Choosing the right flight school
 

Hello everyone!

I'm from Colombia and I'm looking forthe right flight school. I've seen a lot of schools but some of them are too expensive and the other ones don't convince me in terms of quality of training. I´ve checked schools in FL, TX, CA, but the location doesn't matter to me if it has good weather conditions. Here are some of the schools I've seen.

-Epic Flight Academy
-American Flyers
-Global Atlantis
-Fly Safety
-Aeroguard
-L3 Aviation
-Sunrise Aviation
-CAE flight Academy
-Wayman Aviation
-2Fly airborne
-Aviator Collegue
-Phoenix East Aviation
-Florida Flyers Flight Academy
-ATP
-Flying Academy Miami
-Dean International Flight School
-ADF airways

Do you guys recommend me one of them or another? I'll be really glad to read your comments.

Thanks a lot!

That is quite the list you have going there. You have to evaluate them all with a very critical eye. I am helping my daughter find the right path to follow. The more I investigate all the options, the more convinced I am that piecing it together as she goes from different options may be the best and least expensive way to go.

Epic is still an option because of potential tuition reimbursement from Ameriflight and the potential of building turbine PIC time early on from them as well.

American Flyers is still on the table to finish up her instrument and commercial.

ATP is definitely out. Over-priced and too quick of a turn.

LIFT is most likely out because of the 5-year lock into Republic and nothing off the program cost (although they claim they are already discounting it by $20K. It's overpriced.

You don't really want to be sitting at a regional FO or CA for a couple years with a $100k (cost plus interest over the life of the loan) consumer debt hanging over you.

I feel really bad for some of these kids coming out of Embry with HUGE student loan debts - it will take them ages to repay.

Dean International is out of business.

Add US Aviation Academy in Texas to your list! Have both a collegiate and vocational program.

Another thing to consider is what I read recently from a hiring officer/chief pilot for a regional about what they look for:
- Time instructing in an airline-style structure program, especially instrument and ME
- A 4-year degree
- time built in a part 135 operation is looked upon favorably (as opposed to jump plane or banner towing time which is looked upon as worthless as far as skills building)

Regionals don't give a damn about any of these. They'll hire anyone with a pulse and 1500 hours and who is personable at the interview.

What I'm saying is find a way to get the certs and hours in a way that looks good on a resume - without getting yourself in a ridiculous amount of debt. Think about the path you are going to take and how it will look on a resume when you start looking to get into a major. And if your goal is to get into a legacy, then some kind of college degree is still something you should have or be working on.

Example, my daughter fell for the LIFT marketing hype (as did I for a while) and got an in-person interview scheduled and a flight from NY scheduled. When we started to see it might not be the wisest choice we canceled everything for now. It's still an option on the table, but it's a high priced one with a 5-year lock-in. ATP is even more expensive, and you still have the debt but at least you aren't locked in somewhere. A few of the university programs will have you so far in debt that you won't be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel for a very long time.

I also think that people new to the industry who are just learning about how to get into it are hearing "it's a great time to get into it" and "do it the fastest way possible", and are scared that if they don't get into and through a 9-12 month zero to hero program right now, they won't get a job. So they are spending way more than they should.