Do your research on the "national pilot academy thingy" too. The zero to hero approach isn't necessarily the best. One reason why people say the training at riddle may be better is because it is structured, you know how the course will progress, etc. Quality of training is very important. I'm not saying FBO or some express pilot places aren't good...but just be very sure you know what you are getting into.

Go to a regular college with a flight school at a nearby fbo. Training is just as good, get a degree to fall back on if aviation doesn't work out for you, you'll also get a lot more hours while you're still in school. I got an economics degree from a big 12 university and did all my flying at local fbo near my college. Graduated with over 2000TT and 500ME. Straight to a good regional without having to instruct after college at all. Sure you can go to an airline without gaining a lot of experience first but you'll be missing out on a lot.

may i ask how you obtain 2000TT 500ME without instructing.:eek: im guessing you did some part 135?

good advice ^^ .... a lot of the express places i'm sure are very good. I am currently at DCA , but I transfered in with my multi-instrument , and the experience I gained back at my part 61 FBO was the best thing yet. I must have flown 100+ hours just building xc time and practice approaches and it's the time when your flying by yourself or with a buddy when you really get to know what flying is like and to actually apply what you are learning, not having a flight instructor with you at every waking moment babying you and telling you what to do. At part 141 , every flight except about 10hours, is with an instructor. But, on the other hand the training was a lot better than what it was at my part 61 FBO. I would def. CFI for a bit also, I am working on my CFI right now and even if I had enough hours to apply for a regional job, I would not apply ... just because I know how much experience and knowledge flight instructing for atleast a couple years will give me. But, you got to find out what works best for you. Just dont believe everything you read on those websites .. all they care about its how much money you put in your flight account and how they can get more.

I guess I should be more clear. I didn't have to instruct after college at all. I have about 1400 dual given while I was still in college. The cfi job got me a deal flying a malibu, columbia 400 and a 310 on the side for a group of doctors. We flew all over the western us and down to mexico and the caribbean. Fbos are a good place to pick up stuff like that. Thats another bad deal about the big flight school or aviation universitys, generally you can only fly their planes. If I had done that route I wouldnt have gained a lot of the experience that I have now. I am now going to one of the top regionals at the end of this month, I graduate from college in about a week. In my opinion there is nothing that sharpens your skills like teaching. You don't really learn until you teach is how the saying goes.

ERAU is a waste. I just left the Prescott campus after one year. It wasn't because it was too hard, or the flying was bad. It was because ERAU was bad. $226 an hour for a C172S is absurd. $141 an hour hobbs + anywhere between $27-$36 an hour for fuel + $49 an hour for instruction. Are you kidding me? For What? On top of that, ~$32,500 a year for tuition.
I can go on and on, but ERAU residential campuses are a waste. Riddle puts it in people's heads that when you leave, you WILL get an airline job. I know several people who have left ERAU after 3 or 4 years, no airline job.
Also, $155,000~$200,000 in debt when you leave....awesome.
Extended campus is the way to go. 1/4 of the cost, flight on your own (which you get credit for), and a degree which will work as good as a degree from the residential campus.
My .02

Same here, I left after my first year at Prescott. $226/hr, are you serious?
I was there in 2003/04 and the Cessna was $138/hr for everything, plane and instructor and that was it. Do I even want to know what they're Seminoles go for?

I know, a lot of people most likely won't believe that price, but I have several of those nice little white papers they give you after you fly each time with all of those costs... such bull.
The price for the seminole...I have no clue, I do know that some guys would do a xc to LA and back and it would be upwards of $2,500.
Brutal.

You people focus too much on quality of training. Don't. The FAA standard is all you need to train to and fly to on a daily basis. Get your ratings as quickly as possible so you can get a seniority number. Don't worry about quality of training unless you're getting ready to start military flight training.Thats when you'll need to excel daily. Otherwise, take it easy , buy a nice watch, and get use to enjoying beer and slacking for a living. From what I understand the level of automation in a airplane these days requires little more than programming / coordination w/ dispatch and mx skills.

-LAFF

"You people focus too much on quality of training. Don't..."

"Don't worry about quality of training...."

"From what I understand the level of automation in a airplane these days requires little more than programming / coordination w/ dispatch and mx skills"

Yeah, right. Let's just say your understanding is wrong....

What's your background again LAFF? PPL?