Originally Posted by
Avgeek7248
I live in the Salt Lake area of Utah. Theres not too many great schools out here as well as the tough weather coupled with dangerous terrain. In the Winter its low level inversions with temperatures on the ground reaching single digits. Summer and Spring you can fly till 5 PM then you have to shut down flight ops due to the immense amount of Thunderstorms coming in. Utah is just a tough spot to instruct, but a beautiful and awe inspiring place to learn. I'm from Oregon and fairly familiar with Hillsboro I just can't afford to live in that part due to it being expensive as all hell. Arizona and Florida seem to have a massive influx of students and great flying weather. The problems I've heard with Transpac/Aeroguard is management, language and learning barriers, and crappy equipment. I haven't heard much about L3 but I've talked to management and they seem much more helpful then Aeroguard. I'm still looking into the Texas flight schools.
I went to UVU so I'm quite familiar. I don't miss the winters at all. And I seriously considered Hillsboro a few times (even had a job offer and almost moved there), so I know what you mean about cost of living. I don't know if Prineville or Redmond are any cheaper than the Portland area. So I guess at this point, just apply to them all. Hillsboro offered me a job and offered CFII if I committed to 600 hours of dual given. Falcon, I think, will cover all three CFIs but I can only assume it's got a hefty commitment that I wouldn't want to be bound by. American Flyers wanted a 12 month commitment in exchange for CFII, so I declined that. Once you have CFII, they will all want you. A lot will even offer things like relocation or perhaps some housing allowance or dorm-style housing. Wherever you go, pay attention to the fine print. For example, if I went to Aeroguard and took the bonus, CFII upgrade, and relocation, I'd have to work for at least 12 months or pay back prorated portion of those incentives. Which is fine, that's a pretty standard arrangement anywhere in aviation.