U.S. Aviation Academy-Pros Vs. Cons

[Brandon_T210L]

I am currently looking into attending this school under the Envoy cadet program and although everything sounds good from the "sales" perspective, I was hoping there was someone out there with good insight on the place that has had real world experience with them and could help me out. I am from central Iowa and haven't had a chance to tour the school or anything. The school is located in Denton, TX.

Thanks in advance!

 

[tcco94]

Have a few friends there right now. I only know a little but I know last year word around Texas was about their awful maintenance history. You teach international students like most large academies and fly a good amount. I'd look around, especially with Envoys program having a variety of flight schools.

After being at a large international flight school instructing for a year, I wouldn't automatically go to it unless you can sacrifice your quality of life to just build time as fast as you possibly can. If that's your goal then it's great but if you want good pay, good time off, and a much happier and relaxed instructing experience look elsewhere. You'll spend a little bit more time in the long run.

 

[killbilly]

@USMCmech

 

[USMCmech]

I'm one of the assistant chiefs at USAA. I'll try to give you the good, bad, and the ugly about this place.

The good,
Lots of students, build time quickly, fairly good flying weather, relatively low cost of living.

The bad,
International students can be "challenging" to say the least (Tarrant County College students at AFW are all domestic). You may be assigned to Grayson County airport (GYI) in Sherman TX which is well away from the DFW metroplex.

The Ugly,
The planes are in rough shape. The Mx department does their best, but when you are working with 152s, and Sennca Is from the 1970s, there is only so much they can do. If you have a problem it will get fixed, but the planes are anything but pretty.

 

[Brandon_T210L]

Thanks for your input guys! I really appreciate it!

 

[ZapBrannigan]

Just met the new Director of Aviation from TCC at the airport yesterday. Can’t remember her name though. Can anyone jog my memory? Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[A150K]

Have a few friends there right now. I only know a little but I know last year word around Texas was about their awful maintenance history. You teach international students like most large academies and fly a good amount. I'd look around, especially with Envoys program having a variety of flight schools.

After being at a large international flight school instructing for a year, I wouldn't automatically go to it unless you can sacrifice your quality of life to just build time as fast as you possibly can. If that's your goal then it's great but if you want good pay, good time off, and a much happier and relaxed instructing experience look elsewhere. You'll spend a little bit more time in the long run.

Yup. Did the international instructing thing a few years ago for about a year. It got me my time, but I definitely wanted to commit mass murder after a year of flying 100+ hours per month 6 days per week. That being said, a relaxed instructing gig shouldn't be the end goal if one is doing it to build time for other things....get in, get your time and get out. I speak as someone who worked one of those relaxed instructing gigs for 2.5 years before biting the bullet and moving on to the international student gig...I only had 800 TT after 2.5 years doing that and some contract corporate stuff on the side..

 

[A150K]

Oops just realized how old this thread is.

 

[Eryka]

Any current updates? Did they improve their fleet quality?