Instrument, commercial and CFI at American Flyers

N

Nimrod

New Member
Hello everyone,

My name is Nimrod and I live in Israel
I plan to attend American Flyers school in Santa Monica to get my instrumets rating, commercial rating and CFI.
I searched the forum and found a lot of useful information but I still have questions I couldn't find an answers for:

1. I read here a lot of reviews about their CFI academy, but could anyone share his experience with their instrument and commercial training?

2. They are suggesting to buy and download their Instrument Rating Courseware (which cost 295$) and Online written program (which cost 50$). Does it worth the money?

3. As my time is limited (I'm coming from Israel), what do you think I should do before I come so I could be as ready as possible for the training?

4. They offer housing for 1000$ per month. Did anyone use it? If yes - does it worth the money and do you have pictures of it?

I probably have more question but I guess I forgot them, so that's it for now.
Thank you in advance!

Nimrod
 
Nimrod said:
Hello everyone,

My name is Nimrod and I live in Israel
I plan to attend American Flyers school in Santa Monica to get my instrumets rating, commercial rating and CFI.
I searched the forum and found a lot of useful information but I still have questions I couldn't find an answers for:

1. I read here a lot of reviews about their CFI academy, but could anyone share his experience with their instrument and commercial training?

2. They are suggesting to buy and download their Instrument Rating Courseware (which cost 295$) and Online written program (which cost 50$). Does it worth the money?

3. As my time is limited (I'm coming from Israel), what do you think I should do before I come so I could be as ready as possible for the training?

4. They offer housing for 1000$ per month. Did anyone use it? If yes - does it worth the money and do you have pictures of it?

I probably have more question but I guess I forgot them, so that's it for now.
Thank you in advance!

Nimrod
Click to expand...

I attended American Flyers in Santa Monica. PM me w/ questions.
 
Nimrod said:
Hello everyone,

My name is Nimrod and I live in Israel
I plan to attend American Flyers school in Santa Monica to get my instrumets rating, commercial rating and CFI.
I searched the forum and found a lot of useful information but I still have questions I couldn't find an answers for:

1. I read here a lot of reviews about their CFI academy, but could anyone share his experience with their instrument and commercial training?

2. They are suggesting to buy and download their Instrument Rating Courseware (which cost 295$) and Online written program (which cost 50$). Does it worth the money?

3. As my time is limited (I'm coming from Israel), what do you think I should do before I come so I could be as ready as possible for the training?

4. They offer housing for 1000$ per month. Did anyone use it? If yes - does it worth the money and do you have pictures of it?

I probably have more question but I guess I forgot them, so that's it for now.
Thank you in advance!

Nimrod
Click to expand...


I used to work at American Flyers in Santa Monica. The only thing they have there that is good is the CFI program. Everyhing else is wasting time and money IMHO. PM me for more info. I have tons.
 
mshunter said:
I used to work at American Flyers in Santa Monica. The only thing they have there that is good is the CFI program. Everyhing else is wasting time and money IMHO. PM me for more info. I have tons.
Click to expand...

I did all my ratings with AF back in 1998 at SJC. The only good thing was that I went from nothing to CFI really fast and got good flight training with a fantastic CFI.
If you have to go to Santa Monica for other reason than flight training then fine but there are some other areas in California that are less expensive. Since you are from Israel you might need a training visa such as a J-1 or an F-1. Smaller flight schools may not be able to issue such visa. You'll also need a TSA clearance.
 
Pépé le Pilot said:
I did all my ratings with AF back in 1998 at SJC. The only good thing was that I went from nothing to CFI really fast and got good flight training with a fantastic CFI.
If you have to go to Santa Monica for other reason than flight training then fine but there are some other areas in California that are less expensive. Since you are from Israel you might need a training visa such as a J-1 or an F-1. Smaller flight schools may not be able to issue such visa. You'll also need a TSA clearance.
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I got nothing else in Santa Monica or around. I just thought to go there because a friend of mine did his private license there and he really recommended it, mainly because he says it's one of the busiest airespace in the USA. Basically, I wouldn't mind to go anywhere else but I only heard about American Flyers and Flight Safety Academy. The "problem" with Flight Safety is that they don't offer a "one on one" courses (as far as I know) when at American Flyers it's possible and therefore I can study whenever I want, which means my stay at the USA will be shorter.

I know about the visa and TSA stuff, I won't have problems with it.
 
I went to the CFI program there and that was nice. I don't know anything about the other courses sorry. What I can tell you is that my buddy paid the 1000/month to stay in the janky apartment. You can find my better places there for the same money if you look harder. If you go with their provided one make sure you stock up on cockroach killing spray. You'll need it.
 
Pépé le Pilot said:
I did all my ratings with AF back in 1998 at SJC. The only good thing was that I went from nothing to CFI really fast and got good flight training with a fantastic CFI.
If you have to go to Santa Monica for other reason than flight training then fine but there are some other areas in California that are less expensive. Since you are from Israel you might need a training visa such as a J-1 or an F-1. Smaller flight schools may not be able to issue such visa. You'll also need a TSA clearance.
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1998, you realize that was 12 years ago, right? Things have changed. You will no longer have "a" CFI. They use a what they call a "Team Teaching" approach now. Bad juju. You never get comfortable with a CFI, and they way you learn is always having to change. Standardized looks good on paper, but the fact of the matter is everyones style is just a little bit different, so you way of learning has to constantly adjust.
 
When I was an independent CFI the one CFI one student approach worked pretty good. My only other options was to affect a different accent.

"Arrr... today ye be teached by the terror of the skies, Air Pirate!! Arr!"
 
There are plenty of other busy airspace in the US !
Two options : money is not a problem and you want to get through training fast, there are plenty of part 141 schools around that will take care of you (and your cash) all over the country,
Money is tight, and then you should do your homework. There are plenty of great part 61 schools around, and they will most likely provide you with one-to-one training. But it's also nice to switch CFI now and then, and if your one-to-one CFI gets hired somewhere else there goes your one-to-one.
First of all check the visa requirements, it can be time consuming. At the time I requested mine (a J-1, 2 years in 1998) I had to provide an extensive file showing for instance financial assets, proof of appartement ownership, tax statements, and so on. Be prepared, if you get a visa denial, you will not be able to request another one for a while.

To MSHunter : absolutely, I know that ! This was an other era... A good one though.
 
Hey Nimrod, if you want to save money on at least part of your journey, a good bet would be for you to do your flight training in Florida as it is very inexpensive to live there, and there are many flight schools to get your training at. PM if interested in schools. I know quite a few and am aware of which are good and which are not.
 
SpiraMirabilis said:
There are several in the US. As far as in Israel, there is a town in the Golan Heights.
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You probably mean "Nimrod Fortress" and next to it there a small village (containing only 6 families) also called "Nimrod".
Thanks to Wikipedia (and you), I just found out about Nimrod Minnesota and Nimrod Oregon :)
 
Busy airspace may not necessarily be a good thing for a student, for one thing, it's busy.

Try schools in Florida or Arizona if you want to save money. Especially in Florida, the cost of doing business there is much lower for flight schools.
 
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