Originally Posted by ryane946
I had a student who got his private with me, and he just recently researched all the big flight academies. I believe he has already chosen to move out to Florida to get his licenses/ratings. I was giving him some advice along the way, and I told him that American Flyers looked like the worst. No multi time, aircraft were way too expensive, and no chance of getting ANY MEI time.
Can you explain exactly how this internship works? What do you need to pay for, what do they pay for, and what work do you have to do to gain the salary?
Thanks, and I will pass this information along.
This info is what I recall from a few years ago, might be different now...
You need a PPL to start. The internship phase pays $1000+ month flat salary and you work as the assistant operations / assistant sales manager. You probably work 6 days/week 12 hours/day. During this time you get all your ratings including CFI/CFII at no charge. Once you finish CFII, you become a regular instructor and get paid like other instructors.
You may be able to get sales bonuses, and continue to work operations while instructing to supplement your income.
I think it takes 1-2 years to get all the ratings, but it is a pretty good deal on the flight training. As I said before, the local manager is crucial to your success (SMO branch has a good guy), and I think they run about 50% washout rate for interns, due to the long hours. Be prepared to deal with customers and sales.
Also, AF only does ME in their Florida branch, so you will need a plan to get that ME time...maybe get an MEI and work on the side.
You could conceivably do this and get to the regional level with no debt.