General questions for aero. majors

aviatoralex

aviatoralex

Smartass
1. Did you go all the way through to your CFI, CFII and did you get your MEI? Would you recommend the MEI?
2. Would you recommend coming in with your PPL, and maybe any other ratings? Will the universities give you a hard time transitioning to their course? Will it make a difference in your bachelors degree if you get some of them somewhere else?
3. Since the CFI courses are optional at most universities, would you recommend taking them somewhere else, and would it be possible to instruct at the same college after that?

If you could give any feedback to these questions, that would be great.

Thanks.
 
aviatoralex said:
1. Did you go all the way through to your CFI, CFII and did you get your MEI? Would you recommend the MEI?
2. Would you recommend coming in with your PPL, and maybe any other ratings? Will the universities give you a hard time transitioning to their course? Will it make a difference in your bachelors degree if you get some of them somewhere else?
3. Since the CFI courses are optional at most universities, would you recommend taking them somewhere else, and would it be possible to instruct at the same college after that?

If you could give any feedback to these questions, that would be great.

Thanks.
Click to expand...

1. I got my CFI and CFII at the university that I currently teach at , and my MEI at ATP. It can be hard to get a job where you will regularly use the MEI (for instance, at my university, generally only the assistant chiefs teach in the C310s). But it wouldn't hurt, and can be done for pretty cheap if you are proficient in twins already. (I did mine for $1800)

2. I would HIGHLY recommend coming in with AT LEAST your PPL, maybe more depending on what your university will do. I was a commercial ASEL/G with an instrument rating about the time I graduated high school. I am getting a Bachelors degree in Aviation Management now, and got something like 22 credits for all of my flying that I did in high school. I wasn't able to get our 2-year associates degree in 'flight' but I was given credit as if I had done all of the flight courses towards my elective requirements in aviation management, knocking pretty much a year off of my 4-year degree. Each university is different though, and whether you can get credit towards the 4-year or not will be highly variable. The only way that you can get the 2-year degree in aviation flight here is if you come in with only your PPL or nothing, and if you have your PPL, take our short AF199 course to 'standardize' you to the program...

3. The only reason that I did my CFI and CFII here was because I wanted to teach in the program. So I figured if I were a student here first (a totally different type of school than where I learned) that I would be able to teach more efficiently once I got the job. It also meant that I didn't need an interview for the part-time instructor spot that I am in now. The course I thought though was about 3 times as long as it needed to be for me personally, and generally all 141 CFI courses are really drawn out like that. Some people still can't pass the checkride at the end of the 22 week course, so take that however you want. If I did my CFI somewhere else, it would have been way quicker and cheaper, but a little bit harder to get the job, and maybe harder to transition to the job depending on where you are going to teach. I did my MEI at ATP in two days and loved it, and would recommend their CFI courses to anyone that doesn't need the information spoon fed to them and can study well unguided.

Basically, I am very happy with the way that I did things. I did my CFI courses my freshman year of my 4-year AVM program, and will be teaching 4 students full time for 4 semesters while I finish up my AVM degree, instead of going through the flight program. I will graduate (in 3 years) with about 1200/100 instead of 250/20 in 4 years. Any thing that you do before starting at pilot-mill university will help you in the long run. Having the experience somewhere other than the 141 environment will be a big help for you too, so that you have a little bit more perspective of what is going on.
 
I agree with the post above^ about doing your CFI outside of your university.

I started at a 141 university (same on as the guy above) with zero time. I have worked my way up in a little over 2 years and I am currently in their CFI course with around 330 TT.

I disagree that it is that important that you come in with a PPL. I've seen numerous students come in with their PPL and struggle just as much as any zero time 201A. Many of the PPL students struggle with the 199 course, but similarly, there are people who struggle with 201A.

I really think it is just about how much effort you put into your training and how dedicated you are to finishing fast. If you get a somewhat decent instructor you should have no problems getting though your courses in a timely matter.
 
My CFI initial is the last requirement for my degree. Wth my degree I got private, insturement, Commercial SEL, MEL, And CFI. I dont believe the MEL is necessary. And if you go military ROTC the training stops after insturment. I went to Averett University til insturment, then transferred to Hampton. From my experience, its really what you make it. If you dont take the flying seriously you could end up being on your fourth year without a private.

At this point I don't what schools you have been looking at. Liberty University has been growing like crazy. Its great school. Averett might be a little bit more affordable. Hampton is in a transionting phase right now, flying out of newport news and chesapeake. Until they get that worked out I wouldnt recomend it.

Cool thing about going to a university and getting your CFI there, is in most cases you are garnateed a job. With the economy right now flight training is pretty low, I dont know how it will be in 4 years.
 
I am in a university program, and here is what I know. I would definitely get at least your private beforehand, thats what I did, and the university had no problem with it. Just check with your school to see what their policy is on that. Doing that was cheaper for me than the university's private pilot course. Next, I plan on completing CFI and CFII at my university once I finish mt commercial training. I would highly recommend doing CFI training at your school as opposed to an outside flight school, my school may hire you as an instructor after you complete that, and it would get you close with other instructors/the chief flight instructor. Networking is everything, so I would try to stick with your school as much as possible. Hope that helps!
 
1. Yes! I would highly recommend getting and using all of your Flight Instructor ratings. I guarantee that you will learn more using each of those ratings than you learned in the process getting them.

2. Definitely check with the school you plan on attending to ask about transferring ratings in. Talk to the CHIEF FLIGHT INSTRUCTOR!!! There will be plenty of recruiters/department chairs that will tell you yes, when you can't actually do so. And, don't get PO'd when they say no. Basically it comes down to quality control. I used to work for a 141 flight school, and there were some guys that wanted to work with other local pt 61 flight schools and transfer their ratings in piecemeal. Then we'd get a call from a DPE (luckily no employers that I heard of) along the lines of, "what are you guys teaching up there? I've got so and so sitting here telling me he learned to fly up there, but doesn't know (fill in the blank)."
If you do choose to transfer ratings in, my school would make you take the end of course exam for that course to ensure that your knowledge met our standards, and while we weren't intentionally giving guys a hard time, most guys who were transferring a rating had a incredibly difficult time as a majority weren't prepared for the level of knowledge and intensity of training at a 141 school.
3. See above.

As a former 141 check instructor, I would highly recommend not only a 141 flight school, but an established program at an university. Having spent a lot of time in a 141 program complaining about all the rules and regulations that "cramped my style," when I got to 121 new hire ground school, I was much more prepared than the guys that had come up part 61. I would also caution you against the "zero to hero" or "puppy mill" outfits such as american flyers or ATP (I just made a bunch of enemies...) Sure, you'll have all your ratings in less than a year, but you won't remember any of what you learned (read "this is really unsafe").
 
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