Think of ERAU like that of a used car lot. A swindler that will tell you anything that you want to hear just to get your money to sell you a product that is nothing more than a lemon.

PLEEEEASE!

Maybe 1/4 of the airline pilots they polled.

You have to know by now that you can't believe everything you read. Not in the paper, not in Airline Pilot, not on a school's website and not on this forum!

Well I think you can give embry riddle the benefit of the doubt. They're the most prestigious aviation college in the world, and the Harvard of aviation. would you doubt the information on Harvard's web site?

Sorry sport. Would you like to play again? I don't see anything on Harvard's website boasting about how great they are (at least no where as prominately as Riddle). Ditto for other major universities.

If you think that 1/4 of the airline pilots out there are ERAU grads, then so be it, but I SERIOUSLY doubt that based on my 5 years with the airlines. Sure I knew several riddle grads, but certainly not 1/4 of the pilots I flew with.

Consider the statistics alone... there are hundreds of flight schools and dozens of universities that train pilots. UND pushes through just as many students as ERAU when you include their satellite programs (in Hawaii, Washinton, Arizona, North Carolina, and Minnesota). Then add in Purdue, Western Michigan, Central Illinois, Daniel Webster to name a few of the other universities. Even after that, add in the professional pilot programs like DCI, Flight Safety, MPAD, ATP, American Flyers. Then add military folks and people that trained at mom and pop schools.

Besides- they might claim to be the Harvard of the sky, but at the end of the day, it's all the same piece of plastic from the FAA. The only difference is how quickly you get hired and how much it cost you.

For what it's worth, I have had feedback from neutral parties that have flown with graduates from various university programs... the general concensus is that Riddle grads have the biggest attitudes overall, but also typically have a better grasp of theories and book knowledge. However most entry level ERAU grads also have the least amount of variety when it comes to experience and flying in different conditions (there are downsides to 70/sunny 300 days of the year).

I've been told that typically pilots that train in the northern states (UND, WMich, DW, Purdue) have better flying abilities and all weather experience, but are less knowledgeable in advanced theories.

Makes sense to me since officially ERAU is an engineering school and the other schools see much more severe weather than those in FL/AZ.

I'm calling flaimbait on that one. Or your just painfully overmotivated. You can shine that turd all day and it will still smell like a turd when your done.

HaHa!!! Well put,
The last student that I taught in piston engines was a for a CFII. After a successful checkride, said student was hired by riddle with 0 dual given, that was 0 DUAL INSTRUCTION GIVEN!!!!!
12.00 $ per hour was the pay that was offered.
that just befuddles me! what a racket!!! I, with over 2500 hours dual given, worked at an FBO ( please forgive me for that, I had to do SOMETHING when I came back from Europe)
The training I gave was 15 hours sim time ,10 hours Airplane, 10 hours ground. ( with some freebie stuff thrown in ) cost of that was less than
3,000 $.
So....
Comments?
:cool:

Totally Hilarious!!!!!!!
One of my freight dog colleagues was a riddle grad. He was clueless.
I was getting a Garmin 195( for a VERY good price!) And I was telling him about it. He said " yeah, I flew IFR at night all over the caribean with one of those, they work great" ( said caravan was a bare bones Betty ) I told him that they are not legal for IFR, ( !!! ) He says " why not" I explain about RAIM and that the hand helds are not capable of it. " no" he says, "that cant be right"
Said guy also took off in a plane that had been grounded by the Feds, AND HE FILED IFR!!!!!!!!! So of course they found out!!!!
NOT the brightest star in the sky!

They love it because they can get Daddy to Pay for it

is there an aviation school out there that DOSENT refeer to themselves as the Harvard of aviation? give it a rest

I just landed and got home from flying tonight (Ft. Rucker, AL... Army CH-47Ds) and this post strikes home with me. I'm a Riddle grad, who cares!?!?! I've just finished drinking a homebrewed beer (9.0% ABV) at 3 in the friggen morning. You want to talk shi'ite about Riddle grads???? Talk shi'ite about the Riddle grad that died in an IED explosion in Iraq yesterday. He was an Infantry platoon leader and majored in Aviation Business, as well as being a good friend. Talk shi'ite about the Riddle grads (two of them) who died in Somolia.. forever known as "Blackhawk Down". Life is short.... way too short to be bitter about which college is better than...blah blah blah....

Enjoy life while you have it.... God Bless 2LT John Vaughan! Nothing like having to call your buddies at 2AM to tell them the bad news.... An honest man, doing a difficult job, and doing nothing wrong. Meanwhile, some peace of Shi'ite is dancing around like an idiot rejoicing. God help us all.

-Forest

Sh..thooks, and Phrogs 4 ever ! God bless and rest your buddies, and God bless and keep you ! former Jarhead now CIVLANT

To av8r88,

Harvard of Aviation...my ass. Rip-off of Aviation is completely accurate! Don't insult the world by comparing Riddle with Harvard. Compared to Harvard, Riddle would be lucky if they get categorized as a local community college.

Embry-Riddle tuition translates to invaluable networking... Any Riddle folks out there want to help a guy with 460TT/101ME to get a flying job? Yeah, I didn't think so. Embry-Riddle's CAPT program couldn't get me a job with their bullsh!t networking, what makes you think anyone out in the industry is going to do better? I think not.

Regionals care that you have flight experience. They don't care where you got it from. Frankly, the guy with less financial problems would take the low pay scale a lot better than some Riddle guy that owes the banks their right testicle.

Sorry to hear about your friend.

-Laff

Sorry as well for your tragic loss,
I can understand your frustration.
riddle puts out a lot of good people as well, but they are good because of themselves, not the school they went to. (I think) that the underlying point here is that going to riddle does not make you better.It is not the best school as many are always touting off.
I also lost a friend who was a riddle grad. Great guy, flying checks at night in a 210. Weather,CFIT.
The war in iraq is a horrible thing in and off itself. Our boys shouldn't be there, the polititians should...

Only the dead have seen the end of war

-Plato

It is good that war is so terrible. Otherwise we would grow fond of it.

-Robert E. Lee

Our country is now geared to an arms economy bred in an artificually induced psychosis of war hysteria and an incessant propaganda of fear.

~General Douglas MacArthur

I'm so glad the world has changed to meet MacArthur's quote. :) *sarcasm*

I think you guys are missing the point about ERAU. Its NOT a pilot mill school like Flight safety or Comair. Its sole purpose is NOT to turn out pilots. Its a regular University like FSU or Univ of Florida. It has an aviation program as one of its majors and a flight program. it is a wel respected instituton in tha aviation world, not just for pilots but also for aviation managers, engineers and government workers. Its not ust for rich kids, I am going there to work on my masters degree in aeronautical science with a concentration in managememnt and I am far from a rich guy.

Yeah im with CASS on that one. None of us are saying good people aren't admitted to ERAU. I had a core group of buddies that drank beer and hung out and didnt chat about airplanes when we went to the bar. Topgun was not alowed in anyones possesion, if it was found it was an automatic mushroom slap to the head. There are some great people that are going or have went to that school. Its just the av-dork community that ruins it for everyone

24G please tell me your not starting a masters in aerosci. and no, its not a normal university, it is a strange twilight zone nether world where fat chicks are godesses and playing volley ball in jeans is not only acceptable but encouraged.

"In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist."

- Dwight D. Eisenhower, Presidential farewell address, January 1961

Well you can badmouth it all you want but the statistics speak for themselves. I dont know, maybe you just didnt get accepted, or didnt make it, and are bitter about it. Dont take it out on the school. I'm graduating high school in a week and was accepted (within 3 days of applying, I might add) to start at embry riddle this fall. Its expensive, but so is Harvard. In four years when I'm one of those 1/4th of commercial airline pilots from embry riddle, I'll confirm for you firsthand the veracity of that statistic.

kid, they accept everybody, they just want your green, please don't be so naive. harvard is one of the world's finest centers of higher learning, erau,is a diploma, and ticket mill. sorry.

What are the mins to get in ERAU 2.0 GPA, 2.5 at the most. It probably says higher, but i bet they accept from 2.0 and above.


edik

Hey kid - you got screwed if you think you're getting the better deal then ERAU.

If I was in your shoes - tell them no thank and go to a state school then OTS / OCS. Let the military teach you to fly.

-LAFF

Wow, that's quite an exclusive club you've gotten yourself into. Only 84% of ERAU undergrad applicants are accepted, after all. (Compared to 11% for Harvard.) Congratulations! :rolleyes:

quote for Boss
 

I guess every generation is doomed to fight its war...suffer the loss of the same old illusions, and learn the same old lessons on its own.

~Phillip Caputo

Great quote...apparently it applies to prospective ERAU students as well.

You haven't even attended A DAY THERE and you're spouting off how wonderful the university is? Ohhhh.... that's setting yourself up for a big let down. But hey, the beach is just down the road, so at least it's not a total waste.

Come talk to us in 4 years when you still haven't finished flying despite paying 60K, need an additional semester, don't have a girlfriend because there are no girls there, and that amazing promise of an airline job right out of college doesn't materialize. Even better talk to us in 5 years when you're making 20K as a bottom of the list first officer, working 19 days a month, and paying 500/month on your student loans.

If you buy the kool-aid that ANY of the schools out there sell you at face value (including my own alma matter), then I have a bridge in Brooklyn for sale...

I won't deny that there are some great ERAU grads out there. I have lived and worked with some of them... but the ones that I truly respect don't need to tell me that they went to the so called "Harvard of Aviation."

60K? In four years he'll easily have paid more than twice that.

Yeap...That's why I put it up there...Who in their right mind pays 140K for a few pieces of plastic from the FAA and an Aero Science degree...

It boggles the mind...

-LAFF

Sorry to all those who are bashing Riddle. As a recent grad, I am more than happy to have spent my time and money there! To the comment about not getting finished in 4 years...thats ridiculous! I finished in 3.5 and got all my ratings....and had many many friends do the same. Furthermore, ERAU is not the only aviation school around, and it does not have to be considered the best either. For instance, we have been getting beat by UND for years at flight competition, and given a run for our money by many other much smaller schools across the country. You shouldnt bash it until you've been there or any other aviation schoool....
You cant tell me that you will get the same education at a local fbo that you would at a school where your professors are ex top gun grads and airline pilots...etc! On that note, there is nothing wrong with FBO traing...i work at an airforce aero club now...and i love it! So just keep an open mind when speaking about other people's passions!

I figure that mommy and daddy will probably chip in some dough... so call it a conservative estimate...


av8r88,

A few questions for you-

What other schools did you apply to, and did you visit/research any of the other major aviation programs in the country?

Did you visit the ERAU campus or just go to one of their on the road marketing/recruiting deals?

Did you take the time to ask (in person) any questions about ERAU to a graduate, or how about just any airline pilot that you met/know?

Do you believe 100% that the admissions people are giving you honest anwsers about the industry and the program?

One thing that I read in another thread that you started has me a bit worried. You wrote the following:

Hate to tell you this but that number is way off. Although controllers make more money that pilots to start, they make no where near 120K as new hires. I'm sure that other folks here (that are actually controllers) can tell you that.

From the FAA directly (and they are going to give the best numbers given the current state of negotiations):

An Academy Graduate makes 85% of ATC-3 Pay Band, which equates to between $38,080-$53,312 depending on the facility.

Here are the rest of the bands:

Grade Min Max
3 $37,282 $52,196
4 $39,799 $55,719
5 $45,171 $63,239
6 $49,915 $69,881
7 $55,155 $77,217
8 $60,947 $85,326
9 $67,345 $94,293
10 $77,447 $108,426
11 $81,513 $114,118
12 $85,549 $119,825
13 $89,869 $125,827
14 $94,363 $132,108

Add in locality pay and you still don't even come close.

which aero club? I didnt know any were still left...When is the af going to do all flight training at one location in texas for the IFT guys/gals?

-LAFF

hendefea,

I agree, you are more likely to get a better knowledge base at the end of a 4 year program than somebody that trains at a local club/FBO. But the fact is that at the end of the day, the piece of plastic you get from the FAA is IDENTICAL to the one that Joe Pilot got at "Mom and Pop Flight Shop."

I don't actually think that anybody here is bashing Riddle as much as they are the attitude that comes from some of the graduates there. It seems to me that you don't have the "I'm holier than thou, because I went to Riddle" attitude and I commend you for it. A lot of people (and not just ERAU grads) can't figure it out that all the degree does is cut a bit of time off the very beginning of your career. After that, no body really cares about where your degree came from (and to be perfectly honest, it doesn't matter cuz you forget half the stuff you learned anyway!)

~J

No, I am bashing Riddle. The fact is they promote nonexistent advantages to their stratospherically priced, utterly useless aero sci degree, to their target audience of young kids reading AOPA Flight Training, who wouldn't know any better. No amount of ex-airline/Top Gun instructors could come close to justifying you (or is it your parents?) paying that kind of money.

nope i went there and graduated with a high GPA, and all my ratings, which i hate to admit, and never tell anyone if i can avoid it. Guess what i did when i got out.... instructed, for two years, like every other av-turd on the planet(except the PFT guys but that is another story for another worthless thread). I fly with airline pilots everyday and seldom do i run into another riddle douch.

All that matters is flight time and how much you will let managers expand your b.hole. Out of my original 8 suite mates only 2 have gone on to become pilots, and neither one of us broke 30,000 in our first 10 years in the industry. Happy twenties! Hope you like the taste oodles of noodles. But you are probably smarter than all 8 of us so dont sweat it. Im sure you will land that mystical 727 job in africa and avert the whole "instructor" thing.

On my resume' ERAU is written in the smallest font that i can use. Its only on there so i can account for those four wasted years. Oh yeah almost forgot I just made a student loan payment for over 200 dollars (monthly) online about 20 minutes ago. have fun with that too.

"get a better knowledge base at the end of a 4 year program than somebody that trains at a local club/FBO"

In some ways yes, in some ways no. In the end, it's a wash. ERAU is very structured and attempts to be professional in the way they conduct fight training. There are a lot of rules and limitations.

An FBO is laid back and might offer a wider variety of flight experiences. I bet I flew 15 different types in my first 250 hours in the logbook, saw real ice, and flew a couple WA to CA X-C's. These experiences added greatly to my knowledge base. Every pilot should get a chance to experience aviation outside of an academy enviornment before they work for an airline.

Which is why it baffles me that people go to ERAU and drop great big piles more cash than any one spends at UND. Is it because of the name? Cause most Riddle grads I know try to hide the fact that they went there so that doesn't make sense. ALL of my flying at UND for 4 years, including the CRJ FTD course, cost about as much as a Riddle Kid will spend in a year on tuition. (For those of you wondering, when I left UND my total tab for flying was $~40K). Room and board is SIGNIFICANTLY cheaper at UND vs. ERAU because no one in their right mind wants to live in North Dakota (including yours truly). And by the way, UND was called the "Harvard of Aviation" by US News and World Report, IIRC, NOT Riddle. Lets get our facts straight people;) Not trying to toot the horn of my alma mater but that was a label given to UND, not invented by some tool in the marketing/recruiting department.

Could not agree more. I have flown and instructed at UND and at a local FBO. My biggest complaint about UND was that it is TOO structured. As a pilot you need to get out there and learn how to make decisions on your own, not let an organization or an instructor make them for you. I think its called Aeronautical Decision somethingorother;) The structure is great traing for the professional aviation world but you also need to learn how to think outside the box.