deftone

So it seems like quite a few people have been up to Indy now, has anyone actually accepted the offer to go to LIFT? I met one guy on Facebook who is going but so far it seems like most are looking at other options.

GoJuice

I will be starting in November.

deftone

Congrats! Make sure and keep us informed on how its going! I will be jealous of those sweet air-conditioned Diamonds when Im bouncing around in my 172 here in the Louisiana heat!

sflpilot

As they should be. When it's all said and done most of these people will have a debt of about $150,000 including interest. I have tried to provide educational info because I realize we have new people that don't fully understand how this industry works. You could go train at Joe's Podunk flying school and walk away with the same certificates for pennies on the dollar of Lift and have offers from almost every regional in existence including Republic. Don't let them trick you with this whole thing about how they will train you to a higher standard, they won't. Every school has the same brand new CFI's on staff. That is an old tired argument that has been used ever since I started flying 18 years ago. They didn't even bother to secure fixed interest rate financing for the applicants. When I read from one of the applicants that it was a variable rate loan I had to read it three more times because I could not believe it. I feel like i'm at the used car lot dealing with this.

dbdevkc

Something doesn't sound right about all this. The financing sounds fishy. And why, if someone is making $100+K/year, wouldn't you simply pay as you go at an FBO. To quit your 6-figure job and take out a $50-$60K loan for a $60k salaried job 18 months down the road? I am not sure we are still getting the full story.

GoJuice

I’m sorry, how exactly did you come up with 150,000? The cost of the program is 65,000. Even if interest rates become astronomical it won’t come close to that.

GoJuice

Thank you! I’m looking forward to it as I’m used to 152 flying in muggy St. Louis summers.

deftone

It works out to around $105k using todays interest rates if you take the full 10 years to repay. I posted a breakdown further back on the thread. Thats already $850 per month so I cant imagine many having the spare cash to pay off early at CFI/Regional FO salaries.

If interest rates increase then who knows what you will end up paying..... And over a 10 years span you have to assume that at some point they will be higher than todays rates.

GoJuice

Yea my plan is to re-finance as soon as possible to get a fixed interest rate. I have also heard rumors that LIFT will be offering 15K in loan assistance while students are instructing and the first few months as FO. If true that will help tremendously.

sflpilot

I’ve said this before about the cost of flight training but I will reiterate. It’s not just a fixed cost, everyone will require different amounts of hours to qualify to pass the checkrides. If they just gave you a fixed price they would be giving many people free training on some level. I worked for these people for several years and I can tell you that’s not how they operate.I believe they are going to be training in a DA40, those things are not cheap.