youngmd

Southwest collaborates with CAE as its cadet program.

Has anyone had any experience training with CAE?

ATP is 12 minutes from home, and the closest CAE campus is significantly farther.

TheDuster

I did KingAir initial and multiple recurrent courses through CAE. Generally standardized and a solid program overall. The facilities in Dallas were nice and most of the instructors were excellent. Not sure if that relates at all to your particular situation or helps in the slightest, but I suppose it’s something.

youngmd

Thank you. I find your experience helpful and reassuring.

youngmd

Now I have to choose between CAE and ATP. The advantage of ATP is that it's only 12 minutes from home in Long Beach, but if CAE is significantly better, it may be worth considering.

Beech Dude

FWIW, I've also done KingAir with CAE and they were great. I've never heard anyone speak poorly about CAE. ATP on the other hand...I'd go CAE. Good luck.

youngmd

Thank you. Much appreciate the input.

Spymell

Just google "CAE Phoenix" and read through all recent reviews about it from ex CAE SW students who have completed it successfully. You will find interesting information about it in terms of the program quality and CAE, SW management practices. The JetBlue program is good there but it is very expensive and long. Good Luck!

QRH Bingo

Maybe I am missing something here, but I'm not sure how helpful it is to the OP speaking about doing King Air training, etc with CAE. It sounds like this person is based in Southern CA (Long Beach) and is looking on info for initial training - starting from zero. To the OP, please let me know if I am incorrect with this. Admittedly, I do not know if CAE has a SoCal location so maybe you are willing to move to start and complete training with CAE? If not, then ATP might be your only choice if you want to complete training that has connections later when looking to get hired. However, do your homework with ATP and other accelerated courses. It takes a lot of effort to complete all the necessary stages in such a short amount of time, which typically requires it to be done on a "full-time" basis. If you already have a career, and training will be done "part-time", better to look at a Part 61 option. Angel City Flyers in LGB has a pretty good program.

youngmd

You are absolutely correct. I live in Long Beach, and I would have to give up a lot to train in Arizona. Unless ATP is terrible, it would be my best option.

I am starting from nothing, and I am giving up my full-time medical practice to pursue aviation. I feel that I've done enough with medicine, after 23 years and through a pandemic. It's time for me to follow my family tradition and become a pilot.

I figure flight school can't be more intense than medical school.

CAE already reviewed my application, but I think I will stick with ATP, which is 12 minutes from home.

Thank you for everyone's input.

youngmd

ATP at the Long Beach location has some terrible reviews, so I looked into CalAir (https://calaironline.com/). This may be a better option, even if it's not as close to home.