Help finding a school.....

[ridethisbike]

I've created a monster

 

Just know that long after you quit posting here, people will be making fudge jokes and you are the one who started it all. I'd say that's quite the accomplishment haha

[Spike]

You forgot;

 

No, I didn't forget. Basically I was talking about a certain demographic of individuals who will never be pilots. With that, it's absurd to say "YOU" will be guaranteed a job when you don't even know who "YOU" is. It's the word "YOU" in the statement which makes it false. It's a marketing ploy attempting to connect with the reader and bait them in.

 

In all honesty, companies like this have their place in this industry regardless of how they are perceived by the insiders. As already pointed out, they take money from unsuspecting individuals and create a flow of cash which they (the company) reek the most benefit. Truthfully, where does a CFI graduate go when he has no other option? Or better said, for those who didn't cut the mustard at the flight school they attended and for whatever reason, can't get hired by anyone else, but yet have an extra bag of cash laying around? Simple, they buy their way in. This is the "last resort" or "last ditch" option. However, the reality is, you can buy your way in just about anywhere. It's calling it a "job" which really makes it fool's gold.

 

P. T. Barnum said "There's a sucker born every minute" and some in this business take total advantage of that fact. And, while this site operates by paid advertisers, it's insulting to say that this somehow creates legitimacy. Or, to infer this site wouldn't function without their advertising. Most of us who come to this forum and contribute, do so with the intent to educate and certainly not to profit. This organization obviously cannot say as much.

 

There are a numerous paths in this business. Stray off the righteous path and you may jeopardize your journey. Or better said, buyer beware.....

Edited September 26, 2012 by Spike

[helonorth]

I guess I wouldn't say the people that do this are "suckers." By the time you reach the CFI level, you should have a pretty good understanding of how the game works. I have no experience with Boatpix. None. Zero. But I did work with a pilot that worked(?) for them. He got his hours and it worked out for him. He knew what he was getting into and he had no complaints. He is the only one I ever met, though, and that seems odd. Also, even though SSH was a total scam, I have worked with dozens of pilots that did go through there.

[apiaguy]

removed... new thread started

Edited September 27, 2012 by apiaguy

[Boatpix]

Specialized is a great school and owner Chris flew with me like 14 years ago (even lived in my house in Annapolis where we flew off of a dock) and I visited with him a month ago and spoke with him last week. All these schools can teach you and the FAA examiner ensures you know enough. But that might not be enough to get a job. The key is to get a school than can guarantee you a job or you will eventually find us when you run out of currency and hope. We take pictures of boats AT SEAT LEVEL where the jobs are. The key is being the chosen one at your flight school that is given a job because of some political reason or find an operation like mine where we have plenty of jobs IF YOU GET THE TRAINING SPECIFIC TO WHAT WE DO.

 

I talk to a lot of pilots I come across and each has an interesting story. My helos are all out this weekend taking pictures of boats. I'm at 7500 feet today in Santa Fe, New Mexico for a wine and chille festival and another car concours tomorrow. We came here in a Hawker Jet with a customer that has a boat and a Jet. Two pilots with a lot of experience. I was talking to them on the way out and will on the way back about how they got to work for this rich guy. It was training in type to fly this airplane. The Falcon 50 is coming soon and they will get that training and the jobs.

 

Our program is not "that you pay to get a job" but rather you pay to get the training so that you can do the job of taking boat pictures. Yes, a piston airplane pilot can fumble around and probably take off in the Hawker but the owner values safety (and points out that the pilot of a jet is the first to hit the ground in an emergency) and wants qualified people that have done the job and can prove it. In the helicopter world we offer this training and jobs flying our aircraft. No other school can or will guarantee a job. If you want to get training and no job go to any other school and you will be happy. If you want a job in the future then come to us.

[Spike]

Please clarify; you say, “our program is not "that you pay to get a job" but rather you pay to get the training so that you can do the job of taking boat pictures.”

 

Can you please explain why anyone would need additional training to take pictures of boats? I've taken pictures of boats without any additional trainning. Why is it what you do so different that anyone would need to pay for said training?

Edited September 29, 2012 by Spike

[nightsta1ker]

Removed.

Edited September 30, 2012 by nightsta1ker

[AgMan]

Sooo, you pay 20k for 100 hours, then you get paid 2k to be a photographer for 100 hours that you can somehow log because you convince yourself that a photographer telling the pilot where to fly is 'instruction'... maybe I should be a photographer since they get paid, and they can log flight time. Why not just call it what it is ... 200 hours of time building for $90/hour assuming you are OK with logging that last 100 hours as instruction when you are really just a photographer. Not a bad deal.

 

I have to concur with everyone that 100 hours of 'instruction' is pretty silly. Lets see ... 5-10 hours in a 206 to learn to fly a turbine and qualify for part 135 ... 10-15 hours to learn to fly a long line (clearly not precision, but good enough for USFS) ... 5-10 hours to get the hang of Ag flying ... clearly, 100 hours to take pictures of boats is justified.

[Pohi]

Why not just call it what it is ... 200 hours of time building for $90/hour assuming you are OK with logging that last 100 hours as instruction when you are really just a photographer. Not a bad deal.

So, that brings up a question. Is the "job" that you paid to have defined as the next 100 hours of seat time(both time acting as a photographer and as an instructor), or legally loggable time (dual given)?

 

It might take several hundred hours of being a photographer before a hundred hours of dual is given.

 

Either way, using hypothetical numbers... 80k for the first 200 hours (checkrides, materials, etc), followed by another 20k for the next 200 hours sounds kind of like a good deal. Still unemployable, but a good deal on those last 200 hours.

 

I wonder if that's a 1 time deal or if a person has the 100k to blow if they can rinse/repeat their way to 1400 hours (where they might be able to get a job that doesn't cost them money)

 

Edit:

 

Just a thought, but I'm really scared to see the bill I get from my employer for the hours that I flew this year. I'm probably going to have to get another job. Not a pilot job though, I can't afford to have two of those.

Edited September 30, 2012 by Pohi

[Flying Pig]

You better starting pulling that thing into the yellow arch to cut down your costs!

[R22139RJ]

Just imagine how much your company has to pay to give people rides!!! I'm surprised helicopters even fly anymore. Good thing our fuel guy pays us to use his fuel

[Goodiesk8s]

Maybe helpful info for those thinking about or currently training to become a helicopter pilot. Maybe helpful for out of work CFI's as well.

 

In 2007 I began training with a school in the Scottsdale, AZ area. The offices were filled with Instructors and students, they had an affiliation with Utah Valley University which made loans easy to finance the training.

 

First of all I want to state - "I am completely satisfied with the training I had received from this school" This school promised me a job the entire time that I was enrolled.

 

This toned changed the minute I signed my last check over to them. The owner, cheif pilot and others who worked for the company stopped returning my phone calls. Although I had my CFII license - I had no job. SSH had pulled its scam, closed its doors and flooded the market with CFI's and poorly logged helicopters. Any schools that were hiring had an enormous pool of CFI's to choose from. So there I was - Licensed and fully UN employed with 300 hours and competing with CFI's with more experience than myself.

 

So for three years I searched for a job - Every job applied for was denied, rejected or un returned.

 

Last year, I came across HA and Boatpix. I spoke with the owner more than a dozen times. I cringed at the fact of putting even more money into this unfruitful carrer path. He put his job offer in writting, I did the math and 200 hours for 20,000 is a great deal, so I took the plunge. I came up with the funds for the additional training (to get 100 hours experience in the R22 Marinar for insurance) and I began flying again. First in Lake Havasu, AZ then in Las Vegas, San Francisco, Austin, Dallas, Houston, (Miami,OK), Lake Charles, LA. I work with two full time students (ground and flight) during the weeks and fly the Photo contract on the weekends all over the South.

 

FOR ME - The decision to come to work for HA and Boatpix has helped me further my career. HA and Boatpix put there offer in writing and have stood by it.

 

My advise is this - you can learn to fly anywhere - we all take pride in where we train but it doesn't matter when you get out of the school/training bubble. The training is the easy part - FINDING YOUR FIRST JOB IS THE HARD PART!

 

If your goal is to get a job flying - go with a school that puts a job offer in writing before you train with them.

 

Feel free to respond to this post or reach me through the HA website - I am the pilot assigned to Texas.

 

Fly Safe!

Matt