Flight Schools Options

[paskoo]

Im sure there is no correct answer but here goes. from an industry stand point which is the best airline acadamy? right now i have my private rating and am currently working on my instrument. after that I am thinking about ATP, comair, or Regional Airline Acadamy. which is the best route???

[KLM777]

LOL that's funny I have all three of those schools pamphlets in my room. I think the one with the Best offer is ATP but here is the rundown.

ATP
Course:Airline Career Pilot Program(ACPP)&Direct Track Placement
Will take you from Private Pilot to Certified Flight Instructor with approximately 190 hours of multi-engine time.You have two choices 90 day fast Track or 10 months(free housing).Direct Track is the new airline placement option following the Airline Career Pilot Program. Direct Track provides the fastest way to go from Airline Career Pilot Program graduate to Airline Pilot without flight instructing.Your success in receiving a Regional Airline First Officer job offer is backed by ATP’s exclusive $10,000 rebate guarantee and a guaranteed multi-engine instructor position with ATP.
Aircraft:65 PA-44 seminoles,2 diamond stars(13 on order),16 C-172, Cessna 525 and 501 jets
Price: ACPP=$39,995 DTP=$32,995 Total=$77,985

Comair Academy<--My Favorite
Course:I have recently been getting flyers in the mail from these guys with pics of 777's and 767's that say" We have all the connections" and "Being a subsidiary of Delta, we are now the ONLY accelerated flight training facility serving the entire Delta Connection System." They probably do but I want to see how manypeople were hired by Comair or one of the others. A student taking the traditional program graduates witha minimum of 1000hrs TT, there is the advanced program -10 plus 4 that does the same thing as traditional but gets you out quicker.You can work as a flight instructor and enjoy the benefits of a paid employee of Delta-with free 1st class flights to anywhere Delta flies(An offer I wouldn't mind taking up). And when your finished the hiring airlinepays $20,000 dollars for your First officer training.
Aircraft:More than 110 in total, Piper PA-44,some multi engine ones, and some nice new ones
Price: $53,000 (+or-)

Regoinal Airline Academy
Course:My first impression was how could all of their graduates have an airline job and they only have about 6 planes at each campus.But then I found out that you have your choice of three different regional aircraft ratings included in your training. To tell you the truth I think they have a good offer but I wouldn't apply unless any of my first choicesdidn't work out. But if RAA is "your school", then nevertheless apply apply apply! Just so you know----"Regional Airline Academy has alliances with regional airlines that guarantee interviews for graduates. We offer college degrees and financial aid along with Flight Attendant Training."
Aircraft:22 total aircraft including PA28s, PA28Rs, PA32s and C152s
Price:$45,000(+or-)

[SF3aviatrix]

...from an industry stand point which is the best airline acadamy?

There really isn't a 'best' academy to get to an airline.

Unless you are trying to use that route to get that promised interview with their affiliated regional, it does not matter where you did your training. Your licenses & certificates don't come with a brand name on them. It doesn't matter to a recruiter where you got them. The big marketing ploy of the acadamies is their interview hook up. 'Spend a gazillion dollars here and land an airline job in 18 months!' All you get for your $50-60K or more is an guaranteed interview- not a guaranteed job. So you can get an interview at reduced flight times by spending your money there, but if you don't get a job offer you are screwed as you are out the money and aren't qualified to apply any place else as your TT is so low.

Comair is now the Delta Connection Academy. You should expect a bunch of great, glossy flyers from schools like that and the RAA as they need students! They need slick marketing to keep a steady source of income for their high priced school. This forum is great, but it's not the place to get the real 411 on acadamy programs. You need to visit the message boards at http://forums.jetcareers.com or http://forum.flightinfo.com. (Jetcareers has folders for each of these schools by name.) Do a name search and you will find days of reading between these two sites.

DCA claims they place 97% of those that "complete their program". That is not 97% of those who enroll. Read this post about DCA that took a hit at their claim:

"“Even in today’s job market, 97% of our graduates are hired as First Officers!*”

The asterisk * small print at the bottom of [DCAs] ads reads: “* 728 out of 754 students who completed the entire program through August 2003”. Wow, that is fantastic, don’t you know? DCA has been in business since 1987, which is 16 years. If you divide 728 by that 16 years you only get 45.5 students per year, or 3 students per month on average, that graduate. This means less than 6% of their students make it as First Officers. Do you really want to spend all that money to attend DCA, knowing that only 6% or less of the attending students are hired as First Officers?"

-taken from this thread Thoughts on DCA

My Experience at DCA

And while you are looking, don't forget investigating the Mesa Pilot Development Program. My friend just went through their PACE program (having entered it with 350TT, and the Commercial, Multi, Instrument done at a local flight school for less), got an interview and was put in an RJ ground school this week.

[mpeterson]

I'm curious, do you plan on getting a college degree?

[KLM777]

And while you are looking, don't forget investigating the Mesa Pilot Development Program. My friend just went through their PACE program (having entered it with 350TT, and the Commercial, Multi, Instrument done at a local flight school for less), got an interview and was put in an RJ ground school this week.

Your friend went through the PACE program and has a job?
I went on the site and it says you need an associate's degree to enroll.

[SF3aviatrix]

Your friend went through the PACE program and has a job? I went on the site and it says you need an associate's degree to enroll.

Yes. She had a 4 year degree at age 21 and went on to be a flight attendant after college. This is a career change at age 26. She did all her ratings at the local airport while on furlough for a reasonable cost. The PACE program puts students through CRJ ground school and a bit of Baron training. Successful grads get offered an interview. Luckily, she did well in both otherwise she'd be out the money and not qualified for an (airline) job elsewhere with 350TT. Hopefully she will also pass her ground school and sim training. I can't imagine doing what she is at such low TT. Even at 1,000TT is was a challenge for me! She also did a Flight Safety ab-initio type program previously and got two job interviews, but no job offers. (Like I said, acadamies only guarantee an interview not a job.)

[KLM777]

Oh, Okay and when I asked about your friend I meant to ask a question -not meaning I didn't believe you.

But for DCA>Delta Connection
I am looking at their brochure here and it says the following:
"Delta connection carriers(Chattequa,ASA,...)) will hire over 1200 pilots this year alone."

" Be a paid Flight instructor, Enjoy complimentary air travel for you and your family around the world. Anytime, Anywhere.Acceptance as an instructor is based on individual abilities and perfromance. As a result acceptance cannot be guaranteed.However to date 85% of our students who apply have been accepted.(133/155 from Jan 04 to OCT 04)"

They make it sound easy but I'm not sure maybe Hawker could provide some insight on this.And as for ATP which is really looking good right now--With airline placement at Continental Express do you actually get a chance at Continental Airlines after a couple of years flying the regionals?

[paskoo]

I'm not sure if the question was directed to me, but yes I already have a bachelor of science. This is finally the career I need to be in, but getting married and kids can change ones life plans drastically

[Fast Jet]

Im sure there is no correct answer but here goes. from an industry stand point which is the best airline acadamy? right now i have my private rating and am currently working on my instrument. after that I am thinking about ATP, comair, or Regional Airline Acadamy. which is the best route???

Go to ATP thats www.allATPs.com right? Go there then. Tell `em Fast Jet sent you.

[F-14 Tomcatter]

Like a couple said before, there isn't a (best) school but there are many schools that are really good.

If Airbuses were meant to fly, there wouldn't be a Boeing.

[Hawker]

The correct answer, is....

Which ever academy gives you the most (including interviews) for the cheapest! (A bridge program is not an interview...its a fake job! They don;t have to hire you!)

[Clipper1]

You should look into Pan Am and Westwind academy at Deer Valley airport in Phoenix. Also, if you haven't gotten a degree yet look into University's such as ASU, Kent State, SJSU, and Tennessee. If you can afford Embry Riddle in Prescott, AZ thats another good bet.

[StratMatt777]

Im sure there is no correct answer but here goes. from an industry stand point which is the best airline acadamy? right now i have my private rating and am currently working on my instrument. after that I am thinking about ATP, comair, or Regional Airline Acadamy. which is the best route???

Here's what I've figured out from reading this site that my friend who is a UPS 767/757 pilot told me about:
http://www.jetcareers.com/forums/ubbthreads.php
(go halfway down the page to find the forum: Flight Training: Those that support Jetcareers! )

ATP seems to me to be the best. Lots of multi time and because they do 90% of all their training in seminoles so when you are hired as a CFI you will be logging tons of multi time. As far as I know you won't get so much multi time anywhere else. Airlines hire you based on your multi time!

You must have 2 years of college or work experience, your PPL, 85 hours TT and 25 hours PIC Cross Country.

$40,000, 90 days, and an apartment that's paid for.

Apparently PanAm is $80,000 and Flight Safety is also just about that much once you factor in the cost of renting an apartment.

My friend who posts on that site as DE727 thinks that PanAm lies in their ads by saying that you are guaranteed hire somewhere and that the airline industry is doing just GREAT!

They also talk about a school called Ari-Ben there, but it sounds like their airplanes are always broken and the seats in them are painful!

Coincindentally, I am calling tomorrow to schedule my phone interview with ATP!

I am 10 hours short of PIC Cross Country time... I could do it in a 172 at ATP for $100/hr with an instructor riding along or do it up here at the flight school that I just got my PPL at in a '98 172 for $120/hr without an instructor riding along.

If you can go to ATP stop your Instrument training because I've read that you cannot get a credit for instrument training you have already done.
If you do the ATP Career Pilot Program the cost does not change no matter what... so it makes sense to start you IR there, or you are throwing money out the window if you go a lot of IR training in advance.

Maybe FastJet can confirm if that is really true.

Go to ATP thats www.allATPs.com right? Go there then.  Tell `em Fast Jet sent you.

Will that make them want to hire me as a CFI even more?

I want to go to the Sacramento location- I am in Seattle.

Is the SAC location nice, FastJet?

thanks!

(I think I'll do well in the ATP call center while I'm waiting for a CFI slot in SAC, huh?! :D )

Check out that forum I linked to above- people talk about how you should avoid PFT (pay for training), such as Comair. I agree. (I'm not an airline pilot and don't really know that much on this subject except what I've researched in the last two months).

[StratMatt777]

[quote="KLM777"]
LOL that's funny I have all three of those schools pamphlets in my room. I think the one with the Best offer is ATP but here is the rundown.

ATP
Course:Airline Career Pilot Program(ACPP)&Direct Track Placement
Will take you from Private Pilot to Certified Flight Instructor with approximately 190 hours of multi-engine time.You have two choices 90 day fast Track or 10 months(free housing).Direct Track is the new airline placement option following the Airline Career Pilot Program. Direct Track provides the fastest way to go from Airline Career Pilot Program graduate to Airline Pilot without flight instructing.Your success in receiving a Regional Airline First Officer job offer is backed by ATP’s exclusive $10,000 rebate guarantee and a guaranteed multi-engine instructor position with ATP.
Aircraft:65 PA-44 seminoles,2 diamond stars(13 on order),16 C-172, Cessna 525 and 501 jets
Price: ACPP=$39,995 DTP=$32,995 Total=$77,985



Regoinal Airline Academy
Course:My first impression was how could all of their graduates have an airline job and they only have about 6 planes at each campus.But then I found out that you have your choice of three different regional aircraft ratings included in your training. To tell you the truth I think they have a good offer but I wouldn't apply unless any of my first choicesdidn't work out. But if RAA is "your school", then nevertheless apply apply apply! Just so you know----"Regional Airline Academy has alliances with regional airlines that guarantee interviews for graduates. We offer college degrees and financial aid along with Flight Attendant Training."
Aircraft:22 total aircraft including PA28s, PA28Rs, PA32s and C152s
Price:$45,000(+or-)[/quote

___________________________________________
==================================
At ATP don't do the DTP and save $33,000. It doesn't make sense to go into $80,000 of debt because a regional pilot can't make those payments anyway!

Just do the $40,000 Career Pilot Program and then be a flight instructor at ATP and logs tons of multi.

Cheaper than Comair!

Don't pay for "connections"- pay for the training you are getting!!!

It doesn't matter how many nice new airplanes a school has if they are just singles!

ATP has plenty of new and post 2000 Seminoles- I can't wait to go there.

Wow, I sound like I work there already don't I?

[SF3aviatrix]

Here's what I've figured out from reading this site that my friend who is a UPS 767/757 pilot told me about:   http://www.jetcareers.com/forums/ubbthreads.php

Yes, Jetcareers is linked numerous times from this board and is mentioned on our 'sticky' threads. I even posted a link in the second post on this very thread. The flight school specific forums will give you some good insight. Additionally, see the second link in my first post. The Flightinfo.com boards are huge and have a training/schools section.

[Clipper1]

Does anyone have any input about American Flyers in Hayward, I have the GI Bill and ATP won't take it, any suggestions would be great, I also looked at Sierra Academy, and Air Desert Pacific.
Thanks for the help !!!

[SF3aviatrix]

Do a search for those school names at http://forums.jetcareers.com & http://forums.flightnfo.com . There are lots of posts.

[Fast Jet]

STRAT MAC 77

I am sorry about my late response, I failed to put a tag on this topic.

I don`t know is the short answer, all I know is that the JAX brabch of allATPs is where all the big airline boys go and their reports have been very good. Also, JAX is sooo busy most of the time which probably accounts for its popularity. But do the revision before you go.
I`m off soon. Yippeee!

[S@NDRRR]

Hey guys,

Do you know by any chance if there are any flightschools in Canada that can give you FAA Multi Engine Training?

Herewith I give you some information about my ratings:

FAA Private Pilot License ( SEL)
FAA Instrument Rating ( SEL)
FAA Commercial Airline Pilot License ( SEL)
My total Flighttime is approx. 280 hours.

Thank you very much in advance and hope to hear from you guys soon.

Sander

[flynhidivnlo]

MESA AIRLINES PILOT DEVELOPMENT. you'll be flying online within 2 yrs. starting from the very beginning with your private.
http://www.mesa-air.com/mpd/