Regional Airline Academy vs. Flight Safety Academy

robair73

robair73

Well-Known Member
I was wondering if anyone has ever been to or attended Regional Airline Academy. I've been researching this school for the past few weeks got a packet and spoke to an admission counselor over the phone. It seems to offer more than Flight Safety Academy, the school all others are compared to, at a cheaper price. If anyone knows about Regional Airline Academy, let me know. Thanks PPPPLLLLTTTT.
 
Not to dismiss any other school, but in my own research, the numbers on paper usually favor other schools over FSI. It's when you visit the schools, look at the airplanes, talk to the students, etc. that it all becomes clear.
 
I haven't heard of Regional Airline Academy, which means that your resume may as well have your local FBO on it.

Though I like the idea of training being less expensive (allowing you to acrue more time for the same $) when you go around to find a job, it certainly helps to have the most well known flight school on your resume. Nearly every employer or flight instructor I've spoke with about employement has immediately complimented FSI about their quality.

Definetely visit the school and talk to alot of students. FSI is on a completely different level compared to most schools.

Good luck!
 
Why would anyone go to a place called "Regional Airline Academy"...sounds a bit narrow in focus, doesn't it? Notice the trend in all the schools that you call ...if you mention, even as a side note, that you are interested in FSI, school X will compare themselves to FSI. All of the schools do that. You won't hear Pheonix East compare themselves to Airman or whatever, but you will hear all of them compare themselves to FSI. Do you know what that's called? That's called a standard. A mark to measure everyone else by. Think about that for awhile and you'll know what to do based on your goals.

Chunk
 
Hi All,

Well said Chunk, and he's 100% right. When I did my tours of the flight programs in Florida, and that was about 9 schools (ATA, Com Air, PAIFA, Gulfstream, Phoenix East, Tab Expess, ProPilot Training, Regional Airline Academy and FSI.) The resounding theme was always the same, "we have a better and cheaper program than FSI". If I had a dollar for every time I heard that line from all the marketing types, I problably would not need to take out a key loan for my training. /ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif

But seriously, I would advise you to visit Florida, and conduct your own tour. I actually toured FSI first, and that was the standard to base every other school by. Back to Regional Airline Academy, I got the same packet that you received, here are my thoughts on the school.

The school is based at Deland, Florida. When I got there, I got the impression of a local FBO in long Island, NY. The aircraft fleet is composed of Charlie 150's,172's, Seneca's and a AST sim, their class rooms, briefing room, dispatch and facilities are clean and well organized and seem like a well run decent program. You can get you PPL,Ins & Comm and you need to intruct to min of 1200 TT to qualify for the airline program.

But that was it, when I asked to see some hard numbers of the pilots that graduated, all I got was a printed paper of a few CFI that got hired, nothing solid. I was not allowed to see there maintenance area and when I stopped to talk to some of the students the MR guy nearly went into a state of panic, talk about paranoid.

Then when he started to discuss numbers, it was once again throwing in FSI as a comparison "FSI is a good school, but compared to them, we provide the same training at a much lower cost" so I pressed him for facts on the program's graduate's and he was like " well, we have airline partners that are active taking our CFI's, so I do not have anything at the moment, but you should also note that we fly in unrestricted airspace so you can get more flight time for your buck." And he basically went on as how they can get you from zero to airline seat in 14 Mo.s with a guaranteed interview, (Can some explain what that means /ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif ) but I got that a lot and that was his main selling point. Once again I pressd on proof of the airline hiring, and all I got from this guy was a paper of a few of their grad that supposedly made it.

Needless to say I thanked them and moved on, however their is a saying "You get what you pay for" and after visiting all these other flight programs and then you take a tour of FSI, you come to realization that you have been wasting you own time all along. Everything that was said about FSI in these forums is 100% on the money, and if you want proof of pilots that made it out of FSI, when you get there, check out all the photo's of these pilots that cover the walls inside of both buildings, so many that I lost count, but it seemed a few hundred and I hope to join that hall of fame some day.

Good luck in your search and after you done, see you at FSI. /ubbthreads/images/icons/wink.gif

Best Regards,
Heat2151
 
Thanks Chunk and Heat for an inside opinion on FSA and Regional Airlines. I'm planning on taking the tour of Florida in September, but maybe the tour will just be of FSA. It sure would save me a week of my time. But I'll end up looking at other schools just to confirm the decision that seems to be inevitable. I just want to keep my eyes open for a school that compares and is a little cheaper. I figure it is going to take over 60K to complete training at FSA. That includes living expenses of course, but that is still pretty steep. Oh well, I guess I gotta do what I gotta do. LATE.
 
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