Your Aviation Education

mhcasey

Well-Known Member
Recent threads inspired this question, but I don't mean to call anyone out here. For those of you that attended Riddle, UND, or wherever the heck else you can get a BS in Aviation...

Please tell me what you learned there that I cannot learn from my CFI's, in a book, or from Jetcareers.

Again - Not trying to insult anyone. I was a philosophy major and think that 50% of what I learned in school could be taught at a coffee shop one night a week (probably 90% of the philosophy stuff...I took a broad range of classes).

Feel free to share anything - Something like, "Well aviation accidents are not discussed much in FBOs, and I really enjoyed such and such class and/or its accompanying textbook book by this guy."
 
For one thing, I love having a class completely dedicated to safety. Analyzing various accidents, and getting a better understanding of safety and what we have done to improve it, and how it can be improved.

Actually that didnt exactly answer your question. Sorry.
 
Nothing.

It is all dependent on individual drive. If one is a motivated individual and is good at learning from books, you can learn just about everything you would in the process of receiving a BS in Aviation (with the possible exception of courses on specific aircraft i.e. CRJ, etc. which would be covered in a type rating or SIC course at the airlines).
 
Recent threads inspired this question, but I don't mean to call anyone out here. For those of you that attended Riddle, UND, or wherever the heck else you can get a BS in Aviation...

Please tell me what you learned there that I cannot learn from my CFI's, in a book, or from Jetcareers.

."


I attended Purdue University. I cannot say enough good words regarding their General Flight Technology program.

Good fundamentals and flight discipline are taught from day 1...and you earn an instrument rating over 3 separate semesters encompassing 3 different flight courses and several different simulator courses. (I'm sure we've all seen the weekend IFR courses. Unbelievable!)

The university is dedicated to teaching and quality...not just handing out pilot certificates...as you will wash out of the program if you cannot pass. In an FBO setting...you can always keep putting "quarters in the machine" until you eventually complete the certificate.

I'm sure you can achieve this type of disciplined learning on your own...but you'll just have to do your homework to find it.

Overall, I think University Aviation programs do a very good job teaching the basics of flying. I would prefer to see reputable operators/carriers require either a military flight education or university aviation education for employment.
 
God, I wish I had studied aviation. As it is now, I'm going to have a near worthless BA in Applied Psychology. My adviser said just to throw some upper level psych on to my existing credits and I can be done in three more semesters if all goes well. I look forward to being done. I mean, psychology is interesting enough, but I don't know. I'll just see how it goes next semester when I start ramping up the psych classes.. If I had stuck with IT or even went with LAS like I was planning as recently as a few weeks ago, it would have taken me longer.
 
Recent threads inspired this question, but I don't mean to call anyone out here. For those of you that attended Riddle, UND, or wherever the heck else you can get a BS in Aviation...

Please tell me what you learned there that I cannot learn from my CFI's, in a book, or from Jetcareers.

Again - Not trying to insult anyone. I was a philosophy major and think that 50% of what I learned in school could be taught at a coffee shop one night a week (probably 90% of the philosophy stuff...I took a broad range of classes).

Feel free to share anything - Something like, "Well aviation accidents are not discussed much in FBOs, and I really enjoyed such and such class and/or its accompanying textbook book by this guy."

You can learn how to throw awesome keggers, atract members of the opposite sex, and a whole bunch of other stuff that you learn in generals.

Actually, as much as I hate taking them, generals are the most important part of college, you get a wide, broad based education, that changes the way you think about the world. Rather than just being a pilot, now you're a pilot + degree = one step on the road to being a renaissance man.
 
Riddle, class of 81.

There is nothing I got out of my BS in Aero Studies that is either important enough to matter or wasn't covered otherwise in my aviation education. Either by reading it on my own or learning about it in an initial ground school.
 
I think the most valuable thing that I have gotten out of my university experience is the shear volume of aviation people you meet. I know I have a lot more contacts that I can lean on if I need to. Just like anything, if you work hard enough outside of a university program, you can get just about the same things, but for me it made the journey more interesting. I would agree that the thing I learn most from is going over accidents. I strongly suggest perusing throught the NTSB's website and reading the accident reports.
 
For one thing, I love having a class completely dedicated to safety. Analyzing various accidents, and getting a better understanding of safety and what we have done to improve it, and how it can be improved.

Actually that didnt exactly answer your question. Sorry.

Which does little to nothing for your career. Much like people paying for an RJ course vs. an airline sending you to training, when the FAA wanted me to learn accident investigation they sent me to their accident investigation class. I had a guy who was interested in working in airports recently tell me that Riddle has a certificate program for airport operations. My god people, it's an entry level job, just let someone pay you to learn it.

And yes, I learned just as much (much more, actually) from doing my CFI outside of a university as I would have from finishing at Riddle.
 
I got a BS degree for cheap from ERAU's extended campus. By using my flight time as credit, community college, and CLEP/DANTES tests, I got my 4 year degree for about 10k.

I just wanted to check the box. With that said, they did have some airport managers from DFW that taught there.
 
Please tell me what you learned there that I cannot learn from my CFI's, in a book, or from Jetcareers.

All the general classes, marketing, economics, law, physics... :)
plus doing tons of papers and presentations :D
 
My personal opinion is that to improve the quality of our profession, stricter controls should be placed on licensing and accreditation of institutions that can prepare an individual for a professsion in aviation.

I can read WebMD and diagnose strep throat...but without the formal education and licensing I cannot write a script for medicine.

Narrowing the accreditation process does much more than just ensure a disciplined curriculum. Very importantly, it ensures that the best people are accepted into the profession...as they should gain admittance over less quality applicants.

Right now, a person off the street with very low aptitude, can bottom feed his way through certification and eventually make his way into a career and most likely will be more satisfied with lower wages than a person with higher aptitude who went through a more formal career track type of education.

Again, IMO, I think the lack of sticter controls on professional licensing and lenient accreditation of training institutions hurts the pro pilot profession as much as any other issue going.
 
How to "spot-land" a 152. How to wear Ray-Bans at night. Advanced masturbation techniques. Excellent preparation for being alone for the rest of your life.

Oh come on, someone had to do it! ;)
 
I went to a university with an aviation program. Somethings it offered that I couldn't get anywhere else:

It was one stop shopping. The degree and the training were right at the same place. It saved a lot of gas.

It was some of the cheapest flight training in the state. Yes you heard it here folks. Flight training at my university was cheaper than just about any FBO in the state.

The maintenance was great.

The flight training was pretty standardized. I hated it back then, but I understand why it was that way now (still think it's stupid:p).

I could use my band scholarship (although it was small) to pay for flight training.

I was awarded a bunch of other aviation scholarships specifically through my university.

Since the training was through an accredited institution, I could get government loans which had lower interest rates than persnal loans. Plus I was awarded a lot of Pell Grant funding.

I didn't really want to have any other subject as my core study. Of course I took the English, Math, History, Busines (actually my degree is from the school of Business),and etc... classes. But I rather have my focus study on something that I'm interested in.

I learned about human factors in dept well before I started flying professionally.

It was a great opportunity to get out there and network. JC hasn't been around forever.:)



If I had it to do all over again, I'd do it the same.

Delta State University
Bachelor of Science Degree in Commercial Aviation: Flight Operations
 
I need to disagree with you B767Driver.

The big downfall of aviation related universities and programs is that they are very restricting. As a student in one of those programs you have very rigid guidelines on when and where you can fly. Very little chances are given to fly on your own and make your own decisions in the airplane.

As you know, flying an airline has more to do with aeronautical decision making and managing the flight, than stick and rudder skills. I see what you are saying about making an accreditation type programs to move on to the airlines, but I think that can be done in other ways.
 
The flight training was pretty much the same as I could have gotten at an FBO. Same price, same quality of instructors, same amount of freedom, etc.

The big advantage I see is the social networking potential. I have good friends flying as professional pilots all over the country now...Skywest, Horizon, Amflight, cargo operators, air ambulance, numerous corporate/charter operators, etc. If I ever want to go to one of those places, I'll know what I'm getting in to. By having friends go and do it before me, it helped me decide what I do and don't want to do with my life because I hear trusted opinions of it. Plus, I can get a letter of recommendation pretty easily if I need to.
 
I learned a lot from our professors that will never be found in a book. One was an old WWII pilot, one helped write the book on CRM, another was a hornet driver and a CAG, and another a Lt. Col who started his own cargo airline and was a chief pilot at Delta for 20 years. Those guys have stories that you wouldn't believe and they really have a passion for what they do. They imparted knowledge about life in general, flying your F-172 and about the industry as a whole that was invaluable. Because of the things I've been exposed to, laughed at, and taken to heart I wouldn't change my university aviation education for anything the Ivy League ever has to offer.
 
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