Aviation College selection made simple?
Choosing a flight training school is not an easy task. After looking at a variety of brochures and Web sites, they all start to look the same. It becomes difficult to separate good schools from those who are simply good at selling themselves.
Besides the obvious items such as location, type of aircraft, and availability of student loans, there are many other items to consider when selecting your flight school. Often these items are not in the brochures aviation colleges send out to you.
Regardless of which aviation college you choose, you still will leave with the required FAA certificates for your career in aviation. That's assuming that the school uses a structured syllabus, you apply yourself and never forget your part of that equation. However, choosing a good school can make your flight training experience enjoyable, as opposed to a tedious task.
Here is a partial list to help you ask questions to select the best aviation school for your flight training.
- Size of your classes
- A list of charges not included in the package price - and there always are items like this. That's normal, because not everyone learns at the same rate.
- Average age and experience of the educational team.
- The general weather conditions in the area. This means you should watch for words like “365 days of sunshine.” Is the weather comfortable to learn in and how much time each day is really flyable?
- Are you paying for flying time only, and if not what are the other costs that will impact the total expense and speed at which you complete your training?
- Many career schools claim to have connections with an airline or even several airlines. This is something that often is not valuable to you.
The airline industry is in a state of constant change - it is nearly impossible to tell who will be hiring when you are done with your education and finished building your flight experience.
Be careful of the guaranteed interview, and never pick a school for the so-called guaranteed job. This may not be a wise investment of your money; it may just be a marketing effort by the school. Be sure to ask how many students got interviews, jobs and how long it took them to get hired.
Airlines hire based on competency, people skills, technical skills and flight experience. Most importantly, it is the airline's need for new pilots. That is the case regardless of whether your school has connections or not. You and your school should focus on you being prepared for an interview anywhere, not just at a place with whom they claim a connection.
Speaking of flight experience, most schools will offer you employment as a flight instructor. That's how most of us get the required flight hours for our first airline job. Here again the issue is not will they offer you a job, but do they have enough students to help you get the flight time you need as fast as you would like?
In addition, do you really want to put your career in the hands of a school that will offer all their students a job without even knowing how well that person will be able to teach? After all, you are there to learn, not tohelp someone else get the flight time they need.
The items to watch for in this area are, 1) If the school offers everyone a job as an instructor, then none of the instructors actually get enough flight time to accelerate their career; and 2) You need to choose a school that hires the best flight educators available based on teaching skills, not because the marketing department knows it sounds good to new prospects.
Finally, as most recent graduates find out, that first airline position seems like it never pays enough to cover your living costs, especially if you have a student loan. So the cost of your education does matter. The likelihood of making $100,000 a year sometime in your first five years is very slim, so plan on living very cheaply for first two or three years as an airline pilot.
Your first professional position will likely be that of a flight instructor - not an airline pilot. Quality flight training and quality instructor training is critical to your success. Why? Because if you are an excellent flight instructor, which means you are a strong pilot and very sensitive to your students' needs, you will make more money and fly more hours while you are an instructor.
Those who become great flight instructors will not only succeed faster, they will be better prepared for their first airline interview. That's a key stop on the road to a successful and profitable career in the airlines.
Train Right. Life is Good - You're a Pilot
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Aviation Careers