Jaybee Posted May 25, 2015 Report Share Posted May 25, 2015 Plenty of unemployed people with degrees in all walks of life, why should helicopters have special exemption ? Plain truth is that some vets, cfis and schools knowingly, willing and actively participated in raping the system. Sadly, what they did affected the people walking the straight and narrow. There is no simple easy fix that will not hurt someone, somewhere. Flight training can still be pursued with the Post 9/11 GI Bill, it just won't be an open check book. Sucks, but so do a lot of things in life. Lastly, if anyone in this day and age was thinking about becoming a helicopter pilot and did the least, tiniest bit of research - would have found this site where they would have been told with no hesitation that there is no pilot shortage and there will never be a pilot shortage. Due diligence, if you can't do it before you train you will pay the price after you train. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UH60L-IP Posted May 30, 2015 Report Share Posted May 30, 2015 Not to be sour grapes but I for one am all for the program to be severely curtailed. I contacted the names and numbers provided and had my friends do so as well. I wrote a detailed letter as to why I believe as a civilian trained but current active duty pilot the program is a waste of taxpayer funds. As active duty military and veterans we believe we have fought and served for freedoms, not hand outs. Before you all go jumping on me for calling them handouts, yes, they are handouts. If you do the math for what a 4 year E-4 is getting in terms of cost for flight training in relation to their vast 48 months of military service, they are often getting retroactive full bird colonel pay, if not more. The program is a prime example of waste and abuse, what veterans should be speaking out against, not participating in. You should receive no more for flight training than you would receive for tuition at a college towards your four year degree. Getting the amount for flight training that the government has been handing out is ridiculous. It needs to be curtailed. As for pilots being dropped from the program and not being able to find that next job. That's basic economics. If there truly were a pilot shortage, you would have nothing to worry about. But there's not. I would be ashamed to take the kind of gift many are railing to keep. Signed, the active duty guy who paid 60 grand out of pocket for his helicopter ratings before joining the Army to fly helicopters. 4 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
takefootoff Posted May 31, 2015 Author Report Share Posted May 31, 2015 Fair enough. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Carpenter Posted May 31, 2015 Report Share Posted May 31, 2015 (edited) Thank You UH60L-IP. Bravo for your honesty. Well spoken. Anyone who can't admit this is waste, fraud, and abuse is obviously a beneficiary of it. I personally find this abuse offensive. I personally have paid for 100% of my flight training and feel that others should as well out of pocket. What seems to be getting lost here is the difference between receiving flight training and paying for flight training. I have not heard anyone here remotely suggest that veterans should be excluded from obtaining flight training. That makes no sense to suggest. If a veteran wants to attend flight training go for it. What seems to be the real issue is funding these ventures with other peoples money; the government has no money (examine the national debt and the unfunded liabilities folks)other than what it redistributes from taxpayers. Here's my 2 cents for what it is worth. I don't think that the government should pay more than what a private sector funding source would pay. Let's use an arbitrary number like $100,000 for conversation. This would be the maximum. This could in my opinion take care of "most" waste fraud and abuse of funds. Next I would honor the aggregate amount of money promised to veterans by writing them a check for the total amount if they have fulfilled their end of the bargaining agreement (this keeps people from getting the shaft). Then the veteran can be free to choose where, when, and how they spend their money. They can use it to piss it away flying turbines, they can pursue other schooling interests, they could save it, they could use that money to help them buy a house,etc. I am a believer in choice. Most of the commercially rated homeless vets I have met wish they could have used their benefits for something else. I think that the market will sort itself out and the notorious pilot shortage will be no different. Get government out of the way and see what happens. Free markets work folks. Now I certainly understand that everyone has a different viewpoint of essentially the same topic of conversation based upon there experiences, however we should all (civilian or military) be able to agree that the amount of money being spent on flight training (upwards of 1/2 million dollars) according to the article out of the LA Times is a GROSS abuse and an amazing disgrace to all. Shame on those whom participated which includes the VA and Congress as well. Edited June 1, 2015 by Carpenter Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mikemv Posted June 9, 2015 Report Share Posted June 9, 2015 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle5 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 "What is the real number, and how do we control that?" If just one member of the VA had come to this site and asked how much flight training should cost, in what aircraft, and how many hours, we would not have had schools charging them half a million to train just one pilot! As with banks during the student loan/silver state boom they never bother to research what they're funding! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jaybee Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 By 20 thousand they mean per year right ? So 80 thousand over four years. I don't get it, my Montgomery GI was 60/40 for max benefit of around 25 thousand. I made it work. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
eagle5 Posted June 10, 2015 Report Share Posted June 10, 2015 So 3-4 years to get your ratings and graduate? Sounds like my Navy buddy, only for him its a bachelor's degree. What's the big deal? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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