Jet University questions
 

I am a completely new pilot hopeful and have several questions particularly for students/grads of Jet U:


1) How difficult is the training? What does the average day at school look like? Schedule, hours, etc?

2) Does $38K plus $7500 for CRJ transition seem like a decent price to pay for such training?

3) Is getting an airline job without a college degree a complete impossibility?

4) How does if work if one is more interested in flying cargo planes VS airline?

How old are you?

Have you tried the search function?

Go to college first if your under 25 or so!

I am 25. Yes I searched a few threads pertaining to this school but could not find anything pertaining to what the schedule is like.

Do you think $38K is a good price for private, instrument, multi, and commercial ratings?

Depends. How many hours do you finish with? How many of those are multi? What type aircraft are they using? How much more for CFI, CFII, MEI? You're almost unemployable aside from instructing with a fresh commercial ticket unless you know someone or get really lucky. I'll plug my old flight school. Prairie Air Service, Inc. I've heard the prices on the site are not up to date but they are worth at least a phone call. I bet you could go PPL thru MEI there for 38K or less.

No. I do not have multi at this time, but I am less than $20K into my flight training. That's PVT, IR, COMM-ASEL. Knocking on 400hrs soon.

Is that part 141 or part 91?

What does a CRJ course for $7500 do for you when there are hundreds of CRJ current and qualified individuals on the street right now?

Have you taken a look at who's hiring?

Here is part of what the recruiter emailed me:


We just received approval from the FAA under part 141 to get you your rating for Pvt/IFR/CPL/M/E in as little as 151 hrs—making the cost only $38,000—Can also reduce the time needed to get those ratings----- If you then go into the CRJ Fast Track ( 5 weeks ) that cost $7,500—for total of $45,500


I have no interest in instructing so that puts a large roadblock.

Good luck finding a job. The days of getting hired with no time are long gone.

Yeah. Sure does ... :rolleyes:

Why don't you go browse around the Regional forums and see how much those people like their jobs and how much flow they really make.

$38k is a huge deal... think long and hard about spending it. If you think about the total hours, 151 hrs, which is about $225/hr with checkrides, tests, etc... that kind of sucks. Also, ask the people if they have paid their flight instructors recently... a large school next to me hasn't paid in like two weeks, now the instructors refuse to work - it is possible the students could loose their money.

Check out slice's spot

Hi B,

I was in your shoes a while back too. Although I have my commercial already. Jet U would be a quick way to get into a regional when the regionals were hiring like crazy. But right now, even if you get your commercial, with little time it's impossible to get on with anybody. I talked to JetU a week ago and they're still not getting any interviews at all for their graduates. I keep in touch with a few of their graduates from late 08 and they're still not getting any interviews yet. There's no point going there if you're hoping to get on with a regional.

I don't think the economy is going to pick up anytime soon so there's no point in getting all your tickets early. If you have hard cash, go to an FBO and just do all your training there. If you don't have moolah, go to ATP and get all your ticket done.

Shop around
 

Make sure you shop around. There is a 141 school in Atlanta that costs the same as the Jet U but you finish with 205 hours minimum. That would include your Private, Instrument, Commercial Single and Multi. So 38,000 would go a little further in this example.

CRJ sim experience and 151 hours total time is not going to get you hired by anyone. The additional cost of CRJ time could be spent toward building time.

So.......you're gonna spend 38K and have a total of 151 hours. How much of that is ME time? Will they offer you a position of flight instructor at the end of your training? Just like someone else mentioned...the days of hiring low time pilots is gone.......for a very long time with the exception of a few places and believe me the competition it stiff.

My friend, I would advise you to do ALOT more research in terms of identifying a flight school to attend and attaining all your licenses and ratings. There are some schools/FBO's that offer you twice as much TT for the same price or lower; and with that most of your accumulated TT is in a ME a/c.

Do yourself a favor, do some more research, comparative shopping, cost benefit analysis and then pose your questions. Otherwise, you'll ask about every tom, dick & harry operation out there and the guys at this forum will pick up on that real quick like.


All the best. Blue skies.




atp

Would you know the name?

Why not get a 737 type for about $1000 less?

I find it odd that everyone is asking "How many hours do you finish with?"

I always looked at it as, you train in as few hours as possible to save money and then build hours on someone else's dime. (CFI'ing, etc)

Why pay for flight hours that someone out there is willing to pay you to put in your logbook. NEVER pay to build hours.

OMG!!! You again. :p

Just kiddin'.

If you're able to accrue more hours at the same cost, then your cost/hr is lower. More bang for the same buck. Wouldn't you agree?



atp

yeah, i guess, but 20 more hours over the course of your training doesn't really do anything for you when usually you accrue them so fast (fast is a relative term) at a paying job.

But I think we really have hit the nail on the head on the cost of these zero to hero programs...you give them a lot of money and it is to their benefit to get you through with the least amount of hours possible.

You are paying for ratings through them, not hours*


*unless of course you go over, then we can really take some money from ya!

The school is Fulton Aviation Flight School. The web address is FultonAviation.com. Click on the Professional Pilot Course link in the middle of page.

Some Major Regional/Mainline Companies may have a problem with that.
Just my two cents, but someone looking for information on where to learn how to fly, should not be so quick to reject the idea of teaching people how to fly one day.

If trying to pay your way ahead in this industry, as a way to replace dedication, commitment, and experience, is your ultimate goal than I think Jet U's CRJ Transition Program is just for you.

Do you really want to say that "Oh yeah, I learned at Jet U?"

I either missed it or you never replied to it, but do you have a B.S.??? If not, you probably should incorporate that, because competition is tough(ie impossible) right now for low-time guys.

CRJ transition course: Why do you need it? It's $7500 towards training that you recieve if you get hired at any airline that uses that aircraft anyways. It might give you a very very very slight edge on someone in an interview since you might know a few more things about the aircraft, but seriously that's a lot of money that never has to be spent IMHO.

With the current state of the industry, your chances of being hired are Zero right now. In 2-3 years, there's a maybe. I'd take a more traditional route of training instead of the Zero-to-Hero flight schools and get some solid experience along with some hours, and hopefully you'll think about getting the CFI. Good luck

As far as I know, Jet University is NOT at part 141 flight school. They make it look like they are, they say they are, but they are not a 141 flight school.

If the Jet University sales people are representing that Jet University is a part 141 flight school, then I would make them prove that fact with something from the FAA that indicates this.

The FAR's require that 141 flight schools must disclose which courses are part 141 and which courses are part 61.

There hasn't been a Jet University graduate hired by Pinnacle since the April 2008 class. There were four graduates that month and Pinnacle hired one of those graduates.

There are dozens of students that have completed the Jet University program and have not received their guaranteed job.

There is a ton of infomation about Jet University from actual Jet University students if you just google, "jet university scam"

I have one question: Why is it only in the aviation industry it is normal practice for someone who just finishied school/training themselves is allowed to teach others what they have basically just learned? Seems like a classic case of blind leading the blind.

In just about any other field I can think of, five years is generally required before you can even think about teaching others.

I'm not trying to "pay my way" into anything. I found a school which seems to have it together and wanted some input from people actually in the industry VS just from the school recruiter.

Teaching someone to fly REQUIRES a flight instructor/pilot to learn his/her trade to a much higher level of comprehension and understanding.

When your one day sitting in the left seat of a B-777 as the captain and your first officer asks you a question, not wanting to teach or help out will not suffice.
It's sounds like you've already made up your mind chief.
Just remember one thing,
If every pilot in the world was as unwilling to teach as you are, then a career in aviation would not even be an option for you.

How is it the blind leading the blind? CFI's have proven they are capable of teaching. Furthermore the pilot mills usually have the least experienced (most blind if you will) instructors. Flying a small airplane, and teaching how to fly a small airplane aren't that difficult. By the time you are an instructor you have worked through all the ratings and have the tools needed. The important thing is learning how to teach it effectively.

The 777 example is good, lets take it a step further. What happens when your FO in an RJ is fresh off IOE and stomps the rudder of that RJ just like he would a 172 and results in a go around? Do you sit there and scream at him because you don't have teaching experience or do you take the time to show him good technique so he doesn't do it again? The exact situation happened to me. Luckily I had a good captain and the result was that my landings improved tremendously over the course of that four day. By the end of that trip I felt that I could handle things much better than I could coming off IOE.

You've got a number of responses here explaining how Jet-U isn't good yet you seem to ignore it and claim it's a good program.

There's no such thing as an easy way. Like it or not you're going to be a teacher at some point in this industry. Would you rather have the tools that instructing gives you to think outside the box and see trends develop before they do or would you rather see the light, push the button and get the banana?

New B,
During a typical day at Jet U you will most likely have one flight lesson. I wanted at least two, but there are not enough instructors to handle that. Scheduling is normally a mess and constantly changing...you have to keep up on them or they will just forget about you. My recommendation is to go wherever you can get your rating at the cheapest price. The allure of the new Diamonds with the glass cockpits is not worth it...and one thing they forget to tell you is that none of the DA20 aircraft have glass, only the DA40's and DA42's. I left Jet U in December...at that time they were not a 141 school...I would verify that with the FAA before going there. Also, ask about the fuel surcharges that are still in effect there. If I had it to do all over again I would have earned all of my ratings from a local flight school.

Thank you for the information everyone. I will definatly scrap the Jet U idea and most likely peck away at the ratings at my local flight school.

The three Cessna 150 series aircraft they have on lease back all hold substantial accident records...whoops!

According to the website only 2 Jet University Flight School students (zero to hero) were actually hired by Pinnacle.

Incredible.