How long at FSI?

TheFlyingTurkey

Fetus Worshiper
Can anyone give me a realistic time frame, as to how much time I can expect to spend at FSI?
1.How long will it take to go from 0 time through commercial and CFI?
2.How long is the stand. class?
3.How long to complete CFII and MEI?
4.How long do you have to instruct to accumulate enough hours for a job?
5.What will be the average time accumulated after instructing, TT and ME?

Bottom line, how long from 0 time to having enough hours to be competitive for a job?
Pan Am quotes an average of 18 months from 0 time to meeting eligability for a regional airline job, with 800TT and 100-200 ME.
You guys at FSI would know best, what do you think?
 
I am looking at ten months starting with 100 hours and ending with a CIME and CFI rating. Not sure about CFII and MEI. Then, if hired by FSI, you sign a contractt to instruct for 800 hours while they pay for CFII and MEI. That 800 takes 12-18 months depending upon student enrollment. That leaves me with 1200TT and 200-400 Muti Time.

Be wary about what Pan Am told you. I do not know of any regional hiring people with 800TT and 100-200 Muti. I am hearing people with 1200TT and 300-400 Multi are the ones getting a job.
 
A lot of how much time it takes depends on you, somewhat on your instructor, somewhat on luck, and somewhat on how the school is doing enrollment wise. Like I said though, most of it is you at least initially. If you fly 6 days a week, don't take vacations, fly during ground school...you could be done with your commerical licence from 0 hrs in 6 months. Course your instructor would have to fly you 6 days a week, but right now that shouldn't be a problem. Then if you blow thru CFI, I'd say 8-9 months you could be done, maybe even less, and interviewing for a CFI job here. In the training part thru CFI, its up to you how fast you want to finish. The 2nd part really isn't in your control and relies on the state of the school. If they need CFI's by that point, then you will be in luck. If there is a waiting list, you'll have to wait. But once you start working I would say 12-18 months as CFI before being ready to leave. So, I would say anywhere from 1.8-3 yrs total--depending on a lot of things. But, again, thats just like anything you get your education and it just takes time. Pan Am's 18 months I would be very, very suspicious of. Maybe 1 1/2 yrs ago that was definitely true, and it was true here at FSI as well. But not anymore. Sounds like another marketing thing. I always say to myself does something seem too good to be true, and if it is, I disregard it. And I think in this economy 18 monhts is too good to be true.
 
18 months > to good to be true...

please men that's a joke.... what about ATP < /ubbthreads/images/icons/smirk.gif /ubbthreads/images/icons/tongue.gif

3 months and ur done... /ubbthreads/images/icons/grin.gif < that sounds to good to be true, but it's not; it happens at ATP... ( that's what i'v heard on this board)
 
It will end up being about 7 months for me to complete commercial/multi/inst/CFI. Arrived with PPL & 80 hrs. (Im in CFI now)
It really depends on your drive and the weather. Im not sticking around for anything else so I cant comment on the rest.
 
18 months "too good to be true" is referring to 0 hours to an airline job.

You are right, ATP will get you your commercial licence in 3 months or some ridiculous number. The same licence I said takes 6-7 months at FSI. Talk about a joke. I know what goes on up there, I had a friend that attended that place. After hearing the stories, I seriously worry about flying in the same airspace as those people.

The point I am trying to make, is that if anyone falls for some marketing gig that you will be in an airline cockpit in 6 months, maybe--even 18 months right now, you are a sucker. What you need to do is throw that out the window and make decisions on the things that matter. Pick the school for important reasons....what you can afford, level of education, convenience, reputation, etc. Most importantly what school you felt the best about when you visited. I based my college and my training decision on that...the school I felt best about.

Whether its FSI, PAm, ATA, ATP, an FBO...10 yrs down the road it doesn't really matter. But if you come in this industry thinking you are gonna be in an airline cockpit in a year, or are only coming into this career BECAUSE it will only take a year, then I think you better rethink. This is a professional job just like anything...businessman, doctor, lawyer, whatever. You need an education. Your licences, and then experience. No airline, unless simply desperate, is going to hire somebody who did some crackerjack 6 month regional airline program. Would you want a doctor that did some "special" 2 year med school and was out, or someone that did 4 yrs of med school and 4 yrs residency? All I am saying is if something sounds too good to be true, it is. If someone promises you a 3 month education when everyone else takes at least 6 months, you know something is wrong. Make a school decision for the right reasons...picking a school that gives you a good education foundation will best prepare you for your future. If you pick b/c of some far-fetched marketing promise, you are only asking for trouble. An airline would rather have somebody that took the tested, traveled road then somebody who took the easy, shady path. That could just be me though....

The last thing I want to say is, and not that this has anything to do with the post, I don't blame anyone for wanting to be done fast, and 'get there' as quick as possible, be it an airline or whatever. In fact I thought long and hard about doing this old ASA program here at FSI. But I came to the realization I talked about, that this is a professional job. You shouldn't cut corners cause somewhere it will end up costing you. Maybe not at this moment, but the easy road almost always bites you in the a*s some day. An education is like money in the bank, nobody can ever take it away from you, and CFI is like grad school. So I became a CFI, and looking back I can't believe how much I have learned. I wasn't 1/4 the pilot I am back when I just had my licences. And I have so much more to learn. Sitting there observing, and teaching something over and over, is the way to learn. All of us can fly planes, but it takes time to learn. And I think to do a career like this justice you need to take that time to learn. Your passengers will trust that you have.


PS: I don't know, PanAm or whoever may get you the hrs necessary in 18 months thru school and instructing, I am just saying I don't know of any school right now that is flying so many hrs that you can build 1500 hrs that fast, but, again, that could be just me....
 
Who said anything about 1500 TT hours? FSI instructors have been hired recently (last 2 months) with 1200 TT and ssome with less than that. The airlines come to FSI first for new recruits and then go elsewhere. BTW, FSI students and instructors are some of the best in the country, so I never worry about taking a flight in the airspace near Vero Beach.
 
I was talking about ATP's program being scary, not ours (FSI). And yes FSI instructors have been hired with 1300, but I am saying from other schools, you would need more (at least 1500) because you don't have as much multi.
 
Pan Am quoted 10-12 months to earn 0 time through MEI, then apply for an instructing job. If hired, it would take another 6-8 months instructing to finish with 800TT 100-200ME. Is that unrealistic?
And even then, would the regionals look at a guy with those hours, or would I need to build up to 1200TT?
To make it easy, lets say 2 years to get around 1000TT 200ME, hopefully the industry will have rebounded in that time, would a 1000 hour guy would get picked up?
 
Tough to say. If you look at all the guys getting picked up on avationinterviews.com, they all seem to have > 1500TT. It's a tough market right now and could be for a while due to the large number of furloughed pilots and high time CFI's.
 
PanAm's time frame for getting 800/100-200 is realistic. That used to be the agreed upon minimums we had with 7 partnering regionals, I don't know what it is now. I think it's realistic to think that we may be back to those minimums in 2 years.
 
PanAm Guy....


You have to stop drinking the Kool-Aid, man! Put it down.

Chunk /ubbthreads/images/icons/laugh.gif
 
Back
Top