Originally Posted by
GrumpyBear
aiir:
My two cents...here we go!
I fly out of KLGB and have been very happy with Pacific Air Flight School. Solid fleet of well-maintained planes. You have a choice between "steam-gauge" 172s as well as a G1000 172. IMHO...Save your money and go fly a steam-gauge plane as opposed to a G1000. Buy yourself an iPad and install fore flight. That program will give you just as much info as a G1000 and ALOT cheaper in the long run. That's what I do now. I can afford to fly the G1000 but choose not to. That's just me.
I had a couple of flights out of AFI in KFUL. I like the school. Well established and I believe they are a Part 141...not sure. The one thing that drew me away was their prices. Going to KLGB saves me about $20-25 an hour on the plane.
Stop by and visit the school and ask to speak to current students. Know the difference between a 141 and a Part 61 school. Minimum flight hour requirement for a Commercial guy/gal at a 141 school will be 190hrs total time to take your COMM checkride. You'll need 250hrs at a Part 61 school. That's A LOT OF MONEY you'd be saving attending a 141 school.
In the long run, sit down, do your research and make an informed decision. Choose a school that will be the right fit for you.
Thanks, GrumpyBear!! I appreciate your reply, especially the part about a Part 141 school only requiring 190 hours to make it to the commercial license versus the 250 of a Part 61 program.
I've been doing a great deal of reading different aviation books and I bought a flight sim program (X-Plane 11) to sort of try out and apply what I'm reading, this way I figure I'll waste less time on the plane once I get started training. Pacific Air Flight School does seem like a good place with reasonable prices, although only Part 61. (I read somewhere that they are trying to get their Part 141 certification...but who knows if it'll happen anytime soon.)
I did download ForeFlight on my phone and it definitely seems like a great program, thanks!
