Originally Posted by
Sky Angel
Just curious as to getting some advice on some of the pilot schools I have checked into. I am very interested in Kansas State as they focus on female pilots but have also looked into ATP and Oklahoma State. Any advice out there as to who offers the best program with zero flight time? I would be starting from my private pilot certificate all the way through to my CFI. Any advice is appreciated.
First off as was said above there is no special "female" training program. Nor is there any need for one. You will be required to pass all of the same tests to the same standards as everyone else. It is my firm opinion that most all aviation universities offer about the same product. You'll get some varying loud mouth opinions on who's the best but plain and simple I have never noticed $.02 difference in a pilots skills depending on the school they went to. And that statement includes military trained pilots too. You've got good ones, average ones, and poor ones from every training background.
So find a place you want to be and go there. You are the one who will make the most of your training experience it really is a personal thing.
I did things a little different than most I was professional pilot before I went to college. I simply got the quickest four year degree I could after figuring out that I wasn't going very far without one. And I flew part time for a charter and tour company while attending college. Heck I was flying about 60-70 hours a month all through college. I guess it wasn't all that part time after all.
That is another option to consider. Go get all of your ratings then get a useful degree while you build time as a flight instructor or some sort of flying job on the side. If you get out of college with 1,000 hours or so you'll be worlds ahead of the folks who graduate with an Aviation degree and 300 hours.
That's my take on it anyway. When I graduated college I had an ATP and 2500 hours with some decent multi time and a Type Rating. I walked right out of school during one of the worst pilot hiring times in history and immediately got a job making over 40K a year which in 1991 wasn't bad change for a single guy with almost zero debt.