Local Flight Academie v.s. Big Name Flight School??

[NYC FLYER]

Hey everyone,

I went around and looked at a few flight schools that I've seen in all the flying magazines such as, Flight Safety Academy, Jet-University, Delta Connection Academy, and have a date set up to visit Falcon Aviation Academy in August.

But I was just wondering, is it worth it to go to a place like this, or is it better just to stay local and get all the ratings at a flight school thats close to me. It's not nationally recognized or anything like that but if it offers the same type of ratings what makes these other schools so great compared to all the local ones around the country?

I'm 20 years old so I have time to make a decision and I don't need to rush into any aviation career, especially the way things are right now. So any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

 

[soonerpilot06]

I'm 20 years old so I have time to make a decision and I don't need to rush into any aviation career, especially the way things are right now. So any input would be greatly appreciated. Thanks

My advice is to get at least a Bachelor's degree and then do your flight training. Or, flight train while getting a degree. Just make sure your degree is in something other than aviation. That's where I messed up. I have an aviation degree and it's practically useless.

As far as airlines are concerned, they could care less where you get your ratings. As for corporate, I don't know. I think you have a better chance at getting hired on as a CFI and getting decent pay from a bigger flight school.

Just my thoughts.

 

[Barty]

My advice is to get at least a Bachelor's degree and then do your flight training. Or, flight train while getting a degree. Just make sure your degree is in something other than aviation. That's where I messed up. I have an aviation degree and it's practically useless.

As far as airlines are concerned, they could care less where you get your ratings. As for corporate, I don't know. I think you have a better chance at getting hired on as a CFI and getting decent pay from a bigger flight school.

Just my thoughts.

I 2nd that. Get the degree (engineering or business would probably be preferable) and do the flight training at your leisure in the meantime. When you graduate, get something that pays decent, work your way up to a CFI on your own dime, don't go into debt (even credit cards!) then get the CFI job to build time. At least this way if the CFI pay isn't the best in the world, you're not burning up half of it every month trying to pay off student loans because you got your PPL and instrument ratings in $130-150/hr aircraft with $40-50/hr instructors. The $70-80/hr aircraft aren't as flashy and won't have fancy glass cockpits, there are no fancy uniforms or classrooms (most of my instrument ground instruction was in the pilot's lounge at the FBO) but it gets the job done.

Yes, it might take you a year or two longer to do it this way, but you'll avoid the $50-60k in debt most folks seem to rack up in these professional pilot programs just to get a $20k a year job to start.

Not to mention that some airlines won't even look at you unless you have a degree, or at least some of them used to be that way. With the industry downsizing again, competition for jobs is going to be tight and having the degree will be a plus over

 

[yoman793]

i agree with sooner and barty. get the degree and fly at the same time. im doing it now and having a blast. the fast track schools are too expensive first of all, and second when your done, you dont have a job to show for it. if i am gonna throw down 60k to go get some training, i want to know i have a job lined up right away to pay back that loan. sure some of them have good cfi placement rates, but with the airlines not hiring, im sure those old instructors and trying to stay on a little longer. thus limiting the amount of new instructors they can hire. take your time, get a degree in anything, fly alot, become a cfi. it is pretty routine. good luck.

 

[moxiepilot]

since your question didn't ask about getting a degree, here are my thoughts:

unless you have loads of cash you want to throw around, don't go to those glossy ad places. You can get things done a lot cheaper at your local FBO, have the flexibility to hold a job concurrently and still get it done just as fast (if not faster).

There are a nuber of posts about FBO vs. flight academy; the search function can help locate them, and they are informative