School promises CFII & Turbine Transition for $65K

[Spierman]

A "mutual agreement" is called a contract. Why would you offer an agreement that is "in favor of the student"? Sounds like a risky business practice. Does the agreement support your verbal marketing pitch that guarantees the student will achieve CFII regardless of the hours required? What would the students' responsibilities be? SSH stuck the students in ground school for three months and had attendance and performance standards they had to meet before and while they flew. Generally the students could not meet the standards due to SSH's lack of resources but the "contract" placed no requirements on SSH. The result was that SSH could drop the students but the students had no recourse if SSH did not perform. That was all in SSH's "mutual agreement".

SSHs "mutual agreement" could not hold up in court. They knew it. They offered several unacceptable settlements. Folks refused and pushed the issue. They did not pay their bills. They went out of business earlier than planned.

[verticalAir]

I agree, thats why I have stated a few times in this discussion. We are a pay as you go school.

 

 

What is that old saying... "no plan ever survives contact with the enemy..."

 

Flight schools look great on paper, even better in an Excel spreadsheet... When the rubber meets the road, they have a funny way of running into trouble. The flying is never as steady as you predict, the student load varies from busy to not. The fleet is all up one minute, then half broken the next (darn it, you just can't schedule these things breaking!).

 

It isn't easy, if it was everyone would have a flight school. I've been involved with this business for a half dozen years in one form or another, and I still don't have it figured out. I can tell you that if it were not for my passion for teaching, I'd sell the training ships and run a commercial flight company. But I love teaching, so I won't do that.

 

Looking at What Vertical is offering for $65K, I suspect they are going to be surprised at how hard it is to make a buck at those numbers. Even if their costs are low and they don't plan to pay themselves much, the turbine time will throw that $65K number off. They need to have a time limit for those 200 hours as well, otherwise what happens in 2 years when the cost of everything is 20% higher and students are still flying on that package.

 

This is why I don't pre sell time like that, it is pay as you go. Otherwise cost increases can't be passed along to the customer, as unpleasant as they may be, when required.

 

I do wish them the best of luck, it is never boring...

[fry]

http://www.verticalairservices.com/

 

That website came straight out of the Silver State Helicopters playbook...complete with a logo and aimed at the masses that don't know any better. Send for the free report, "Everything you ever wanted to know about becoming a helicopter pilot...why it's the best kept career secret today". Pure bull but, it probably would work. There are still rubes out there, the same kind that signed up with SSH...and they might even still pay in advance. But the world has changed, no more easy money loans and without those that mass marketing nonsense is just so much smoke-n-mirrors. In the current economic environment...with a recession probably lasting well into next year...this company will likely be out of business by summer.

[jehh]

I agree, thats why I have stated a few times in this discussion. We are a pay as you go school.

 

How can you offer a pay as you go program when you're selling a package price?

 

Most schools publish a program price, but they really just put the hours together and add them up. They still publish the separate costs for everything.

 

What do you charge per hour? What do the books and supplies cost? What does the turbine time cost? Don't make us call for that, put it on the web site. If you sell this program, and prices go up, do customers pay the new higher prices?

 

These are issues you need to address now, not later...

[svtcobra66]

Tomlinson Aviation will get you your ratings for $265/hr for vfr and $275/hr IFR...People have gone through for anywhere from $45,000-$55,000 for the average student, through CFII. And that's paying by the hour, which is a lot safer for your bank account. I trained there and instructed as well.

Edited October 24, 2008 by svtcobra66

[coyote chaser]

If and I say if you are dumb enough to get roped in on any deal where it is not a pay as you go or installments to you from a loan company. Then you need to run, run, run in the other direction. The other thing is that any place that guarantees you a rating is a hoax. Most people are smart enough and have the physical skills to fly a helicopter not everyone has the skills to teach and to guarantee a cfii rating is nuts. I don't know about you but I want someone that can teach me 5 ways to sunday how to do something than a pump and dump idiot from another SSH program that read a book and was prompted through his or her oral.

 

So in closing boycott another SSH upstart.

[heli.pilot]

Tomlinson Aviation will get you your ratings for $265/hr for vfr and $275/hr IFR...People have gone through for anywhere from $45,000-$55,000 for the average student, through CFII. And that's paying by the hour, which is a lot safer for your bank account. I trained there and instructed as well.

 

Is that for training in a Schweizer?

[dave7373]

I was told that great slave helicopters up in canada does a Commercial pilot cert + longline traning for 60,000 all in a 206. I almost moved to Canada to attned. It seems you aren't really a student most of the time. by 50 hours you are actually working for them, kind of like an apprentice thing. Petty neat If you can put your life on hold for a year.

[svtcobra66]

Is that for training in a Schweizer?

 

Yes, and it's all newer equipment, they have 6 of them, the oldest is a '98.