Originally Posted by
Alaskanparret
Hello all!
I’ve been a long time reader/observer of the forum, but just now posting.
I am looking at attending Hillsboro Aero Academy later this year and was wondering if anyone has any experience with them?
Me and my buddies who are also looking at doing similar career path training opted out of ATP and started looking at other options. One buddy is doing Angel Aviation splitting his time and flying between Alaska and Arizona. Others have attended ATP and seemingly liked it.
Just curious if anyone has attended Hillsboro Aero Academy or not. Looking st doing their pilot program, wanting to fly challenging PNW weather to prepare me for realistic flying conditions in Alaska(where I live and am from).
So I must preface this and say that my experience is from about 2 years ago, right around the time the company was bought, so the school environment may be different now. I enjoyed many things about my time there. The flying is challenging, and the weather makes for some good actual training, but it also means (and the same for Alaska) that there are times of the year where you just can't fly. Winter is a hit or miss, and if the cloud layer is low, you most likely won't be flying with the icing level. That being said, they have a campus in Eastern Oregon to help relieve some of the problems associated with the Western Oregon winter weather. It's cold, but clear out east in the winter, and the flying is fun. I believe they still do it this way, but they used to have free housing for students to come out and do some flying in the winter time for a chunk of time to help you finish some lessons or get some XC if that's what you need. I always enjoyed going out there and flying a bit.
Hillsboro is a good airport to learn at. Most of the traffic is students, and they added a second runway, which I didn't ever get to use as it opened after I left, but I believe it has put some relief on the airport to help separate the students and the corporate traffic that comes in and out of there (Nike, Intel both use this as their hub for their corporate jets.
HAA had a big problem with prioritizing students when I was there. It is a big foreign pilot school, and while they like to announce that they wouldn't prioritize, there were times where I would get cancelled for someone elses "Check Ride" and when I went back to look, the aircraft was given to another student for just a regular lesson. Again this was some time ago, and before new management, so that may have changed.
If you are planning on doing this in conjunction with Portland CC, I will say that the PCC aviation degree program is good. The gentleman in charge of the program (and his eastern Portland counterpart, they have two campuses that you can take classes at) is smart and passionate about his students. I really enjoyed my classes there, and anytime I needed help or advice, or anything, they were there to help.
Hope this helps.