Any news ?
 

Just curious if things are moving along any better at SW.

Nope. The time building has been OK, but there is a serious backlog of instruction. Specifically the multi-engine.


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Do it differently?
 

I know that Piedmont uses two other schools besides SW, would any one do things differently and go with the company that gets you through the piston training quicker? I am considering it

That would depend on the individual. If you can't afford delays and don't care about the bases or other differences between the two airlines, than sure. If you live in a PSA base already then waiting it out might be worth it to you. No one answer is going to be right for everyone.


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Piedmont and PSA both have similar LOW upgrade times. PSA just awarded someone an upgrade class date that had 10 only months of seniority (with previous 121 time). The main requirement for either carrier is the 1000 hours of 121 time.

Piedmont's flow agreement with American is better than ours, by percentage of Pilot group per class. At 6 per month we flow less than 6% annually, while for Piedmont their 6month is over 10% annually.

I had to make the same decision of Envoy vs PSA vs Piedmont. The combination of FW training availability and bases made my choice of PSA easy. Four of the five PSA bases should have some reasonably priced crash pads, if you must commute. People are holding a line only a few months out of training. And PSA is currently maintaining the training pace, while I understand Piedmont is struggling (but you'd be getting paid and building seniority depending on where the slow-down is).

I'm currently in the program and have been flying in excess of the 22.5 hours a week (about 25 on avg), which was agreed upon in the cost analysis. SkyWarrior has a large fleet, almost 40 planes in three locations (PNS, MAI, EDN), and operate them 17 hours a day. Prepare yourself for a grind. Flying 250 hours in 10 weeks, in a 172, can be mind-numbing at times. There are currently around 50 people in the program, but it's rare to not fly 6 days a week, if you're willing. There are complaints, both founded and unfounded, but SkyWarrior is most definitely delivering on their pledge. I think it's safe to say that no other flight school in the country can provide the amount of flight time, at a low cost, in a short period of time. I agree with the advice of getting a PPL on your own prior to arriving, it seems like that is the bottleneck here. I came with a PPL and got right to it after my BFR on Day 2. I also like that there are at least 4 examiners pretty much dedicated to the school. Check rides are holy days on the schedule. You will have an airplane on your day.

I've heard that SkyWarrior has quite a backlog for the multi engine training. Is there any truth to this rumor? How long have people been waiting to get a multi add-on? Thanks.

Thanks for the information, I am currently at Rucker and begin my TDY/ transition leave late November so sky warrior makes the best sense, I have my ppl, and spend some time at EDN trying to build hours, I have heard the SW rumors floating around EDN it does cause a bit of concern as like most people there is a lot ridding on this and timing is critical.

There is a bit of a backup in the Seminoles. They were all grounded for about 10 days or so, but they are back up and those folks who were waiting are back in training. I don't think anyone has missed or had to move their ATP-CTP date, but I'm not certain. I believe SW is now making the training time estimates a little longer, around 80 days with prior PPL. In my opinion this is pretty good, a lot shorter than other schools with other regionals.

I just got off the phone with Mr. Sigler, and we discussed training times. 0 time guys, he was saying, are estimating about 100 days. From what he said PPL can take anywhere from 3-5 weeks, obviously there are different things that cause those times to shift one way or the other. I am really hopping to be able to get a PPL completed before I head down there in OCT.

Take a look at the cost estimate and see what you can get elsewhere. It's pretty cheap at SW, and since you're out of pocket for PPL you may find it's worth waiting to go to SW. Another thing to consider is that the summer thunderstorm season will be over when you arrive, so hopefully not many weather days. I had a PPL with 33.8 hrs and 14.1 PIC (250 PIC is pretty much the only number that matters) and I'm on track to finish everything in 70ish days. That's with 10 wx/mx days and 4 days that I took off.

That gives me a lot more confidence about it. Thank you. The biggest thing I was taking into consideration was how many days I could knock off by getting my PPL first. I was a little nervous about making a 15 Jan ATP/CTP date with Thanksgiving and Christmas in there. My family and I are basically treating this as a deployment, with me making it home for the holidays. I don't plan on being away from SW more than a week, unless their schedule dictates otherwise.

I guess it all depends on your situation. Having the PPL knocked out is a huge time-saver, but the money may come in handy while you're unemployed. You can definitely find ways to get extra time in the airplane to finish early, if you're up for it. I won't give out my secret, yet. Good luck!

HAHA I look forward to finding out that secret. Just saw that someone finished in 80 days. Thanks for the follow up.

Actually about 8-10 guys had to push back their ATP class date for the early and mid august classes. The seminoles are having problems staying up but they're slowly fixing them.

How many Seminoles do they have down there? Do they have enough MEIs to handle all the RTPers?

Hey guys, a lot of us Army rotor dudes got together on facebook and decided it would be prudent to put together a website/forum specifically for us. It launched yesterday. We'd love if you guys who have made the jump could post up in there and offer any advice you've got, and for those about to make the leap, there's plenty of places you can contribute as well. We want it to be a single-point resource for RTP, regardless of intended airline.
https://www.helicopterstoairlines.org/

Thanks and good luck with the transition.

By the way, PSA has just increased the minimum hours to APPLY for RTP to 1000 hours total time. Yes, this is before getting your add-ons via RTP. This happened either today or yesterday, and has been confirmed through multiple PSA recruiters/sources. The change has also been reflected on the PSA RTP website under "requirements." This was because of the "overwhelming number of applicants."

Envoy, Piedmont, and GoJet haven't changed anything yet.

Just a friendly PSA (ba dum tshh).

Hey guys, just wondering if I should be concerned. I interviewed last month (July) and was then later sent my commitment agreement which i signed and returned 2 weeks ago but I have not heard anything back since. I reached out a few times but still no response. Have any of you had issues communications wise after you signed before picking up the training? btw, I'm not scheduled to start (tentatively since I haven't heard anything) until next year after I retire. Thanks.

Looks like the pilot shortage is over. Fun while it lasted.

The communication is not great prior to your arrival. I had an email about a week before my start date with some info. Get in contact with Greg or Laima at SW to maybe confirm your date.


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We used to... this happened on Saturday.




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I hope everyone is okay. Do you guys know what happened?

Everyone walked away. Apparently the nose gear collapsed on or after landing. Multiple witnesses confirmed that the gear was down prior to touchdown. More info will come out soon, I'm sure.


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That'll buff right out, thank God no one was hurt.

Skywarrior maintenance happened. Pretty standard.

Luckily no one was killed... this time.

Embarrassing!
 

I guess the rumors of shoddy maintenance are true! I have said it before, the School an airline partners with is a direct reflection of the airline itself. It's embarrassing and does not instill any confidence in going to SW. Any chance these issues can be fixed, or do you all think it's going to be FLY AT YOUR OWN RISK!

I just confirmed that PSA is looking into the maintenance at SW. I don't think this reflects poorly on the airline. **** happens.

Skywarrior has a long history of questionable business practices which have included shoddy billing practices, intentionally failing students on flights to get paid more flight hours and issuing aircraft safe for flight when they probably shouldn't be... they've been investigated by the Navy and lost business on at least one occasion that I can remember.

As far as I understand it, RTP folks have the ability to chose their flight school and AAG isn't forcing folks to use Skywarrior... Choose wisely.