celebrity heli VS mazzei

[New2THEGAME]

Ok i livein southern california south of riverside i have been researching thease 2 schools and have heart alot of good things about mazzei but nothing about celebrity and i would go with mazzei without question but for the fact that celeb is only about an hour away where as mazzei is five any info u could give me as far as former students or whatever the case may be would be great thanks alot.

[klas]

Ok i livein southern california south of riverside i have been researching thease 2 schools and have heart alot of good things about mazzei but nothing about celebrity and i would go with mazzei without question but for the fact that celeb is only about an hour away where as mazzei is five any info u could give me as far as former students or whatever the case may be would be great thanks alot.

 

 

I remember watching a program called "Airline" or something on A&E. One episode that had scenes that featured the Chief Pilot for Celebrity. He was doing some flying work with roubled kids - getting them involved in flying, etc... good work - but one scene he was supposed to be a chaperone for a kid on a flight. Well, he was late and the flight lef the gate without him. He shows up demanding SW Airlines bring the plane back for him... ahahahaha... I laughed. I think he thought he was one of his "celebrities"

[Ruby Soho]

I checked out Celebrity the other day and while I think the training they give sounds excellent... doesn't it make you want to puke how much "Robin" is over glorified? I was really impressed by the scope of what they're offering and their comitment to training excellent pilots who don't just fly by the book, but seriously, I was kind of worried that it wouldnt just all be about "Chief Pilot Robin"

 

Maybe its just me, but I kind of prefer the idea of going to a gimmick free school... seems like you will know more of what you're really getting.

 

Anyway, it does sound like an excellent school, but there are other excellent schools out there! Try taking one of their low $60 bucks a pop intro flights and see how you like them. Its pretty tough to decide really until you've done an intro flight, and who knows, you might be blown away with the professionalism of the instructors and the possibilities they can offer you!

[New2THEGAME]

;yes i think he has made himself out to be some sort of god lol but it may be that they are very professional i do have one thing that made me a little uneasy i call there number u see at the bottom of the page and someone answere and this is word for word what i got i called someone answered no joke said "yeah?" i was blown away so i asked if this was the number for celebrity helicopters and he said "yeah what do you need" and it was not untell i said i was considering coming to there school that he changed from being an ass and making his company look bad to being a help...and i also found out that there rates went up from the web site about 6 months ago the r22 is now at 199 an hour instead of the 170 somthing before, now as for mazzei i asked for more information on a saturday i was contacted on the same day but i did not get the email untell sunday so i replied on sunday i was contacted again by Jerry Personius he not only answered all the questions i could have asked for he sent me pictures of diffrent things people to contact for refrences and the whole 9 yards.... but its 3 hours further away and 10 grand cheaper for celebrity so im not sure at this point...

[Guest rookie101]

;yes i think he has made himself out to be some sort of god lol but it may be that they are very professional i do have one thing that made me a little uneasy i call there number u see at the bottom of the page and someone answere and this is word for word what i got i called someone answered no joke said "yeah?" i was blown away so i asked if this was the number for celebrity helicopters and he said "yeah what do you need" and it was not untell i said i was considering coming to there school that he changed from being an ass and making his company look bad to being a help...and i also found out that there rates went up from the web site about 6 months ago the r22 is now at 199 an hour instead of the 170 somthing before, now as for mazzei i asked for more information on a saturday i was contacted on the same day but i did not get the email untell sunday so i replied on sunday i was contacted again by Jerry Personius he not only answered all the questions i could have asked for he sent me pictures of diffrent things people to contact for refrences and the whole 9 yards.... but its 3 hours further away and 10 grand cheaper for celebrity so im not sure at this point...

 

Wow three hours!! If your willing to travel that far, I would check out Civic. It would sound like Mazzeai (sp?) is the better choice of schools, but three hours!! I have always considered going to Hillsboro, but they are two hours away and I have had guys at this website say to me that going two hours (one way btw) is a bad idea, I wonder what they'll say about three!!! . Now, the guys here have told me that what the student puts into flight school, they get out. That's good advice, but if you get an a-hole, or dumba** instructor then you have problems. I don't know if you have gone to Celebirty (I imagine you have) but the next time you do find an instructor that you like and that you can work well with. If you have to, go through as many instructors until you find one that works well with you, you work well with him, and everyone gets along just fine. Remember your the one paying for flight school, he/she is just there to instruct. Just my .02 cents.

 

rookie

[Flying Pig]

I train at Mazzei...did my fixed wing Instrument and Comm....I live in Fresno.

 

I just moved here from "south of Riverside" about 2 years ago. Where from exactly? I lived in Hemet. Plus...I did my helo rating at Civic.....so I can probably answer any specifics.

[New2THEGAME]

Wow three hours!! If your willing to travel that far, I would check out Civic. It would sound like Mazzeai (sp?) is the better choice of schools, but three hours!! I have always considered going to Hillsboro, but they are two hours away and I have had guys at this website say to me that going two hours (one way btw) is a bad idea, I wonder what they'll say about three!!! . Now, the guys here have told me that what the student puts into flight school, they get out. That's good advice, but if you get an a-hole, or dumba** instructor then you have problems. I don't know if you have gone to Celebirty (I imagine you have) but the next time you do find an instructor that you like and that you can work well with. If you have to, go through as many instructors until you find one that works well with you, you work well with him, and everyone gets along just fine. Remember your the one paying for flight school, he/she is just there to instruct. Just my .02 cents.

 

rookie

 

 

yeah it seems like alot but its not so bad that and i would be staying in fresno untell my training was done...i moved from eugene not to long ago i assume your talking about the hillsboro in oregon

[Guest rookie101]

yeah it seems like alot but its not so bad that and i would be staying in fresno untell my training was done...i moved from eugene not to long ago i assume your talking about the hillsboro in oregon

 

what!, not fair you get to move to nice, sunny California where you will get to fly forever and I am stuck here in Oregon where my flight training will consist of waiting for the rain to stop falling!!! Look, it was even raining when I took both pictures I have posted on this site (avatar and personal pic in my profile). ah well and yes I do mean Hillsboro Aviation.

[New2THEGAME]

what!, not fair you get to move to nice, sunny California where you will get to fly forever and I am stuck here in Oregon where my flight training will consist of waiting for the rain to stop falling!!! Look, it was even raining when I took both pictures I have posted on this site (avatar and personal pic in my profile). ah well and yes I do mean Hillsboro Aviation.

 

 

lol belive me i spent 20 years of my life in oregon rain and all that is a 360 days a year deal lol anyway cali sucks people are rude no one cares about one another nothing like back home

[Super64]

I too live in SoCal and will be taking my PPL with California Aviation Services caaviationservices.com (951) 354-5274 at Riverside Municipal. Call and talk to Leo Bell, he is the owner the SoCal FAA examiner and currently provides the R44 and pilots for the Police aviation unit for Fontana PD. CAS has been around since 1978 and they have a Zero hr to CFII for $46k. You can also talk to CFI Joel or Andy. I have taken my intro flight with them and was very pleased with their operation. Another thing I was looking for was the ability to relate to my CFI and not have some stuffy, arrogant a**hole. I will post a complete review once I finish training.

 

I do not work for CAS nor have any affiliation. I am a student just like everyone else. This is just my opinion of the service I received and my recomendation especially if you live near Riverside.

 

Mike

 

 

[Witch]

what!, not fair you get to move to nice, sunny California where you will get to fly forever and I am stuck here in Oregon where my flight training will consist of waiting for the rain to stop falling!!! Look, it was even raining when I took both pictures I have posted on this site (avatar and personal pic in my profile). ah well and yes I do mean Hillsboro Aviation.

I like the rain.

[mbs]

I did some excellent CFI training with the Africa-American owner of Celebrity several years ago-forgot his name now -prior to my checkride. He did one after another full downs in a 44 and reviewed for the oral exam.. It was fantastic and resonably priced. Go for it. He was a top gun pilot.

 

 

 

Ok i livein southern california south of riverside i have been researching thease 2 schools and have heart alot of good things about mazzei but nothing about celebrity and i would go with mazzei without question but for the fact that celeb is only about an hour away where as mazzei is five any info u could give me as far as former students or whatever the case may be would be great thanks alot.

[Boatpix]

I did some excellent CFI training with the Africa-American owner of Celebrity several years ago-forgot his name now -prior to my checkride. He did one after another full downs in a 44 and reviewed for the oral exam.. It was fantastic and resonably priced. Go for it. He was a top gun pilot.

 

Robin Petgrave is the owner of Celebrity and he is an excellent pilot. I first flew with him around 1990 give or take a few years. I bought a helicopter from a dealership that he flew for in the Spring of 1990. He had some issues with that dealership and started his own helicopter company in protest. You will get fine training with him as he is an excellent and popular instructor. He is an expert at full down autorotations and somewhere there is a picture of him doing a full down into the water in an R22 Mariner of which I own six of that make and model (although we NEVER land them on the water) He is something of a celebrity as who else do you know or fly with that's been on the Oprah Winfrey show? He's located in Compton and if you are near there you should consider him and his school. I recall that he is originally from Connecticut and went to UCONN.

 

For several seasons Boatpix.com, which is my company, used Celebrity Helicopters for our photo operations out in California. We generally place helicopters where we need them based upon geography and although we don't do to many operations in California anymore we do have helicopters that www.HelicopterAcademy.com operates througout Florida and also in Annapolis, Maryland; Newport, Rhode Island; Gulf Shores, Alabama; Morehead City, North Carolina and Cleveland, Ohio. Compton is about the closest airport to the Pacific Ocean in the Los Angeles area and that location was strategic to us and if you look at a map of the United States all the locations listed above are at airports where you depart directly out to the water where there are a fair amount of boats. We are quite concerned about geography as helicotper time is very expensive.

 

You should be concerned about geography when selecting a school. Pick the closest one to your house for the least upheavel in your life and to your family. As I've been in the helicotper training community since 1986 and have a FAR Part 141 school and can write visas for foreign students at my helicopter company www.HelicotperAcademy.com I suggest that you get your training at the closest school to your house and fly every day. If your house is more than an hour from a school you should consider moving to live closer to the school and in fact find accomodations right across from the airport. If you live more than an hour away from the helicotper you are going to be drained by the time you get there and any weather or maintenance issues will really bother you on the way home. A couple of years ago I put my money where my mouth is and bought a condo across from the Lantana airport in West Palm Beach. The condo is set up so that there is no lease and you pay $100 per week. It is quit popular with students from other states as you can simply come in and get your training and leave. You don't even need a car. This isn't a sales pitch. Training is serious and you should find the closest school to your home and job and race through your ratings as everything you learn builds on what you've learned previously. Some schools can only fit you in for a lesson a week. Some schools fly you every day. Plan ahead and get the financing you need to complete so you can concentrate on training. If you are short on money and know you always will be, spend your money on a good at home ground school as it's a lot cheaper than flying in the helicotper. Additionally, a fellow quoted previously a price from someone that is 0 to CFII for $46K. But, be aware that you will still need to have 200 hours to train in the R22 (SFAR73) and most insurance policies require 300 hours to instruct in the R22. So, after getting to your CFII you most probably will have to buy some more time to meet the SFAR73 requirement or the higher insurance requirement. Look at the hourly rate the school charges because that is usually the determining factor in what it's going to end up costing you. Some schools have sorted out a price reduction on those additional hours you will need by breaking the costs with a pipeline company or a photo company like my website at www.R22.us which offers $100 per hour time for those that already have a commercial helicopter rating and are working to build hours. As I run both a photo company and a helicotper company I've sorted out what I think is an unbeatable combination. But, a fellow called me the other day from the area of North Houston and although we do a lot of operations in the area I suggested he go to his local school because he's located in a town where there is a school.

[fry]

You should be concerned about geography when selecting a school. Pick the closest one to your house for the least upheavel in your life and to your family. If you live more than an hour away from the helicotper you are going to be drained by the time you get there and any weather or maintenance issues will really bother you on the way home.

 

Additionally, a fellow quoted previously a price from someone that is 0 to CFII for $46K. But, be aware that you will still need to have 200 hours to train in the R22 (SFAR73) and most insurance policies require 300 hours to instruct in the R22. So, after getting to your CFII you most probably will have to buy some more time to meet the SFAR73 requirement or the higher insurance requirement. Look at the hourly rate the school charges because that is usually the determining factor in what it's going to end up costing you.

 

Good advice...I hope those looking to start flight training pay heed (rather than dollars).

 

About that "fellow" who quoted 0 to CFII for $46K...wouldn't that be you? Almost anyway. Your flight school website advertises 0 to CFI for $46,375...180 hours of flight time (95 dual, 85 solo) and 155 ground & sim hours. Another 20 hours to get to the SFAR 73 required 200 hours would cost another $4,500. Two hundred hours for $50,875. Sounds reasonable, and to your credit you mentioned that even 200 hours may not be enough for a new CFI to teach if a school's insurance requires 300 hours.

 

Those looking for a flight school should compare this straighforward approach to certain other high volume schools that charge $69.9K to $73K for the same 200 hours.

[techpilot64]

Robin Petgrave is a "Top Gun" pilot, as someone else here said.

 

But, as in the movie of the same name, he is also a showboat.

 

I've seen him do a backwards max. performance TO in an R44, coming within scant feet of his own R22 being flown by one of his other pilots as they were leaving an airshow last year. Now, this wouldn't be so bad, except for the fact that he had no way of seeing the '22 above and in front (in the direction of movement), and the '22 couldn't see the '44 coming up at him from below and behind.

 

He also used to be fond of rolling off the side of what is now the SBC building in Downtown L.A. - after dropping his pax off on the roof for dinner at Windows Restaurant. The sight of a helicopter falling from above spooked the dining public, and was dangerous as hell, so he was finally brought up on charges.

 

During the legal procedings, Petgrave initiated a cunning (read: weasely) legal manuever, and charges were dropped, followed shortly thereafter by the revocation of permission for ANYONE to land to deliver or collect pax for the restaurant.

 

So in short, an entire destination for the L.A. area Heli-Tour industry was make off limits because of one guy's refusal to play by the rules.

 

I have enormous respect for Mr. Petgrave's abilities as a pilot, however, I seriously question his judgement.