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Thank you Mr. Taylor for your replay.
you have a good point. But does an Airline really cares which flight school i went to?
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Personally, I think no.
But my contact that was a manager of pilot selection says "kinda" -- primarily because a 'known quantity' candidate in certain circustances, is going to fare a little better than an 'unknown quantity' candidate.
I didn't agree with his answer but I think
maybe what he was getting at was comparing two pilot candidates, one that went thru Air Force undergraduate pilot training (and theoretically stopped flying) in comparison to another candidate with similar hours that attended Joe Six Pack FBO. Knowing that the UPT-trained candidate went thru a demanding program and survived compared to another pilot applicant who showed up with the appropriate ratings tilts favorably in the UPT-trained pilot.
That's probably a bad example, but I doubt if he's up this late in order to answer my email for clarification.
But, pick a good quality flight training organization because you're building important skills. A good quality flight program doens't necessarily mean the glossiest ad in Flying Magazine, the most expensive or the flashiest name, it's largely between quality and availability of aircraft and the instructor.
Cheap rates are one thing, but if the aircraft are often down for maintenance, or it returns from a 100-hour inspection with a clean bill of health and you find yourself wondering "Geez, I can't see that tub confidently making it around the pattern", it's a moot point. Saving $10 on renting an aircraft may potentially
increase your training costs in the long run because of aircraft availabilty, potential maintenance downtime.
Not saying that a more expensive flight school is going to have better reliability but there's more to finding a training environment than cost alone. You're looking for
value, which is a combination of cost, reliability, environment, location and uhh, whatever!
Larger flight schools, depending on who you ask, may or may not help with certain airlines, but if you're simply a number and in order to complete remedial training, you've got to fill out six forms in triplicate, visit the flight training manager and wait for approval, it's not conducive to learning.
Notice I didn't say "Hey, choose a flight school for the airline affiliation!"
Interview A LOT of flight schools before making your choice. Also interview local FBO's as well. Talk to instructors, talk to students, talk to the mechanics, talk to everyone. Hell, talk to us!
