I was just wanting to know if anyone who has used the Montgomery GI Bill Ch. 30 (not the Post 9/11) for flight training has been told what I've been told. I already have a private certificate and should have a second class medical on 8/16/11. The VA approved 141 school I am training with offers the instrument, commercial, cfi and cfii (no multi). I was told by the VA certifying official at the school that the GI Bill will reimburse me for 60% of the cost of these ratings, but the solo portion of the commercial (approx. 65 hrs and $9,100) is not reimbursed at all. Has anyone experienced the same when using the GI Bill? If this has been answered in a previous post or is posted in the wrong thread I apologize (I could not find it through a search).

Thanks,
3212L

That person at your school is not correct. All of our VA students have received their 60% reimbursement for the full course including solo. As long as the students are following the 141 approved commercial course they will be reimbursed.

Not correct. You are eligible for generally all flight training which is part of the 141 curriculum, which should include the commercial solo part. If they can't figure that out find a new school.

Also the fact that they have such a gross conceptual error about MGIB tells me tat they don't know what they are doing with re. to the VA and they'll almost certainly screw up the complicated paperwork which gets you paid. Good luck ever getting that sorted out...

Thanks for the quick replies. I spoke with the VA today (on hold for 30 min.) and of course all she could tell me was that I needed to speak with the certifying official at the school. All other VA approved 141 school's websites indicate 60% reimbursement for all ratings after the private. The certifying official at the school said they do not have a lot of students that use the GI Bill (I guess everyone else is smart and uses it for med / law school, haha). The school seems to be a good school. They screen Student Naval Aviators prior to reporting to Pensacola. I'm pretty much limited to this school due to the location to my house and job (20 miles away, next closest is 80 miles away). I figure I will use the bill for the instrument (60% of all charges) and worry about the commercial when I get to it. I just hope they don't mess up the reimbursement for the instrument considering they do not do it very often. I did learn something form the VA today that is off subject. After using all of the Montgomery GI Bill (Ch. 30), you may be eligible for up to 12 months of the Post 9/11 GI Bill (subject to how many months you served after Sept. 11). Anyways, thanks for the info. ATLCFI and rickair7777.

I am a VA pilot as well. All my flight time from Instrument to MEL Comm has been re-imbursed 60% from the VA. While not all ground school and stuff is paid for, it varies by the curriculum set by the school. For my ground school for MEL the VA did not pay for the schools required 3 hrs on the G1000 sim, so it was an out of pocket expense. Your solo time is paid for at 60% as thats what i got for my COM SEL.


Just like many vets like myself its such a financial drain to have to put the money upfront and wait weeks to get hit up by the VA. Sometimes it requires a call to your senator to get things going.