Turd_Ferguson

Hello everyone. I’m new to the forum, and I’m sure this has been posted before, but I’m unable to find what I’m looking for. I currently have a private pilot’s license, and I am wanting to finish up the remainder of my training with the final goal of getting all ratings and certificates leading to MEI. I want to do this quickly, so I’m looking for a flight school that offers accelerated training. I know that there are several that don’t agree with this type of training, but after careful consideration, I believe this is the best move. I am also looking for a school that offers and/or accepts some type of financial aid. I can’t afford to just go there and pay for all of it out of pocket. I also don’t want to save up and then complete it because that will take way too long. So, if there are any schools (other than ones like ATP) that offers to finance or accepts student loans, and offers accelerated training, could you please let me know? I’ve looked and found some that offers to finance through Pilot, but that won’t help me since they don’t finance for a “full time” student. I’ve also seen several talk about a Sallie Mae career loan, but from what I can tell, they don’t offer that anymore. Any help is greatly appreciated.

Also, just an FYI, I have a college degree and work full time in the healthcare industry. I love what I do and I intend on continuing doing this, but I would also like to instruct, and maybe sometime in the future fly charter, corporate, or even air ambulance.

Thanks again for all of your help.

rickair7777

Most schools will "accept" financial aid. Some small schools or FBOs might not though if there is administrative overhead, but a generic cash loan would solve that, it's just cash. The problem now is getting financial aid, which does not come from a flight school, but rather a bank or government agency.

Money lending standards have tightened up dramatically since 2008, and I assume that applies to flight training. Used to be a working adult could get a big flight training loan based on his income...and then promptly quite the job that allowed him to qualify for the loan, blow all the money on ratings, and then get a $12K CFI job, looking forward to a $20K regional job in a few years. See the problem here? My guess would be that you might need a co-signer.

There are several large schools, if I had the money I'd probably do Flight Safety...since their primary business is sim training for experienced turbine pilots they are not going to blow their good reputation with dumb shenanigans at their primary flight school.

Also since you're taking a loan out DO NOT (I repeat DO NOT) place large sums of money on deposit with ANY flight school (FS might be the only exception I would consider). Pay-as-you-go, no more than $1K on deposit.

This lesson has been learned time and again when the unethical flight school gets in financial trouble and uses your deposit to cover their bills and then goes BK. You come in to find the doors chained shut, the managers and your money long gone...but now you still have to pay off the loan unless you can justify BK yourself.

TI 3VOM

First, are you able to relocate to do the training? or are you going to do it on the side while you work full time at your current job?

There are very few loans available for flight training now. Back in 2007, there were at least 10, now I know of only 1 or 2 that will finance flight training without being enrolled in a college degree program. The issue with this is there are only a few schools that are able to offer these loans since they have a reputation with the bank. If you are able to relocate, you can try looking into Hillsboro Aviation in Oregon. They offer a Wells Fargo loan for flight training.

Depending on where you do your flight training, you may just have to qualify for a normal personal loan and use that for flight training, but I would suspect you would have to have excellent credit, a good source income, and possibly even a co-signer to get enough to cover all the flight training costs. Personally, I would not recommend this route as it will likely have higher interest.

And as RickAir said, NEVER pay a large sum up front for flight training. I have seen many students lose all their money when the schools took large 'deposits' upfront then closed their doors. I know a guy who lost $40K in a night because of this.

Cubdriver

Just to clarify, FlightSafety International which is know for Level D simulators, and FlightSafety Academy which has only one location in Vero Beach and does only primary pilot training, are both owned by Berkshire Hathaway (Warren Buffet), but are not exactly the same thing.

Turd_Ferguson

Thanks for the info everyone. I am willing to relocate for the training. I've already talked with my employer and they are okay with me taking a month or two leave of absence (another reason why I would like a accelerated program). I would like to keep it in the Midwest if possible though.

I am wanting to avoid a personal loan at all costs (figuratively speaking). Are there any smaller schools that offers assistance? I am really interested in Cardinal Wings out of Louisville, but I don't think they offer any type of financial assistance.

Cubdriver

Evidently you have thought about this, but think very hard about loans for flight training. I am not perfectly clear whether you plan to quit health care and fly as a pro, but even if you can get the loan and want to be a pro it is debatable whether the industry supports high speed, high cost flight training costs. Perhaps you should take the figure you want to borrow and put it into an online estimator with a ten year amortization to see what is the monthly payment would be. You will have to tow that line month in, month out past the death of any thrill of being an instructor, and there is great doubt the loan could be paid off in ten years an entry level pro either. At least get a few more ratings/ certs using your own money before diving in for a loan, would be my thought. I earned as I went and feel it was a good idea, because now I can fly full time without any loans to repay or worry about. This is not the health care industry, it is a fickle industry with lots of reverses.

Turd_Ferguson

I'm wanting to stay at my current job and instruct in my spare time. Maybe sometime in the future after I build some time I might try to fly charter or corporate, but I'm not interested in the airlines. I'm pretty familiar with the risks and the uncertainties of an aviation career. That's one reason why I want to keep doing what I'm doing, but aviation has been a passion of mine since I was 8 and I am wanting to do what I can to finish up my ratings.