Please Help Me Choose A Flight School

Mendy

Mendy

Filing Flight Plan
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Jul 7, 2017
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Mendy
Hello all,

I am a new user and was hoping to find some insight to ease my overwhelmingness of choosing a flight school. I'm currently located in Boston and recently graduated from university this spring, and have been researching various programs that will put me on the track to fly for the major airlines. Since I don't want to go to an aeronautical college/university, I have decided to go the flight school route. Originally, a flight school from Florida gave a seminar here in Boston, and I learned about the "Accelerated/Career/Professional Pilot Program" that flight schools have; partnering with regional airlines and their "Pilot Pathway" programs.

After talking to what seems to be a bunch of "crooked salesmen", several regional pilots, and the regional airlines themselves, I seem to be caught at a standstill, not knowing what to choose or where to put my money for the best investment. From the several flight schools I've researched in the Florida area, I've been given mixed reviews. A lot of these schools call themselves "Academies". Some people say go for it, while others tell me to stay far away; since many tailor to international students and could easily gouge them for money and give subpar training, who are oblivious to such practices and drawn in through pricing gimmicks.

After learning about the requirements of getting the CFI and needing 1,500 hours (though this might change, I'm hearing?) before applying to a regional FO position, here is my list of criteria for trying to find a good school:

1. Cost
2. Housing included or available
3. A package deal, all/mostly inclusive
4. Rigorous and comprehensive ground/classroom training, nothing left out
5. Exceptional flight instructors
6. Faculty available for "office hours"/not heavily relied on self-study/self-confusion
7. Guaranteed CFI position to gain all 1,500 hours
8. Prepare me to be 99.9% confident that FO Interview becomes a formality.
9. *Some programs (like ATP) claim that they go one step beyond Pilot Pathway partnership and actually guarantees an FO position w/o interview?

This list is my perceptions/conclusions so far from what I've done research on, even though some of you may look at that list and scoff, "Yea right, good luck with finding that".

From my conversations, many people do recommend ATP, and I guess they are reputable and one of the most well-known flight schools. But it would really help if you guys could recommend any other reputable institutions that don't cost as much, and possibly include housing.

Or last but not least, if you know of a way I can scrap the whole "academy/career pilot program" path completely and still be cost effective (short of joining the military), I would love to hear it. If any regional pilots or current Career Pilot Program cadets could leave your two cents here, it would be much appreciated. Thank you so much for your time!
 
Lots of threads on this,
Find a good flying club
Start off in a tailwheel or glider if possible.
It's all about the CFI, don't worry about the name of the school, find the place with the cheapest to rent planes that are airworthy.

Don't buy into the pathway BS places like ATP Inc try to sell
 
ATP will get you done pretty quickly but it cost a lot of money. They also give you an unnecessary amount of multi time. The regionals are only looking for 25 hours of multi time and you don't need one of those "guaranteed interview" selling points. If you have ATP mins and a pulse you'll get hired. Don't plan on the 1500 hour rule to be reduced. Have you taken an intro flight to see if you even enjoy flying? Make sure you can hold a first class medical as well.
 
Do any of the local community colleges or similar have an aviation program? That's usually the cheapest and often fastest way to get the book stuff out of the way.

Next, do you want to stay in the Boston area for the time being? If so, find a good local CFI and work with them. Visit the local flight schools and see what they offer. Do NOT pay lots of money up front! You can do an enormous amount of work toward your goals cheaper than any of the "puppy mills".

Go visit the East Coast Flight club. Go google flight schools in the Boston area.

North Shore community college has an aviation program for all the ground courses.

Your turn - go do your homework.
 
Have you signed up for a FREE AOPA student pilot membership? That should get you a FREE subscription to Flight Training magazine. That magazine will have most of those accelerated flight schools listed. Then you have to sift through them. One has to evaluate the $$$ available for training. It costs $$ to go anywhere near a plane, with intent for flight.

It sounds like you already have a 4 year degree? I just met a Mom the other week. Her Son recently finished a degree in 'pre-Med'. The Son decided it wasn't for him & off he went to an accelerated flight school. We all March to a somewhat different beat.
 
If you don't mind going to SC, I have a good opinion of USAeroTech at KGMU. I recently went to the BJU aviation camp and spent a week at USAeroTech. The CFIs are great.

I would post a link to their website, but, heh heh, I'm a new member with less than 5 posts.... :p
 
Most important thing: don't ever, ever pay in advance. Get your bill after the lesson and pay it. Students lose thousands of dollars by prepaying, and it happens one of two ways: 1) the operation was a scam, and the students fell into the trap; 2) the flight school was so poorly run that it needed the cash flow, and then it goes bankrupt anyway. A well-run school shouldn't need you to prepay them.

As others have said, it's more about the instructor than anything else. Don't be afraid to try a few different instructors until you find one who has a teaching style that's a fit for you. Pilot mills like ATP will get you through pretty quickly, but their instruction is garbage. They're good for the more advanced ratings where a lot of the study is self-directed. Lousy for primary.

If you can, try to fly several times per week. If you can make it work with your schedule, you'll save a lot of time.
 
Someone needs to make a really good "How To..." post for this topic and get Ted and Jason to pin it at the top.
 
Paging @ARFlyer ....

Andrew got busy with a little known Arkansas university located not far from his home town that offered a good flight program. During time spent there, he obtained all the required ratings and built up enough time so that, shortly after graduation, he obtained an interview for a regional and then got hired on as First Officer.

Hopefully he will be along and can share more of his experiences and wisdom of what to do and not to do.

And from others I know locally, it often isn't that you attended a known name brand institution, but that you ALWAYS kept your ears open for chances to fly and chances to network your way into bigger and better things. A ramp guy at the local FBO mad friends with the owners of a Citation jet. Turns out their corporate pilot moved up to bigger and better, so they offered Josh the chance to get his type rating (they paid for it) and become their pilot. Josh would not have gotten that step up opportunity if he wasn't always networking with other pilots and big aircraft owners.
 
Last edited:
Mendy said:
Hello all,

I am a new user and was hoping to find some insight to ease my overwhelmingness of choosing a flight school. I'm currently located in Boston and recently graduated from university this spring, and have been researching various programs that will put me on the track to fly for the major airlines. Since I don't want to go to an aeronautical college/university, I have decided to go the flight school route. Originally, a flight school from Florida gave a seminar here in Boston, and I learned about the "Accelerated/Career/Professional Pilot Program" that flight schools have; partnering with regional airlines and their "Pilot Pathway" programs.

After talking to what seems to be a bunch of "crooked salesmen", several regional pilots, and the regional airlines themselves, I seem to be caught at a standstill, not knowing what to choose or where to put my money for the best investment. From the several flight schools I've researched in the Florida area, I've been given mixed reviews. A lot of these schools call themselves "Academies". Some people say go for it, while others tell me to stay far away; since many tailor to international students and could easily gouge them for money and give subpar training, who are oblivious to such practices and drawn in through pricing gimmicks.

After learning about the requirements of getting the CFI and needing 1,500 hours (though this might change, I'm hearing?) before applying to a regional FO position, here is my list of criteria for trying to find a good school:

1. Cost
2. Housing included or available
3. A package deal, all/mostly inclusive
4. Rigorous and comprehensive ground/classroom training, nothing left out
5. Exceptional flight instructors
6. Faculty available for "office hours"/not heavily relied on self-study/self-confusion
7. Guaranteed CFI position to gain all 1,500 hours
8. Prepare me to be 99.9% confident that FO Interview becomes a formality.
9. *Some programs (like ATP) claim that they go one step beyond Pilot Pathway partnership and actually guarantees an FO position w/o interview?

This list is my perceptions/conclusions so far from what I've done research on, even though some of you may look at that list and scoff, "Yea right, good luck with finding that".

From my conversations, many people do recommend ATP, and I guess they are reputable and one of the most well-known flight schools. But it would really help if you guys could recommend any other reputable institutions that don't cost as much, and possibly include housing.

Or last but not least, if you know of a way I can scrap the whole "academy/career pilot program" path completely and still be cost effective (short of joining the military), I would love to hear it. If any regional pilots or current Career Pilot Program cadets could leave your two cents here, it would be much appreciated. Thank you so much for your time!
Click to expand...
There is an accelerated training outfit located in Las Vegas called flyaccelerated but they dont do the professional pilot loan thing so it has to be cash or credit card. If youre looking to get it done quickly, they are your guys.
 
The OP joined POA and made this post on July 7 and has not posted since. The probably isn't much use in answering his questions anymore.
 
Mendy said:
Hello all,

I am a new user and was hoping to find some insight to ease my overwhelmingness of choosing a flight school. I'm currently located in Boston and recently graduated from university this spring, and have been researching various programs that will put me on the track to fly for the major airlines. Since I don't want to go to an aeronautical college/university, I have decided to go the flight school route. Originally, a flight school from Florida gave a seminar here in Boston, and I learned about the "Accelerated/Career/Professional Pilot Program" that flight schools have; partnering with regional airlines and their "Pilot Pathway" programs.

After talking to what seems to be a bunch of "crooked salesmen", several regional pilots, and the regional airlines themselves, I seem to be caught at a standstill, not knowing what to choose or where to put my money for the best investment. From the several flight schools I've researched in the Florida area, I've been given mixed reviews. A lot of these schools call themselves "Academies". Some people say go for it, while others tell me to stay far away; since many tailor to international students and could easily gouge them for money and give subpar training, who are oblivious to such practices and drawn in through pricing gimmicks.

After learning about the requirements of getting the CFI and needing 1,500 hours (though this might change, I'm hearing?) before applying to a regional FO position, here is my list of criteria for trying to find a good school:

1. Cost
2. Housing included or available
3. A package deal, all/mostly inclusive
4. Rigorous and comprehensive ground/classroom training, nothing left out
5. Exceptional flight instructors
6. Faculty available for "office hours"/not heavily relied on self-study/self-confusion
7. Guaranteed CFI position to gain all 1,500 hours
8. Prepare me to be 99.9% confident that FO Interview becomes a formality.
9. *Some programs (like ATP) claim that they go one step beyond Pilot Pathway partnership and actually guarantees an FO position w/o interview?

This list is my perceptions/conclusions so far from what I've done research on, even though some of you may look at that list and scoff, "Yea right, good luck with finding that".

From my conversations, many people do recommend ATP, and I guess they are reputable and one of the most well-known flight schools. But it would really help if you guys could recommend any other reputable institutions that don't cost as much, and possibly include housing.

Or last but not least, if you know of a way I can scrap the whole "academy/career pilot program" path completely and still be cost effective (short of joining the military), I would love to hear it. If any regional pilots or current Career Pilot Program cadets could leave your two cents here, it would be much appreciated. Thank you so much for your time!
Click to expand...

I recommend Integrated Flight Training Academy in Fort Lauderdale. I'm PPL and IR and doing my commercial course with them now. So far it's been great. very efficient. The whole course is about $30k. you should check them out.
 
Integrated flight academy? Isn't that the guy that's been dropping advertisements randomly in threads?
 
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