Originally Posted by IronWalt
My first choice would be neither one. I went to a state university that had an aviation major and full flight program. There is more depth in the training. And the curriculum is typically run by dedicated educators who are qualified to be professors and associate professors.
I disagree with going to college to get an aviation degree. In aviation, it is important to get advice from whoever/whenever you can. And of all the advice I have gotten in my life, this is the most important:
DO NOT GET A DEGREE IN AVIATION!!!
Lots of people on this board will tell you flying is a bad career. You spend lots of time at low pay. Once you get to good pay, you are still dealing with being away from home. etc,etc...
But in my opinion, the only bad part of being a career pilot is job security!! Airline health is very cyclical. One year they can be turning a billion dollar profit, and two years later they can loose 2.1 billion in 3 months!! Flying for a living is completely unpredictable. Who knows what will happen with the future on airlines. Maybe the supply of pilots will be so high that pay at majors will go below a 6 figure salary. You have to be prepared to walk away if it gets bad.
If you don't already have a college degree, you should get one. Not only do you need it to fly for the majors (which is where the money is), but you will have a backup career incase your aviation career fails.
I would recommend with all my might that you do not get an aviation degree!!
Ok, that was a little off topic. But as for FBO vs. Academy:
(These numbers are approximate, but very close!)
My recommendation would be to do your licenses and ratings at an FBO. It will save you at least $20,000 for the same training. At an academy, you will pay $55 an hour for instruction. At an FBO you will pay about $35 an hour for instruction. The flip side, when you want to instruct to timebuild, acadmies will only pay you $14 an hour. The FBO will pay you $25-35 an hour. BIG DIFFERENCE! At an academy, you will pay $105 for an old cessna, while at an FBO you will pay $80-90 for an old cessna. At an academy you will pay over $200 an hour for a multi, while those cost about $150 at an FBO. As crazy as these prices are, the place where these academies make their money is ground school. If you take the hours of ground school divided by the total cost, it works out to like $20 an hour for a class of 10-20 people. That's too much! And $20 is a very conservative number. At American Flyers, it is $80 an hour for classroom instruction. That is more than classes cost at Harvard on Stanford!!!
That is why I recommend an FBO over an airline academy. It is much cheaper, you will make more money, and the training can be accomplished in the SAME amount of time. Find an instructor who is available 7 days a week, and who does not have a busy schedule. Tell him how often you want to fly, and schedule plenty in advance, so you can fly as often as you are able. FBO's are the way to go.