"Badco will get a class date"
Last I heard, Badco is a cop and doesn't want to play the silly direct track game anymore. Did you notice he said he was "kinda kicking himself" (his words) for doing it in the first place? Besides, do you have any idea how parishable quickie direct track type training is? Highly parishable, and the less experience you have the more parishable. You don't just take a year off and hop back into the level D sim and everything is hunky dory.
Of course not, you're absolutely right. I'm just saying he *can* wait for a class date once ASA starts them again. He's choosing to go back into the law enforcement field. Yes, the training is perishable. I suppose he can maintain some currency in multi engine twins every once in a while. And when ASA does call him, if he has the money, he can take a quick RJ course at ATP (the 5k one) or just buy some dry sim time for a few hours, and practice his exact ASA flows, procedures, and such. It'll be hard, but I'm sure he can succeed.
"Pinnacle, like mentioned above, gives you a class date before you even begin your training"
I thought they all did that. That's the whole point. You are hired before you start. Why else bother....
No, no!
Some clarification is needed.
They do NOT all give you a class date before hand. Only Pinnacle does.
XJT and TSA give you a conditional letter of employment upon a successful interview, so you can start phase III.
Once you complete phase IV sim check, then you are assinged a class date.
American Eagle is a HUGE HUGE exception. They are setup really weird.
Your initial interview is a HR and tech interview... if successful, you're given a verbal "go ahead" from the Eagle folks to proceed with phase III and IV.
After phase IV sim check, you GO to DFW to interview AGAIN with Eagle... the ATP test, sim check, technical interview, and medical.
You have to pass that.
That having been said, let me add this too:
This sounds risky, that you spend $22,500 with Eagle and still have a chance to blow the DFW interview at the end.
They will work with you. According to FSA, one direct track student failed the sim portion of the DFW interview with EAgle, but they told him to get about 50 more hours in a multi, and come back we'll give you a class date.
Another guy ran into a medical problem, but Eagle docs cleared him up once the proper paperwork was turned in for his condition.
So the bottom line with EAgle is, yes you interview again after spending $22,500, but to this date, no one has failed. Every Eagle direct track student has gotten class dates and passed training.
So back to the initial topic, do you see why Pinnacle is different? They actually literally offer the class date upfront before even starting phase III.
XJT, TSA don't do that until after your phase IV sim check, and even then, who knows when it might be? Could be days later, could be months later. FSA website says on average, wait time of about 1 to 3 months to get a class date after completing the phase IV sim check.
But with Pinnacle, you're given it upfront after your interview, so that takes out any guessing.
Cherokee, since you're doing research, you need to call Jet U and check their program with Pinnacle. The are both ab initio. I'm dying to see a compairson of Jet U and FSA direct track with Pinnacle, since they both lead to exactly the same thing. Give them a call.
Ab initio? YOu mean like MAPD? MAPD takes you from 0 time and up, so that's a true ab initio. Not quite in that sense for Direct Track and the Pinnacle Jet First officer program at JetU... they assume you have C/I/ME at least.
I already called JetU. And holy sh*t was it a nightmare! HC sounds like the devil.
First of all, he will cut you off and blabber on and on.
And one time, I said I was considering MAPD's PACE. And he blatantly says you don't want to work for Mesa (I can see his point to a degree) but then he says, what happens when you fail their training? Part 121 training failure will go on your record, no one will touch you then. Blah Blah Blah, he really blabbered on.
Okay, his program sounds fishy, but that's cause it is brand new. He already has students going through right now.
The thing with his program is you pay $27,000 and at the END you get an interview.
If you blow it, he said he'll train you again in the sims and such to prepare you again for the interview (no waiting 6 months to reinterview, that rule is exempt with JetU).
If you blow it again, you're out $27k.
So I would NOT do this program. There's too much at risk, and too much of it sounds fishy.
Let's see results first from JetU. Time will tell.
As of right now, MAPD has been around since 1989, Direct Track with FSA has been around for at least 6 years, so they have a good proven reliable history.
Not JetU.
JetU only promises an interview at the end of it all, and $27k is a lot to blow for just an interview.
With FSA, you interview upfront and if you're hired with Pinnacle, you get a class date. Then you pay $22,500 to FSA for phase III and IV. Risk here is minimal, since you already know you've been hired and given a class date.
So I wouldn't touch JetU... FSA is much better, the safer option too.
I think you should stop messing around and just do it. You can be the new direct track poster child and have you pic in a marketing promo. You could have a testimonial about how great it is.
Do it....
I will, but not now. For now I continue slaving away at the engineering job and saving money.
I thought I'm 100% sold on FSA's direct track, but Mesa's PACE still has me looking. Cost wise, it's half as much as Direct Track. But PACE you pay $12k and end result is an interview (what if you blow it for any reason)? So it seems risky. Might just stick with Direct Track. Don't know yet. Will post when I do know for sure what I'm doing.
When I do go through either FSA or PACE, and if the program works for me, I wouldn't mind doing a testimonial.
