More Trouble for Upper Limit Flight Academy

[zippiesdrainage]

Helicopter crash while offering rides in Utah. This is the 3rd crash of an Upper Limit Helicopter in the past year. The first was a Bell, the second an R22 and two days ago it was their Enstrom.

 

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=17097944&autostart=y

 

After their last accident they became under FAA investigation due to 6 accidents in 5 years. It seems that now they're up to 7 accidents in 5 years.

http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=15041976

[ahosk]

The Enstrom that crashed a couple of days ago did not belong to Upper Limit. It belonged to a different flight school, and had nothing to do with Upper Limit.

[Hovergirl]

Terrible to hear. Hope everyone recovers. It's a good reminder to take every flight, even a quick 12 minute tour, seriously.

[gary-mike]

The Enstrom that crashed a couple of days ago did not belong to Upper Limit. It belonged to a different flight school, and had nothing to do with Upper Limit.

 

Correct, ULA does not have any Enstroms. The helicopter was leased by High Velocity Aviation from a company in Montana.

 

Very sad deal, hope they recover all right.

[Fred0311]

Does anyone have any experince with ULA? They were my top choice for a flight school, but even if that enstrom was'nt theirs it looks like they have had alot of crashes over the past few years.

[gary-mike]

Does anyone have any experince with ULA? They were my top choice for a flight school, but even if that enstrom was'nt theirs it looks like they have had alot of crashes over the past few years.

 

I don't have any training experience with them but, I have gone to visit thier facility.

 

They seem to have a fairly high amount of students, their facility is nice, they have quite a few graduates that are now employed (don't know what the percentage is though). They are based out of a major airport (SLC international). My visit was nice, freindly people, they were very informative and didn't seem to be trying to skirt any questions or hide anything.

 

As far as their accident history, do some research, not all of them were training related (they have a comercial side also). Of course the more flying a school does the higher the probability something will happen.

 

All that being said, their accident history is not comforting to me. I'm sure one of your draws to ULA is because they are one of the few that can use the ch33 GI bill. That is what I'm looking at myself. If you aren't set on training in Ut, check out a few of the others like College of the Sequoias, Guidence, Leading Edge, Hilsboro, ect.

[Fred0311]

Thanks for the info, and your correct about the GI bill. They were my first choice because it looks like you can get more bang for your GI bill buck there and how helpful they've been when I've talked to them. With some other schools it's been like pulling teeth to get specifics from them. They're accident record though has given me a gut feeling I don't care for though.

[gary-mike]

Thanks for the info, and your correct about the GI bill. They were my first choice because it looks like you can get more bang for your GI bill buck there and how helpful they've been when I've talked to them. With some other schools it's been like pulling teeth to get specifics from them. They're accident record though has given me a gut feeling I don't care for though.

 

Look up captaindune on here, he is going through guidance and is very knowledgeable about usuing the VA benefits. Not telling you to not go through ULA, just saying check out some others before you make a choice.

[CaptainDune]

Thanks for the info, and your correct about the GI bill. They were my first choice because it looks like you can get more bang for your GI bill buck there and how helpful they've been when I've talked to them. With some other schools it's been like pulling teeth to get specifics from them. They're accident record though has given me a gut feeling I don't care for though.

 

I think shopping around to find the one that suits you the best is key to finding a flight school. The school is only going to be good if you fit in well there.

 

My issue with ULA is that with the amounts they are charging people to go through their program it could very well end this amazing benefit for anyone else behind us that has wanted to fly. It just seems like they are taking advantage of people too much, people have gotten jobs in the industry just fine without any turbine time, so why the hell do you need 50-100 hours in a B206 during your training? Especially at the low price of $1,100 per hour. To me it just seems misguidded and unethical to take advantage of this sort of thing. Any school COULD be doing now after the changes applied from SB 3447 but they don't, becasue its not necessary.

 

Just my thoughts.

 

Gary-Mike, thanks for the shoutout, glad to help anyone with what their benefits any time, regardless of the school you choose (even if its ULA, ).

[2244Bell206]

At Salt Lake Community College and Upper Limit Aviation you can get up to 95 flight hours in your private and you can do it in one semester if you want to. At Salt Lake Community College, the private pilot course allots for 95 hours of flight and 51 hours of ground in the R22; the total cost is $34,725. Private pilot ground cost of $652.00 is based on Salt Lake Community College’s per credit hour rate of $163(in-state tuition); plus $34,725 for flight 95 flight training hours results in a total cost of $35,377.00.

When I was at Yavapai College and Guidance the first semester I paid $15,000.00 for 30 hours of flight and $5,256.00 for the ground school/Helicopter Registration. The second semester I paid $15,000.00 for 30 hours of flight and $3,285.00 for ground school/Helicopter Registration. This is a total of $38,541.00 for 60 hours of flight. So if we are going to talk about over charging let us compare apples to apples.

And you only pay for the hours you fly at Salt Lake Community College and Upper Limit Aviation if you fly 60 hours in your private they credit the rest of the money back to the VA.

So let’s see $38,541.00 for 60 flight hours (Yavapai College and Guidance)

Or $35,377.00 for 95 flight hours you only pay for what u fly (Salt Lake Community College and Upper Limit Aviation).

 

This is what I would call over charging.

[Maggie]

I go to UHI/ERAU for my ch. 33. I think Hillsboro Aviation has a pretty good deal, especially with the new legislation. I've got a friend who is a student there. But there are many other schools out there as well. Public schools now have basically unlimited fees, and if you find the right school, since you are a vet, they can give you instate tuition. Some schools are choosing not to do this, and it pisses me off, so I would not attend their school. They are already getting lots of funds from the govt and to choose to make the vet pay more is silly. Just my opinion.

 

I've paid out of pocket for some of my training, and I'm graduating this fall with only my pvt/inst. ratings. I'm going to a part 61 flight school in WA state to complete my commercial for about half the price that I would pay down here (I have the ground school and a lot of the required hours already completed as well).

 

My suggestion is to dig into the schools and do your research. I have found some very negative forum posts about some flight schools (only after lots of googling because it was buried).

 

I applaud you for doing research. I personally would not attend their flight school after reading the accident reports (ntsb.gov archives).

[aNOhitter]

If any flight school in the country claims to have a 0% crash rate, then they are not actually flying in my opinion. Flight training unfortunately includes the possibility of a student crashing, especially if they are a beginner. Just hope that no one is severely injured or killed.