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Embry-Riddle v.s. FBO/Local

Old 11-04-2019, 03:21 PM
  #1  
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Unhappy Embry-Riddle v.s. FBO/Local

Hello, my name is Grant, I'm from Denver and i’m a freshman at ERAU Prescott. I eagerly enrolled here with the intentions to get a degree (aeronautical science) as well as acquire all my hours and certifications to become an airline pilot. Being an airline pilot has interested me for a while and i made my decision to pursue a career in the airlines in my sophomore/junior year of high school because I am fascinated with flight, the lifestyle interests me, I have family and friends in the industry, and of course it can pay well down the line.

The 2.5 months I’ve been at Riddle so far have not lived up to expectations in the slightest. I know the school is very accredited and I’ve heard a lot of good things… really only from staff/alumni/people associated with the school. The living situation, food, campus life, college experience, etc is awful. I knew before hand this wasn’t a party school and wasn’t expecting that. I’m at Riddle to get a education and learn to fly/get my certification and hours.

After being here and not feeling entirely welcome, being enrolled in all classes I feel take no skill to teach or to learn (freshman classes are kinda like this i know) I decided to start looking around at other options, reading about more student experiences here, talking to pilots I meet at phoenix sky harbor and DIA, on my way home to Denver, I’m starting to think that Riddle may not be the place for me.

I HAVE YET TO START ANY FLIGHT OR BE ASSIGNED AND INSTRUCTOR. I’ve reached out to my academic adviser and the flight coordinator and just been met with “you’re on the list to be assigned an instructor.” “You’ll get an email when you’ve been assigned an instructor”

-I’ve read about students not being able to finish Riddles flight program in the projected time and i already feel behind.
-With the shortage of instructors for their students i wonder if there’s a reason Riddle grads don’t chose to fly for their Riddle for their hours?
-Riddle is very expensive for the schooling. one year here would be more (not accounting for flight cost on either end) than what i would be looking at for four years at MSU Denver.
-The only positive i see at Riddle is the R-ATP certification. but the cost saved in this is more than canceled pout by the tuition and flight costs
vs other schools.
-Is having Embry-Riddle Graduate and a R-ATP going to matter or give me and advantage getting hired regionally or when i move up to major airlines?

Sorry for the long read but really i just would like some help/opinions/advise on if staying at Riddle or I should explore other options, for example, going back home to Denver, attending MSU (direct partnership with united) and fly out of Centennial airport through ATP or something similar.
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Old 11-04-2019, 04:20 PM
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Difference between R-ATP and ATP is 3-4 months of flight instruction.
You can learn how to fly anywhere.
That’s all I gotta say about that.
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Old 11-04-2019, 04:24 PM
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I flight instructed in Denver and prior to that I learned to fly at an FBO. I have a 4 year degree, not in aviation. It’s not even aviation related. I made it to a legacy and I definitely spent less money than if I had attended ERAU.

My advice... if you’re not happy with ERAU, go to MSU, start flying ASAP I Need Denver. You’ll be flying professionally before you know it and save a lot of money.
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Old 11-04-2019, 05:00 PM
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I choose to attend Vermont Technical College and there Professional Pilot Program, Bachelors in Science with R-ATP over Embry Riddle.

Prior to enrolling I did already have my private which helped, but was consistently challenged and pushed not only by my in class professors but also the instructing staff.

Going to college is expensive and flight training is also expensive. There are cheaper ways to get training than a university but is it of the same quality?

If I had to hit the rewind button I would have used my local FBO and there rental plane to do most of my ratings. It would have been more time in the seat and could have done some crazy x/c's.

I will say, the numerous weather classes especially along with many of the other aviation focused classes helped me become a good instructor.

VTC has hired back 90% of the CFI's that they helped reach that level. While working there I was able to not only teach in standard trainers, but fly various tailwheels, multis, and seaplanes.
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Old 11-05-2019, 07:14 AM
  #5  
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Im a Riddle alumni. Flew Part 61 across the ramp for my ratings and saved thousands of dollars. Even 15 yrs ago the flt dept was not serving the students. It was just out to make money. Your ticket says FAA not ERAU on it. Don't fly with ERAU, go to a flight school nearby, take your temps when you pass your checkrides to get credit for them, and you'll have a degree and your ratings. Did I mention you'll save thousands of dollars?
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Old 11-06-2019, 06:06 PM
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My number 1 suggestion is to edit your post and delete your first name and where you are from.

Never bash a current employer (or in your case, school) and make yourself readily identifiable. You need to assume that they’re reading your posts and it’s best to stay on a persons good side until you actually burn that bridge. I doubt a professor would flunk you just to do it, but employers could def be that spiteful so you might as well learn that lesson now if you’re gonna post here.

You’ve waited 2 months and haven’t even gotten an instructor. Meanwhile, I instruct part 61 and took on a student 2 months ago who has already soloed and is about to knock out his cross countries and then it will be checkride time... He may end up completing his PPL before you get your first discovery flight.
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Old 11-08-2019, 11:02 AM
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Originally Posted by rakma View Post
Hello, my name is Grant, I'm from Denver and i’m a freshman at ERAU Prescott. I eagerly enrolled here with the intentions to get a degree (aeronautical science) as well as acquire all my hours and certifications to become an airline pilot. Being an airline pilot has interested me for a while and i made my decision to pursue a career in the airlines in my sophomore/junior year of high school because I am fascinated with flight, the lifestyle interests me, I have family and friends in the industry, and of course it can pay well down the line.

The 2.5 months I’ve been at Riddle so far have not lived up to expectations in the slightest. I know the school is very accredited and I’ve heard a lot of good things… really only from staff/alumni/people associated with the school. The living situation, food, campus life, college experience, etc is awful. I knew before hand this wasn’t a party school and wasn’t expecting that. I’m at Riddle to get a education and learn to fly/get my certification and hours.

After being here and not feeling entirely welcome, being enrolled in all classes I feel take no skill to teach or to learn (freshman classes are kinda like this i know) I decided to start looking around at other options, reading about more student experiences here, talking to pilots I meet at phoenix sky harbor and DIA, on my way home to Denver, I’m starting to think that Riddle may not be the place for me.

I HAVE YET TO START ANY FLIGHT OR BE ASSIGNED AND INSTRUCTOR. I’ve reached out to my academic adviser and the flight coordinator and just been met with “you’re on the list to be assigned an instructor.” “You’ll get an email when you’ve been assigned an instructor”

-I’ve read about students not being able to finish Riddles flight program in the projected time and i already feel behind.
-With the shortage of instructors for their students i wonder if there’s a reason Riddle grads don’t chose to fly for their Riddle for their hours?
-Riddle is very expensive for the schooling. one year here would be more (not accounting for flight cost on either end) than what i would be looking at for four years at MSU Denver.
-The only positive i see at Riddle is the R-ATP certification. but the cost saved in this is more than canceled pout by the tuition and flight costs
vs other schools.
-Is having Embry-Riddle Graduate and a R-ATP going to matter or give me and advantage getting hired regionally or when i move up to major airlines?

Sorry for the long read but really i just would like some help/opinions/advise on if staying at Riddle or I should explore other options, for example, going back home to Denver, attending MSU (direct partnership with united) and fly out of Centennial airport through ATP or something similar.

There are a lot of options between Riddle and a mom and pop flight school; many that offer R-ATP. I strongly suggest you look at the following programs that are scaled and cap admissions appropriately to ensure their students fly regularly:
(In no particular order) MTSU, EKU, Purdue.

Someone telling you the difference between R-ATP and ATP mins is “3-4 months” is either a lie or a grossly anecdotal theory. 500 hours of flight time can be accomplished in 3-4 months but it’s going to be very difficult and at most flight schools impossible. So I’d wager that an average of 6-12 months is more accurate, but it greatly depends on where you teach.

The other huge factor that you need to consider are the other benefits these programs offer their students. This includes internships with major carriers (aka a guaranteed legacy job when you get a year or two of regional experience), CJOs with regionals, huge scholarships to cover some of your flight training costs (because you can use almost any general scholarship to pay for what gets billed as tuition fees, where you cannot do this at a mom and pop shop), networking opportunities, course credit for flying, and an education that will better prepare you for an airline interview and your first air carrier. I’m well aware that the market is in pilots favor but that doesn’t mean you’ll always get your pick of the litter for employers; your chances are much better by ensuring you get the education needed to pass every checkride on your first try and nail every interview question when the time comes.

There are R-ATP bachelor degree programs where students finish flight training on time or even early because the program is scaled and designed to offer that. These programs cost less than half of what Riddle charges as well. The course and degree program structure is almost identical to riddle too because it legally has to be to meet the Advisory Circular requirements set by the FAA for RATP.

Long story short, I strongly suggest you look for another RATP school.
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Old 11-10-2019, 01:56 PM
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Your story brings back memories when I went to Riddle ages ago. Back then it was expensive, cant imagine what it costs now.

Many students were enrolled in a program called Aeronautical Studies. It was basically all the same courses as Aeronautical Science without participating in the ERAU flight program.

I as many others saved tons of money by going across the ramp to other flight schools for the flight training, back then it was Northern Aviation? and Custom pilot service. It was much faster and cheaper. ERAU was losing money hand over fist so they dumped Aeronautical studies degree for future students.

My 5 cents is unless a person has a full ride scholarship to ERAU is to go get flight training from another place cheaper and faster. Airlines do not care if the four year degree came from ERAU or a local University. They want flight time.
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Old 11-30-2019, 07:45 AM
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Don't know if anyone is still reading this but I thought I would put this out there for what its worth.

I am a junior in college, with aspirations to work as an airline pilot someday and have chose to go about it in a less traditional way. I recently acquired my PPL through a local part 61 school at roughly 45 hours and $6700 cost including checkride and study materials. I plan to pursue the rest of my ratings this way, and hope to get a sport cfi at around 150 hours. This will allow me to build time towards cpl and cfi while not paying for any more time than I have to.

I chose to do things this way for several reasons. First is that after doing as much research as I could, I realize and accept that the aviation industry is very cyclical in nature and that even though we are in a very good time for pilots, it has not and will not always be this way. To this end I chose this route as the best way for me to mitigate the risks I see from an aviation career. One way I am mitigating risk is to pay for ratings as I go, and accrue as little debt as possible. I also chose to major in engineering and have a possible career that does not involve aviation were I to loose a medical or get furloughed. A side benefit is that I have had several paid internships that have helped fund my flight training as well. I used community college for the first two years and have worked through some semesters as well as over the summers. My goal is to graduate without any debt and roughly 100-120 hours of flight time towards the sport cfi.

These are the main things I am doing to try and mitigate the risks of what has always been a career goal for me. My advice is to do your private part 61 and see how you like flying, and find a degree that would give you a career that you could live with not in aviation if the airlines don't work out. Some would argue that with aviation being seniority based this approach is shooting yourself in the foot for getting to a major, but after reading books like Skygods, Glory lost and found and others, it would seem that there aren't many certain things in aviation. Hopefully this doesn't come across as bragging or arrogant, this is just my 2 cents.
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Old 11-30-2019, 11:32 AM
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Default Lots of options

There are CO in-state aviation programs. Major in something useful and/or educational. Any education is a good education, but you CAN overspend.

Also, look into Destination 225º. https://careers.southwestair.com/d225
It's connected to SWA.

If you don't like your educational experience, change it. It doesn't help your have the desire for flying beaten out of you by a bad experience.
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