Pilot Journey Forums

I am looking at a career in aviation!
How ever the UK is a very expensive place in general, plus i have always fancied traveling (not moving around just moving somewhere else for a while) so im thinking i can combine the two and go to a flight school in the USA.

I've checked out many web site's and they all seem to cost around the same. Now i can afford the training, and no Mummy and Daddy aren't paying, Im 22 and have worked hard, i own part of a house and can sell that to fund my training.

The question is are these flight schools worth it? Has anyone on her been trained in one? or recommend one?

I would most like to train somewhere like Florida, i know it's corny but i want to be somwhere relaxing and with a totaly different atmoshere to the UK, it just rains all the time here plus im getting sick of the Goverment and laws. (I know Dubuya Bush has his flaws but at-least if someone try's to break in your house and falls through the roof they can't sue you in America, ow yes it's happend here and they WON their case!)

Although for most people I do not recommend the flight academy's, they do have advantages for some.  If you know you want an airline career, I would suggest going to one that "guarantees" an airline interview once you have giving them your $40-60K.  Just remember, that you will get all of the basics of GA and be groomed for the airlines.  In other words, I do not recommend this route for pilots who wish to fly there families around in C182 or whatever. 

I have heard plenty of stories, and pilots are like fishermen, the stories get ssttrreettcchheedd a bit.  One was of an FO who was a wiz kid at one of the academies.  He had, however, never had any real actual IMC.  The captain looked over at him, and he was white as a ghost and pretty much useless the rest of the flight.

If you look at companies that are hiring 135 and even 91 (corporate avaition) pilots, versus the 121 carriers hiring, you will notice a VAST gap in experience levels.  Of course, the pay is also usually skewed just as much, if not more!!

Brian

Guys, I am a student pilot and I wanted to share something that I found online. Have you heard of  AviatorAcademy.com? It is a new online school that offers the private pilot ground school class completely online! I enrolled in the course last week and I am having a great experience with them. The school is very professional and I can’t even tell you how awesome the instructors are. Everyone is so friendly and very helpful. They work with your needs, answer your questions, and are just super enthusiastic about making you a great pilot. They have this whole thing about how they aren’t teaching you to pass the test, they are teaching you what you need to know and if you know that then the test is easy. I have seen some of the DVD courses, prepware, and all of that and this is just so much better. I can do it online, so I don’t have to drive to school or keep a class schedule but I actually get access to real live instructors. Best of all its pretty cheap – the course I signed up for “ Private Pilot Airplane Ground School ” was only $99 and that was complete with everything. They provide PDF’s of the books, advisory circulars, test standards, figures, even all the test questions the FAA uses, everything so I don’t have to buy anything else to study. They will even provide the sign off to go take the FAA written once I’m finished. It looks like right now they only have the private pilot airplane and helicopter courses ready – but they have a whole bunch of other courses like instrument and jet systems and survival and lots of other stuff coming soon. I dont know when the other courses open but you can drop them a note at info@aviatoracademy.com and they will probably be glad to answer any questions you have. Seriously if you are looking for a great ground school program that just blows away the DVD courses check them out. Its www.aviatoracademy.com They are definitely the place to go!