South Florida Schools

LB11 · November 27, 2006

Hi, sorry for being the clasic newbie. I live in boca raton florida, and was wondering what was a good school to go to. They seem to be plentiful here between miami and palm beach.

I was thinking of helicopteracadamy, They say $50000 to take you to CFII and 300 hours. From what I gather this is pretty good? I think most shools leave off at below 200 hours for the same or more money, or am I wrong? They also claim to get you a job after in case I dont find anything else which is probably what ill do since you cant get much with only 300 hours, right?

Thanks!

Some others in the area:

pelican helicopters

palm beach helicopters

helicopters of america

And others I dont recall right now.

slick1537 · November 27, 2006

You can get pretty much nothing with 300 hours. Most schools hire back the CFIIs they trained. I would be weary of anything that sounds to good to be true. I would look for a school that has been around for a while and has a solid track record. Most importantly, do not finance unless you can afford $900 a month payments for the next 20 years. Just the tidbits of info I have learned since I started reading here. I am in the same boat as you, I really want to do this as a career, but now is the time to start working saving. The hard part starts before you even start your training.

LB11 · November 27, 2006

Well, I called them today, and he set up an apointment at 1:00 with one of his pilots to take the intro flight.

I guess the guy also owns a photography company which is how he employs you after training. Im going to try and get more specifics later. But I still would like to hear from anyone that has been to this school recently.

For financing, 50000 loan at 8% interest and a 10 year term comes to $600 per month, which is more than im willing to pay. But I can put in 10K myself and maybe coax another 10k from my parents. I hope.

Either way, if I have to do it little at a time that whats ill do. It would be much easier if pilots were makeing 100,000 a year. Then you wouldnt worry so much. Oh well.

jsmith13 · November 27, 2006

Well, I called them today, and he set up an apointment at 1:00 with one of his pilots to take the intro flight.

I guess the guy also owns a photography company which is how he employs you after training. Im going to try and get more specifics later. But I still would like to hear from anyone that has been to this school recently.

For financing, 50000 loan at 8% interest and a 10 year term comes to $600 per month, which is more than im willing to pay. But I can put in 10K myself and maybe coax another 10k from my parents. I hope.

Either way, if I have to do it little at a time that whats ill do. It would be much easier if pilots were makeing 100,000 a year. Then you wouldnt worry so much. Oh well.

Right on!

slick1537 · November 27, 2006

Yes, but I think the best rate you will be able to get is 11 or 12 percent, and only if you and your co-signers have excellent credit. Isn't prime at 9% right now anyway? Most people work as instructors after their training up to 1000 hours in the air. At 1000 hours you will have more qualifications to go out and get a better flying job. I wouldn't count on flying around taking pictures everyday. Also if I am correct the leading insurance company requires something like 500 hours PIC before a company will be able to insure you, so unless this guy has different insurance agency I dunno. Of course I could be wrong too. Just remember you are making a huge investment of your money and the rest of your life, so be sure to take things slow and evaluate all your options.

dlo · November 27, 2006

really nice place to train

LB11 · November 27, 2006

Well if anyone cares to know how it went, it was great. It was very windy out today though. He let me fly probably half the time we were up there, and claims I did great for a first timer. I felt like I did pretty good too, except sometimes it felt like the wind was pushing it too much and I overcorrected to recover I think. So the instructer had to take over.

As for financing, Im really not worried to much about it. Getting the money is not the big deal, the big deal is that it is so much money. Thats besides the point though, I do understand what a big thing this would be for anyone, but at the same time I let so many opportunities pass by for being pesamistic about everything. So, its time to look for a different attitude, and hopefully it will take me to better places.

As for his companies. From what the instuctor tells me, he focuses mostly on his photography company and uses the helicopter training program to suppliment the photography company. I guess he needs pilots for the pics job. So he trains them for said amount, lets them get "free" hours to make up the 300 after training, then offers you a job continuing the picture taking (and training students when needed) if you like it to get your 1000 hours or however long you wish to stay with him. While you wont get rich doing it, I dont see how you can make less than a full time CFI.

Im debating if this is good or bad, the picture taking definately sounds like a better job than full time teaching, but the important question is how good is the school. The instructor said it was the best thing he has done and apparently came from minnesota to florida for the training and job, but I would rather get info from someone not still employed by the company.