Cost of Training

[rotoflightmaniac1]

Hello everyone,

 

 

What should I "expect" to pay to go from 0-CFII TT200 hours. I know that this has been brought up and discussed in other posts, I even tried to do a poll on it, but that didn't work. I am getting all kinds of anwers, anywhere from $40,000 -$70,000. Obviously I'd like to get it at the best rate possible and still get good training. What I don't want to do is end up paying $65k because of poor instructing or because I got passed on from one instructor to the other every month, when I could have done it for $45k-50k. What do you think. Sure, it can take some people countless hours because they are just not motivated to finish or they are just not as capable as the next guy and then there are others who just have a tough time. I like to think of myself as someone who will stop for nothing to get I want, and flying helicopters is what I want to do. So, if I give it 200% work my butt off and go 0-CFII in 8-10 months and then fly the extra hours to get to 200 TT what should I pay? Do I have it all wrong? Am I taking the wrong approach? I'm definately not trying to sound stuck up or prideful by thinking that I can do faster than the next guy. (just an optimist!) Thanks for your help!

 

Jake

[flingwing206]

If you can bank on $55K, you'll get it done at any reputable school. Might be $48K, might be $57K. Unfortunately, this isn't like college where tuition costs are fixed.

 

For instance, if you were training with us $11,000 would pay for your dual and solo flight training to get a Private rating at the absolute minimum (40 hours, and VERY few people do it in this time). If you took the more average 55 flight hours, it would cost $15,000. To attempt a quote for you to achieve the PVT, COM, IFR, CFI and CFII would be very difficult, especially as we have not yet discussed the cost of ground school, ground training, checkrides, books and other materials.

 

There are schools that will quote a low fixed price, but the devil is in the details (listed in the fine print). Most set near-impossible student performance standards for maintaining the quoted rates. Choose your school by training reputation, not by advertised price, and in the end you'll probably do fine on costs.

[rotoflightmaniac1]

Thanks Flingwing,

 

That is what I wanted to know, I had talked to one of the managers at a school who told me $55, I decided to call back and talk to someone else without telling them who I was, and was told $60k$65k, just really messed with my mind, thats all! I realize that nothing is fixed, but being a planner I was looking for a ballpark figure. So, in general I've been using $50k as my mark, but I wanted to make sure.

 

Thanks again,

 

Jake

[HH60Pilot]

If you are looking at 200TT and ratings through CFII, you can plan on a price around $60k. When looking at different schools, see what ratings you get for the money you spent. Some schools have lower package prices, but do not include your instrument instructor rating. You'll find that getting the double "I" rating is important when looking for employment, not only as an instructor, but later in your career. Some schools have different packages at different price points, cheaper packages without instrument or instrument instructor ratings, and more expensive packages that include all ratings through CFII. You may be tempted to go with the cheaper package and then get the rest of the ratings at a later date, but I would advise against that plan, unless you can only get funding to pay for the cheaper package. I think you will find that most people find it difficult to pay for the additional ratings later on down the line. If you are able to get funding for all rating at once, then you'd be best to bite the bullet and borrow the additional money up front. Working as a CFI doesn't pay all that well, and trying to pay for extra ratings when you are having trouble paying for a can a Spam a week could delay, or keep you from getting the ratings. Of course, this will make getting your first job after being a CFI that much more difficult.

 

Doug

[rotoflightmaniac1]

Hi Doug,

 

Thanks for the response! I am planning on 200TT and I am going 0-CFII. I havn't even bothered to pursue anything less. The $60K price you mentioned goes right along with what you have on your flight schools website (high sierra? I think you own(ed) this school), I live in Modesto, CA and considered looking further into High Sierra but the pricing was a bit higher than I think I should have to spend. I'm banking on $50K, I'll have that by October with my savings and some loans from friends. I have looked at quite a number (150+) of flight schools and I came up with the same #s that Flingwing gave me. $5-$10k is alot of money to me so there will be no messing around when I go to flight school. After all the research I've done I think I can do this for $50k give or take a few. I'm already studying for ground school etc. so that I can try to be as efficient as possible. I realize the $$$ is in the flight time, but like I said I'm going to give it all I've got! If you can lower your prices by $8k I'll be up to visit this weekend!

 

Thanks again,

 

Jake

[HH60Pilot]

Hi Jake,

 

Yes, I do own High Sierra Helicopters and I wish that I could lower the price, but I'd be out of business before you are ready to start training if I did that. We are adding Schweizers to the mix and could probably set you up with a package to get you your ratings in a 300 that is more in like with what you are looking to spend. Of course, it would be less than 200 hours. The 200 hour requirement is a SFAR 73 number that only applies to the Robinson and not to the Schweizer. Of course, the other drawback with looking for a job in an R22 is the Pathfinder requirement of 300 hours to teach in the R22, and probably 80% of the Robinson operators (including myself) use Pathfinder for insurance coverage. This is just one of the reasons that we are adding the Schweizer to the ramp.

 

Doug

[danter]

Hi Doug,

 

Thanks for the response! I am planning on 200TT and I am going 0-CFII. I havn't even bothered to pursue anything less. The $60K price you mentioned goes right along with what you have on your flight schools website (high sierra? I think you own(ed) this school), I live in Modesto, CA and considered looking further into High Sierra but the pricing was a bit higher than I think I should have to spend. I'm banking on $50K, I'll have that by October with my savings and some loans from friends. I have looked at quite a number (150+) of flight schools and I came up with the same #s that Flingwing gave me. $5-$10k is alot of money to me so there will be no messing around when I go to flight school. After all the research I've done I think I can do this for $50k give or take a few. I'm already studying for ground school etc. so that I can try to be as efficient as possible. I realize the $$$ is in the flight time, but like I said I'm going to give it all I've got! If you can lower your prices by $8k I'll be up to visit this weekend!

 

Thanks again,

 

Jake

 

Hi Jake, You are sure doing a good job looking into a school. Take your time because it is your money. I trained at universal helicopters and they took me (and every other student) for over $100,000 in 8 months. I kept asking for a statement and when they finally gave me one there was no money left. My records show that there is money left on my loan but of course theirs shows that there isn't. They also charged me for flight and ground time I never had. I am in the process of finding a lawyer since the BBB, AG, Senator, Gephardt, etc aren't helping.

Good Luck