mtbthis

I am looking to go to school at Central Washington, i know they have a flight program but it wont be my major. I would like to take flight lessons throough another FBO up there. Does anyone know if Bowers Field(the airport up there) has a seperate flight school from the school?
Any information would be greatly appreciated.

de727ups

The only FBO on the airport is Midstate and they are crazy overpriced as they have a monopoly with CWU aviation students. Yakima would be the next closest thing. However, you could PM Skyhigh, who happens to be a happy APC user that owns a Cessna 150 at the airport. You should ask him to look into avemco's new insurance program that allows aircraft owners to do limited instruction and tell him you'll pay the difference. Tell him you'll pay him the same as the going rate for garbage collectors in town for his personal, professional, flight instruction (inside joke). I'm sure he'll help you out. And ignore his rantings about how stupid pilots are. He's one too....

mtbthis

So there are other flight schools?
I am assuming you went there? Maybe you could PM something or even just post something about how you like it there aviation wise and just general information and things about the school you liked and didnt like.
Thanks

shfo

Midstate is the only FBO on the field. Someone tried to start another place just to sell fuel and Ron Mitchell came unglued. He likes his monopoly and has a lot of say in the city of Ellensburg. He is also a good ol' boy that is pretty full of himself and doesn't care about his customers.
Read the comments on AirNav.

Why do you want to take lessons? Do you want to take flight classes as a minor? If you do not want to be an airline pilot look somewhere else. Midstate is a very controlled environment. There are only a handful of "approved" cross country airports. They don't let you go to grass strips or any airport with a runway under 3000 feet. It is a very structured way of learning to fly but you only learn a limited amount which does not lead to a well rounded pilot.

Having said that the ground portion provided by the University is terrific.

One of the Professors just purchased a brand new Citabria and is giving limited instruction in it.

The 2 FBOs in Yakima are:

Noland-Decoto Flying Service

McCormick Air Center, LLC - Rental Prices

Where do you live? If you live on the westside there are plenty of FBOs over here to chose from.

FL410

I agree with all said above. On my multi-engine checkride Ron came in for 5 minutes and plan me a trip from A-B. I gotta go home and I will be back in 2 hrs. Go ahead and talk with friends and socialize until I get back. Strange. If your on the westside I have a few CFI friends or I can help you out. PM me if interested. Or need any special info about CWU flight tech or any thing Eburg related. Good luck.

reserveslob

If you aren't looking for a degree or a minor with it I definately suggest the drive up to Yakima. I don't know what Nolands is charging and I wouldn't recommend them being I have about 3,000 unrecoverable dollars in their accounts, but Mccormicks 172s are cheaper, well maintained, and if they still have the same instructors that replaced me they were pretty good guys. Send me a message and I will hit you back with any details I can provide. Oh and if you want I will see what is up with Sky and his 150.

SkyHigh

Man I owe you a steak dinner !! You are the best.

Your pal,

Skyhigh

SkyHigh

Get 25 post then send me a PM. I am an active instructor in the area and can offer my help in whatever direction you are interested in. Even garbage collecting. (joke)

Skyhigh

mtbthis

I can't thank you all enough. The information you are providing is awesome.
My current thoughts as of now are: major in enviroment engineering(what I declared on my app) and then work my way up the aviation latter seperatley on the side at a local airport.

I will be going up there with private pilots license. It would be nice to find a CFII and MEI in the area. I looked at the prices at midstate and it did seem pretty ridiculous. I guess the only problem is that it looks like Yakima is close to 50 min away? Do most studens just try not to think about it and go through Midstate?

This is another question I have been meaning if anyone knows: How's the ROTC program up there. I am in the midst of applying and have read through what the AF says about ROTC, but what's it really like up there?

Like I said, any other advice or information is greatly appreciated.

Skyhigh, thanks. 15 more and you will be hearing from me.

shfo

Don't get your Instrument there. They won't let you fly to the westside and the clouds on the east side are full of ice. MWH and YKM are the only places you will go. Not much variety and you won't get any real quality instrument time. I still have the morse code IDs for Pelly and Donny memorized from the hours of NDB holds though.