off to fly with ASA? I am unclear as to the timeline/route of getting on with ASA. I am also wondering more about who will be accepted to their program if there is a limited number of spots. "

Paying the 26,000 was one option, the other was the instructor route. If you were hired and signed the 800 hour contract, FSI would reimburse you for your CFII and MEI, as well as give you the ASA program at no charge. The 10 weeks of SAAB training and Seneca flights were free.

As to how they are going to choose who gets to interview, I have no idea.

As far as a timeline for getting on with ASA, here's my take on it. After your 800 hrs (assuming instructor route) you aren't 'off to fly with ASA'. You have to interview. Assuming acceptance, you have 10 weeks of training. If you pass, you may or may not get a class date for ASA training in Atlanta. If you don't get a class date, it probably means you were put in a pool ( I think ASA still has a small pool-anyone have good info) I have no idea how long class is in Atlanta. Assuming you pass that, there is Initial Operating Experience where you fly as an FO with a special IOE captain. If you pass this, you are now an airline piot. Granted, you might be on reserve, and you will be on probation for your first year. After that year, you can take a small sigh of relief and hope you don't get furloughed.

There is a really good article in Sept. AOPA magazine that talks about a guys airline training experience with ACA.

I hope this helps. Clear as mud right?

Long story short for your cost estimates:
(you fill in the current #'s)
Route one - CIME + SE Add + CFI + CFII + MEI (CFII?MEI/ASA free if hired)
Route two - CIME + SE Add + 26000 for ASA

As for Pan Am (let's see if anyone made it this far through the post) they SUCK. They are horrible. Youll DIE and die BROKE. Just kidding. I have no clue about Pan Am. I do have a friend who left there for FSI and is happy here.

Good luck. Eric
 
As someone who went through the FSI/ASA fast track program, I'll try to provide some answers. I started at FS in November 2000 with my PPL and about 180 hrs, so I went directly to step 3 (ME Private.) When I reveived my CIME, I interviewed with ASA and started the fasttrack program with phase III. FSI graduates don't have to complete phases I or II, and at least when I was there you didn't need to do the commercial single engine add-on. So the citeria for selection into the program was basically the interview with ASA, which involved questioning on your background, aviation knowledge and judgment. The assumption is if you can pass the FSI checkrides for your ratings you have been trained well enough to succeed in phase III. Be forwarned, phase III is _VERY_ stressful. You have to be up to speed from the start and have good instrument skills, as the instuctors don't have much patience for teaching basic instrument flying. Phase IV requires that you do well in phase III, as the Saab simulator is not particularly easy to fly.

Students that opt for the instructor track have to pay for their single engine add-on and their CFI. I don't really know what the cost is for that at FSI these days. If FSI hires you as a flight instructor, they will pay for you to get your CFII and MEI, but you have to go through standardization training before you get any students. It was generally accepted that it took 6 months from the day you start CFI ground school to get your first student (and start getting paid.) They probably hired 70-80% of the FSI grads that applied to be instructors. After you reach 800 hours of dual given (in the airplane, not including FRASCA instruction) you can interview with ASA. At that point, FSI would give you the phase IV ground school and 8 hours ( 2 lessons) in the Saab. Then you would go into the ASA hiring pool. At the time I was there, the flight instructors did not have to take checkrides with ASA, but there was talk of changing that.

Total cost from start of FSI to completion of the ASA fast track program for me was around $55,000. ($25K for fast track and about $30k for ratings (Private ME, Instrument, Commercial ME.) Due to 9/11, I had to wait another 9 months for a class date at ASA, so I spent probably another $4k on flying to keep current. Time from start of FSI to receiving a class date at ASA was 1.5 years.

If anybody has updated information on the costs (since they have no doubt gone up) and/or time frames, please feel free to correct me. And I certainly don't mean to start a debate on ASA Fast-track vs. Instructor routes.
 
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