Nealman1

http://www.flyaviator.com/index.html

Anyone have any info or insight about this professional pilot program. They advertise a 200 hour ME program for around 35K which sounds pretty reasonable compared to others I have researched. Does this price include everything from zero hours to CFI? thanks for any help

planecrazyjenn

About 40K total...includes three months of housing...covers the multi-private through MEI and the time building phase. They expect you to go there with a private already in hand. If not, they do offer the private as an addtional course.

Definitely have a back up plan in life...trust me. I went there - did my flying thinking all was dandy, ended up in the ER doing tests over the past 5 months fighting for my own freakin' life and finally lost my medical and drivers license on my birthday (the 9th) because of my health.

Talk about a ****ty birthday.

Nealman1

Man, sorry to hear about that. WHen you mean have a backup play you mean a back up career incase aviation doesn't work out? Hopefully I have that covered, i'll be graduating with a business degree in Dec. from a great private University. Aside from that, do you feel like the training is good at Aviator inc? The price seems better than others I have looked into, and it seems legit from the website. Any other info would be awesome. thanks again.

planecrazyjenn

Yeah I loved the training there. All of the MEI's I had went well out of their way to help. The planes are flown to death, so they aren't the prettiest...but I never had a mx writeup other than a cracked spinner. That was it, others have had problems. Umm...I went in the winter...wx was great, didn't have to cancel much for bad wx. Gets windy...at least in the winter. Summer I hear now has a lot of Thunderstorms down there, might want to consider that in and I'm sure it's getting real busy...between students being outta school, and the lack of instructors everywhere with the high amounts of regional hiring.

And yeah, I just meant have a back up plan in case God forbid you ever get put in my spot. Losing your medical absolutely 100% sucks...it's a scary feeling, and when you find out for sure that you can't get it back, it makes you really wanna go jump. But, fortunately, I do understand the situation...and given my medical situation I don't belong in a cockpit for safety reasons. Sucks, but that's life.

Lemme know if you have any other questions. Someone had a question a while back and I posted a huge long response and for some reason it disappeared...hmm...

Puckhead

Hey Jenn just curious do you train dolphins now? I dont know if someone asked before but that would be such a cool job! lol

Cubdriver

Hang in there Jenn you're going through a rough spot. We all have them. Health is not the only thing that can bum ones life out. Times like yours challenge you to build character and redefine the purpose of life. You' re a go-getter, I know you will be ok.

Health is a killer for some. I had a friend in my flying club at school who had just taken a job out west and would send me pictures of his air travels through the national parks. He was a picture of freedom and happiness, flying an old 172 here and there with pals taking pictures of scenic locations. A few months later he was dead, nobody saw it coming, a fast acting blood cancer which caused him to go from full strength to ashes within a month.

We can adapt to anything as long as we have some energy to breathe. I have been lucky that my health is fine and I don't expect any problem, but one never knows, and we have to live with that we have.

Anyway you're among friends and we know you will be flying and driving again soon. My birthday is today, we're real close aren't we.

Ari-Ben is a great way to get some fast multiengine hours without breaking the bank. I was thinking about doing it this summer but decided to get my CFI first. It must be a cool experience, Diver Driver posted some pictures from his night flying at Ari-Ben a few weeks ago, then got a job using his time. You and I have this forum, we can hear what others are doing while we wait for our own fortunes to look up!

planecrazyjenn

Not anymore. I worked my way through undergrad school doing marine mammal training though. It is a pretty awesome experience. Low starting pay, but hey money isn't everything right? Sounds familiar. Just finished a program in veterinary medicine...doing the internship thing now, and looking into possible locations for residency.


It can hit real quick. Just like with your friend...went from full strength to where I am now, though I hope to avoid the same outcome - though one never knows. Personally, it's been a battle to determine what's even going on. There's so many underlying (secondary) conditions, on top of one major (primary) condition that's made it so hard to start diagnosing anything...and making it even harder to treat. I don't want to go into detail about whats going on, but send me a PM me and I'll tell you everything. Most likely going BACK into surgery here soon anyway.


Anyway, I'll shut up and get the thread back on topic. I just wanted to chime in earlier about the importance of having a secondary career choice in mind.

Diver Driver

Hey guys and gals! I went to Ari-Ben in May of this year for two weeks to fly off a 50 hour block of ME time and it was great. You get a lot of real world flying and because I was a time builder, all the flying was at night (6pm-6am) as the EFT and US students got the planes during the day. It was a huge confidence builder and great prep for interviews. There should be some pictures up in the photo section around here.

Jenn, sorry to hear about your medical issues... I had a scare earlier this year and had my medical certificate lost for about a month, however, was lucky enough to get it back. I know how you feel, that was the most depressing time of my life. I hope all goes well and you get it back, even for some really severe conditions, if they are stable over time, you can still get certification.

planecrazyjenn

How hard was it to get it back? I know for my drivers license I have to be free from losing consciousness for 6 months now, then will require medical paperwork. I think for cancers you lose your medical for 6 months after radiation...correct me if I'm wrong. Not at that stage yet. I'm sure your regular doc is going to get involved to. I've already discussed with him how we are going to work it, though it doesn't look very good. I talked to a friends mom who is an AME and was just 100% honest with her about whats going on. Didn't like what I heard, but your right...over time, who's to say I wont get it back. Get a BFR and get back in the air. Might take a while...but better than never right?

Did you get to fly N66363 while you were there? That was my baby. :-D

Diver Driver

Hey Jenn, check your PM's. I didn't want my medical story to be public information. Ya, I flew 66363 a few times, it was a good plane, but I liked 3865U better bc the AP worked...lol