Soon to be pilot

MEGA · February 17, 2009

Well the wife gave me the green light and now it is my turn to go back to school. She accepted a job in Springfield IL and we are moving out there in August. This is a career path for me and I think I want to end up with and EMS job. While I have thought about the military it is too unstable and with my wifes profession we can't be moving every couple of years. The problem is that I'm having a hell of a time finding a instructor within an hour of the city. I looked at Midwest in St Louis but would rather not drive 100+ miles each way. There is also a community college in Springfield that offers an Airframe and Powerplant A.S. that I will most likely enroll in and the director of the program said he would do some digging around for me. So if anyone know of any instructors/schools in the area the help would be greatly appreciated.

67november · February 17, 2009

This is the only thing the FAA school locator pulls up, you may want to start there.

MCCLELLAND AVIATION COMPANY INC

1100 AVIATION LANE

SPRINGFIELD, IL 62707

(217)544-9027

delorean · February 17, 2009

I know an airline pilot near Springfield that used to do R22 training. Not sure if he still has his helicopter or CFI, but I'll email yout his name & number. If he can't help, he might know someone who can.

Here's a few more places:

Central Illinois Aviation in Mattoon with a 300Cbi: http://www.flywithcia.com/index.php If you drive over there, stop at the airport restaurant for an "Elephant Ear" (fried pork tenderloin sandwich the size of a dinner plate.)

Fostaire Helicopter at St. Louis Downtown-Parks, Cahokia, IL (about an hour from Springfield): http://www.fostaire.com/ Great place, very nice people, IFR trainer R22, but they usually don't accept primary students.

D&D Aviation / Midwest Rotor & Wing is also at CPS: http://dandd-aviation.com/

HeliSat is the newest, and probably the best in the area. Unfortunately, it's even further away for you. Moscow Mills, MO http://www.helisat.com/

There used to be a place in Galesburg that did R22 training, not sure of the name or if they're still there. Same goes for Quincy and Peoria, I believe. Call those three airports and ask.

slick1537 · February 19, 2009

I will add one tip. EMS companies require a lot of night time hours. If you can, try to get a lot during your training. You can do all of your instrument training at night, and you may have a bunch of hours left over during commercial that you can use to add on a few night/solo/x-c hours.