Phoenix East Aviation

rk249

rk249

Well-Known Member
Hi there
Can anyone please give some information about Phoenix East Aviation based out of Daytona Beach, Florida. I cant seem to find recent info about this flight school. There are a lot of mixed stories about this place. I am looking to start my flight training in the coming months and I need a flight school that offers a f-1 visa. Can anyone give me any fresh information about this place or put me in touch with any current or recently graduated students.
Thanks
 
1. Do not under any circumstances pay Phoenix East Aviation (or any other flight school) more than $2500 in advance for any reason. No matter what they tell you. No matter what discount they offer you. No matter what refund policy they represent--DON'T DO IT!

2. If they will not agree to a pay as you fly program (not pay as you ground school!) then find another school that will work as a pay as you fly program.

3. If they absolutely insist that you pay in advance then see rule number 1 and number 2 above.


Joe
 
JOEFRIDAY2 said:
1. Do not under any circumstances pay Phoenix East Aviation (or any other flight school) more than $2500 in advance for any reason. No matter what they tell you. No matter what discount they offer you. No matter what refund policy they represent--DON'T DO IT!

2. If they will not agree to a pay as you fly program (not pay as you ground school!) then find another school that will work as a pay as you fly program.

3. If they absolutely insist that you pay in advance then see rule number 1 and number 2 above.


Joe
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Is there a school that issues visa without requiring any kind of deposit? I think they ALL require deposits as they are taking a risk in issuing visas. I could be wrong though.
 
Amanda,

I would want to make sure that any flight school issuing visas is actually issuing visas for Aviation Training. There are schools issuing visas for things other than aviation (like learning english) and then the students are coming to a flight school to learn how to fly. That is not legal and is a clear violation of the TSA and homeland security rules and regulations.

The visa requirements do require that a student prove they have the money to pay for the aviation school and sustain themselves while in training. The money can be deposited with an attorney and placed in his trust account to be withdrawn on a pay as you go basis.

Foreign students are very vulnerable to pay in advance flight school scams in the US and lose millions of dollars every year when flight schools do not deliver the contracted training. These students have absolutely no recourse and return home without their ratings and without their money. It's unfortunate but true.

So the first thing is that I would not advise any student to come to a flight school in the US unless they have the proper AVIATION visa. If a school is bringing students in on the wrong visa, that is the first indication that the school is running a scam.

Joe
 
Thanks for the advice Joe. That is actually a very big factor in my search for the right flight school. The other thing is that some flight schools don't take a big deposit up front but want you to pay for your training in thirds every month or 2 months. Which basically means that you've paid the entire amount 3-4 months into your training. That again ties your hands if something goes wrong, because flight schools never reimburse the amount you are entitled to. A lot of my friends have faced the same problem. Which is why pay as go is the way to do it.
 
Last time I checked PEA wanted me to pay $10,000 upfront. It was one of the reasons I decided to choose Hillsboro Aviation, where you pay after each lesson/flight. No deposit or any upfront payment other than a $200 registration fee.

Simple financial verification (a letter from the bank) is the only visa requirement. And about $350 in fees + $400 for the TSA - but that's another story...
 
what I hate about flying into to DAB is how much you pay in taxi time. With planes costing $150-$250 an hour now I don't want to be paying those prices waiting in line for takeoff. Go to another airport thats not a busy and you will save a few thousand dollars.
 
cfitime said:
what I hate about flying into to DAB is how much you pay in taxi time. With planes costing $150-$250 an hour now I don't want to be paying those prices waiting in line for takeoff. Go to another airport thats not a busy and you will save a few thousand dollars.
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That's why I love Massey. I flew out of Daytona once and hated it. I refused to fly out of there again.
 
JOEFRIDAY2 said:
Amanda,

I would want to make sure that any flight school issuing visas is actually issuing visas for Aviation Training. There are schools issuing visas for things other than aviation (like learning english) and then the students are coming to a flight school to learn how to fly. That is not legal and is a clear violation of the TSA and homeland security rules and regulations.

The visa requirements do require that a student prove they have the money to pay for the aviation school and sustain themselves while in training. The money can be deposited with an attorney and placed in his trust account to be withdrawn on a pay as you go basis.

Foreign students are very vulnerable to pay in advance flight school scams in the US and lose millions of dollars every year when flight schools do not deliver the contracted training. These students have absolutely no recourse and return home without their ratings and without their money. It's unfortunate but true.

So the first thing is that I would not advise any student to come to a flight school in the US unless they have the proper AVIATION visa. If a school is bringing students in on the wrong visa, that is the first indication that the school is running a scam.

Joe
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If you are legally in the US, the nature of the visa really doesn't matter - nothing legally stops you from paying for flying lessons.

The only real advantage of the F-1 is that you can generally work with one, so nothing would stop you from being a CFI.

An F-1 visa will generally require you to prove that you have the funds to pay for whatever you are getting the visa for, but I personally would want the money in escrow.
 
Here is the link to the TSA Alien Flight Student Program.

https://www.flightschoolcandidates.gov/afsp2/?acct_type=c&section=LI

"49 U.S.C.44939 and 49 CFR part 1552 prohibit a U.S. flight school from providing flight training to an alien unless the alien has submitted certain information to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and TSA has determined that the alien does not pose a threat to aviation or national security. Aliens who have been endorsed by the US Department of Defense (DoD) are exempted from the TSA security threat assessment. To verify that the alien has been endorsed by the U.S. DoD, a letter from the DoD attache' at the U.S.Embassy in the alien's country of residence must be presented to the Flight Training Provider. A Provider may access a sample letter by logging into the AFSP website, and viewing the links section. A DoD attache' must fill in the required fields, place the letter on DoD letterhead, sign it, and send it to the Provider via fax or standard mail. "

Bottom line is that if you are teaching foreign students how to fly and they have not been cleared by TSA then you are violating the above listed federal law.

Joe
 
JOEFRIDAY2 said:
Here is the link to the TSA Alien Flight Student Program.

https://www.flightschoolcandidates.gov/afsp2/?acct_type=c&section=LI

"49 U.S.C.44939 and 49 CFR part 1552 prohibit a U.S. flight school from providing flight training to an alien unless the alien has submitted certain information to the Transportation Security Administration (TSA), and TSA has determined that the alien does not pose a threat to aviation or national security. Aliens who have been endorsed by the US Department of Defense (DoD) are exempted from the TSA security threat assessment. To verify that the alien has been endorsed by the U.S. DoD, a letter from the DoD attache' at the U.S.Embassy in the alien's country of residence must be presented to the Flight Training Provider. A Provider may access a sample letter by logging into the AFSP website, and viewing the links section. A DoD attache' must fill in the required fields, place the letter on DoD letterhead, sign it, and send it to the Provider via fax or standard mail. "

Bottom line is that if you are teaching foreign students how to fly and they have not been cleared by TSA then you are violating the above listed federal law.

Joe
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TSA clearing and visa are two TOTALLY different things. They can have a visa without a TSA screening or a TSA screening without a visa. The TSA screening can be done by ANY flight school. Only certain flight schools can issue visas. (I believe the TSA screening is only $150 also.)
 
I believe doing the flight training (for a rating or certificate) without a student visa is a violation of the law. That's what I was told in the US Consulate in Krakow. TSA is a different thing but I assume they might check if the student has a proper visa. The fee is actually $130 (plus fingerprinting) which is quite reasonable. What is not reasonable, however, is the requirement to go through the same screening three times - before Private, Instrument and Multi-Engine.
 
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