Old Thread -- Still Pertinent Comment
 

I'm presently a student at Flight Safety, since I wanted to go the 141 route. While the quality of the curriculum, the instructors and the training fleet are all top notch, there are A LOT of students here, which can slow things down, A LOT... Students are bailing out of here because of this.



As for ATP, I want to offer one comment: although they may be licensed under both parts 61 and 141, ATP DOES NOT operate any actual programs under part 141. I found this out when I asked about veterans benefits. They allow no usage of or access to veterans benefits, since the VA only funds 141 programs and ATP does only part 61 instruction. That immediately and permanently knocked them off of my list.



I hasten to add that I'm not implying anything about the quality of ATP programs -- only that they do it all under 61, and they're a NO-GO for veterans with benefits.

For clarity, there is no "licensing" under part 61. Anyone can operate a flight school under part 61, there is no FAA oversight on that, you just follow the rules in part 61 and 91.


A 141 operator does need FAA certification. Merely holding a 141 certificate does nothing for students, but it's something schools can claim in their advertising to sound important.


You are correct that GI Bill flight training benefits may only be used for specific part 141 training programs (ie IR, CPL, CFI, ATP, type ratings, etc).




141 inherently does little or nothing for quality, it's mostly just a paperwork drill. In fact, 141 programs are so inflexible that it rarely makes economic sense to do 141, unless you stand to gain some sort of benefits tied to 141 by law (ie GI Bill, R-ATP mins).

Beware of 141 schools that offer the moon.

I'd argue that you could get better instruction part 61, and quicker too.

Gup

I agree completely about better instruction at 61 schools right now, if one puts in the time to make it work with a career instructor (most 141 schools are laden with inexperienced CFI’s right now).

With this in mind, why do so many (including some regional recruiters) still believe that 141 is better prep for 121 flying? Is this an antiquated notion or does the structure of a 141 syllabus alone still serve as better prep for 121?