Van Nuys Airport - Group3 and TwinAir

[brushfire21]

I have done a bunch of searching on this website along with several others, and have not found much info on these two schools. So hopefully its safe to come out of the wood work and not get shot down for doing my homework. Does anyone have any information on these schools? You can PM me if you like. I am looking for any information you may have on the schools, instruction, experiance etc, and also how was flying in/out of Van Nuys? Thank you in advance!

 

PS: If any of you have suggestions for alternates, that would be appreciated. Would prefer a school that has both R22/S300, prefer 141 training and in the SoCal area. Civic is on my list to look at as well FYI.

[TaIk2Kevin]

The Operation is Extremely Professional. The school has a small school feel where everybody knows everybody, while still having the resources of a large school.

 

The School Primarily flies the 300 for initial Training, although if you want, you can fly the R22 also. I’m planning on doing 0-200 Hrs all the way up to CFII. For commercial I will be working in the R22, to make sure I have 50 Hrs. to Meet SFAR73. The school does not charge more per hour to rent instrument ships or instructors.

 

The School Is a Busy small school. But it being busy is fine. I have NEVER had a problem Scheduling an Aircraft due to too many students or Maintenance. Even when making changes the day before. All there 300's are Newer with about 600 Hrs. on The Hobs. The school buys new helicopters after they hit 500 Hrs. so the students are always flying new helicopters. All Fuel Injected, No Carburetors. (Except the R22’s) I’m not sure on the age of the R22's or the R44's they have a couple but I don’t know.

 

The School Does not "Guarantee" a job They do however hire pilots that they trained and don’t hire from outside, Also When you are working on your CFI The Owner Will guarantee an Interview and work with you on your CFI to see how you are doing and see if they will hire you.

 

The location of the school is a good and bad thing. The Airport environment is really busy so you learn your radio calls and airport operations really well. If you fly in or out of the airport during news-time you will be sharing the space with sometimes 8-12 helicopters all doing different thing, it teaches you to really be on your toes and makes you comfortable with anything. Also there are a lot of other airports and airspaces in the area, the diversity really helps you learn. The only negative thing about the location is the practice area is a little bit far (aprox. 15-25 min.). Although airports in the vicinity allow for almost ALL types of operations, pinnacles and confined area stuff needs to be done over in the practice area.

 

Financing through the school is really easy Claudia will help you do all the paper work and will send it and check up on it for you. The school primarily finances through Sallie Mae which will loan almost anybody tons of money (a good thing) but the interest rates are a little high(not so good) the school is currently looking into getting more lenders to help students who want to finance other places.

 

The classrooms of the school are very nice with comfortable chairs, tables, and dry erase boards. The school has a small media room with books and movies that you can watch. Total, there are two classrooms, the media room, and a room to take Lasergrade tests. Getting a room is usually not a problem. There has been once or twice where I had to wait a little bit for a room, but never more than 5-10 min.

 

Overall I highly recommend this school, the people are there to help you succeed in your endeavors, whether you want to get just your private or you plan to fly the Erickson Aircrane for a career. With the right attitude Group 3 will help make it happen.

 

I hope I answered some questions. If you have any more I will be happy to answer them or if you plan to go to the School Peter and Claudia the Owners Are great people and they may be able to answer more questions.

[brushfire21]

Thankyou and looks like Good info! You have a PM.

[Goldy]

brushfire- I fly at TwinAir...R22 rates are cheap and its an IFR training bird. Downside- they only teach in a R22 or Bell 47. Its a much smaller school, but they have always been reliable and honest. I would do an intro flight at each school, and take it from there.

 

As far as Van Nuys...its a great airport, controllers are very accomodating to students

 

Goldy

[rotor91]

Kevin is right on the money with Group 3, very good school. I switched from Group 3, only because I moved. Haven't flown with Twin Air though. Smaller schools, are...SOMEIMES....better, but not all the time. Go for a intro flight with both, and then make your decision. Is Twin a 141 school? I know you can get financial aid with Group 3(141 school).

 

As far as the traffic....HEAVY....but a piece of cake for helicopter pilots. When you are learning in a high traffic volume airport, you'll be stressed at first, but then you'll just GET IT. It's much different if it's vise versa! I think because of the helicopter traffic and VNY, they're(ATC) a little more laxed on us, that we know what we're doing, going, familiar with the area, etc.. Other airports are different! At VNY, I've been side by side a 152 on final(him for 16R, me for the west taxiway) all the way to touchdown. Torrance on the other hand, would not do that. Although, TOR did have a mid-air between 2 helicopters.....still in litigation on who's at fault, etc.. So....maybe that's why! Like I said, all airports are different with helicopters!

 

My .0002 !!

[brushfire21]

Nice to see people coming out of the wood work and helping me out! A 141 school isn't absolutely necessary, but would be nice. Thanks everyone, getting some excellent feedback.

[Goldy]

I forgot to mention..Twinair has a FlyIt simulator and a 206 if you want to spend some money on turbine time !!

 

 

The controllers are almost toooo friendly, clearing us to do things we prob shouldnt be doing...like crossing both runways just as the Cessna goes airborne ! You do have to pay attention to the traffic, always lots of last minute changes due to aircraft on the taxiway..just expect it. They know how versatile we are..

 

Goldy