For those of you who dont know I plan on attending a 4 year university and enrolling in a part 141 training curriculum and minoring in another field of study on the side. One of the things that ****es me off is the ridiculous costs for groundschool going the p141 route. i got my private at a part 61 and did not pay a cent for groundschool. the routine at the part 61 was a pre and post flight briefing from my instructor never charged me a cent and if I ever had a question they would answer it and not charge me for that either.
This is the biggest setback I have about enrolling in the program. at CWU. cwu expects i complete an initial 141 ground school session before I start my training regardless of my ppl I already have. I understand the differences between 61 and 141 but listen to this. A 141 I contacted in AZ estimated I would need 2 weeks classtime and estimated the cost at around 1000 dollars for this initial 141 ground school! ******* this. I contacted the head of the flight dep at cwu and she said theres a place at BFI that can do it in 2 weekend sessions, but regardless their rates arent cheap either when looking at the place for gschool. Here is the link for the rates to complete 141 training at CWU all the way through.
http://http://www.cwu.edu/~flight/midstate_rates_2005.doc look at the rates for groundschool instruction just last year and i am sure they have gone up a little since then. Its so ridiculous! in 61 I could buy a thick book for 50 buxx that is specialized for each rating Im pursuing and the gleim red books and ask instructors questions if i was unsure of something. for someone with self discipline who doesn't mind studying the stuff at home and saving money, what's bad about it? worked fine for my private, did my studying, aced the written got my license. That sounds a lot better and would save a hell of a lot of money right?
On the contrary, The upside I see about going 141 at CWU and enrolling in the program is that I can network with people who are interested in the same thing as me, the CWU program offers internship opportunities with alaska and horizon which I would love to do,i can get my ratings in fewer hours and be instructing quicker to build up some hours to become more competitive in the aviation job field by the time I graduate, and the possibility of getting an interview with horizon with the direct hire program cwu is very appealing. My opinion though is that it seems like some of these costs seem ridiculous and un-necessary and makes me feel like im throwing money down the drain. im certainly going to give it a shot but a couple months down the road with some experience of the program, I will certainly re-evaluate my priorities and realize if this is the road I really want to take when instead I could go part 61 which the place CWU contracts out to offers as well, get my ratings on the side and majoring in something else. time will tell, but some comments would be appreciated, regards, chris