Originally Posted by
Duct Mon
Are you a better pilot because your parents/grandparents bought you a degree from ERAU? I'd rather sit next to a guy who has built up his flight time in real world flying in many different airplanes and in different conditions.
Are there good pilots from a 4 year degree program? Yes, I'm sure there are. But, what I've seen are lazy SJS wanna be's still living off their parents while pursuing their life long dream at 21 years old R-ATP morons that can't fly a cross wind landing. Book smart but still a dumba$$.
That's better than no-smarts ATP. Are there some good ATP grads? Absolutely. If you were motivated and studied way more than the minimum, you could be a pretty good pilot. Other than that, I've never been to any other place that taught the absolute minimum to pass a checkride. There was no Airmanship taught at that place. It was teach to the test, pay your money, and move on. At the VERY least, a ERAU graduate or aviation university grad will have a very good base of knowledge. I'm not saying an aviation university is the best option. I know for a fact, though, that there is as little unsupervised flying or solo flying at ATP as legally allowed. At least at ERAU, your long commercial cross-country is solo and VFR.