Wayman aviation
 

I haven’t seen a new thread about Wayman aviation and I wanted to know if they are good? Especially the US airline pilot program
https://wayman.edu/professional-pilot-program/

Sorry, I do not have an answer but I am also interested in knowing more about them.

I'm actually going to swing by the flight school today. Ill let you guys know my impressions.

The owner is a test pilot for Daher-Socata and the school has been around 20+ years and an airport change. As far as it being a sound business no worries. What you get on the receiving end I cannot vouch for.

I was there today, and two other small schools in the same airport. I liked it, a very nice guy gave us a tour of the facilities, and it feels like a solid operation. One thing that is really important for me is that the financing can go through Sallie Mae, whereas the other two can't because of their size. At the same time, in the others, they said that the teaching would be highly personalized, which is something that Wayman may not be able to offer at least not to the same degree. I'm in a bit of a quandary there. I don't want to go through a mortgage or anything that would potentially put my assets at risk but I would really like that personalized instruction.

I never heard of any 141 school that offers "personalized" instruction...the whole point of a 141 program is not scheduling around a particular instructor, which you are likely to do at a 61 outfit for any number of reasons.

Yes, I specifically asked if they could do 61 and they said yes. All schools that I've been looking at offer both 141 and 61. Because I still have to work I am only interested in 61.

Really take a good look at this.
As far as I remember SM charges a very high interest rate, on par with credit cards.
And “personalized” instruction is a marketing term.
Did they explain to you what it entails with them?

This doesn't even scratch the surface on the debates over financing flight training... Yes, take a good look. Go home, sit on the idea and then research it some more. Like a large college loan, it can ruin you. Taking out $100k, using a large portion of it, and then something unplanned happens like a car accident, fall, or freak medical condition can leave you holding a large amount of debt and potentially unable to continue training. Sure that can sound extreme, but it can, and does happen. I believe I already mentioned in one of my initial replies to you about not giving flight schools large amounts of money up front - this kinda goes along with that principle.

Looks like we are in about the same boat as I am 43 and started training at a 61 in March. Sallie Mae is currently 6-16 percent and apparently the Airline programs stray higher. I was hesitant about taking money out of my house also but a local credit union gave me a HELOC with 4.99% intro rate for 18 months and 7.8% fixed after that. I went that way due to the lower rates and that a HELOC is kinda like a credit card in that you only pay interest on what you have spent out of the loan. Also I pay the flight school with Cashiers Checks from the loan so they give a 10% bonus to my account when done this way, i.e. I give them a 3k check and they credit my account with 3300 dollars.

You will be worried about losing your house if something goes sideways. Well some insurance companies have training bonds, they will cover the cost of training if something unforeseen happens (like loss of medical) and you can't continue, these are common in the UK but not US. I am currently emailing an underwriter about getting one here in the States. It looks like they will cover any costs for training beyond my PPL, and I am asking to cover about 50k extra if I loose my medical as a CFI as well for loss of income while I get back to my old career. They seem open to it I can give you an idea of rates in a week or two.