Silver State Defense

[Tenacious T]

Since this topic is titled Silver State Defense I will relate a recent personal experience I just had with them and take it as you will. I have been training at SSH in Houston for about 8 months now and just took my PPL check ride this weekend. I know that's not breaking any records but bear in mind I work full time. While I do question the financial aspects of their program I am happy with the training. Several CFIs helped me prepare for the check ride and since a DPE was not available in my area the chief CFI set up an appointment for me at another SSH school about 3 hrs away. He then drove me up there the night before in a company car and SSH paid for my hotel. I passed my checkride on Sunday *pats self on back* and he drove me back later that day. He handled all the logistics and all I had to do was study and prepare myself. So I am here to tell you that they are not the monsters some portray them as and they have people who really care.

 

Now on to instrument....

[wannabe heli pilot]

Wanna be pilot: You need to check yourself, this is a civil forum for professionals seeking information. If you are not mature enough to have a decent argument, go somewhere else, there are enough nay-sayers in this industry as it is.

doughnut99,The chewing out belongs to Wanna be heli pilot insted.I'll take credit for my lack of better judgement, I flew off the handle and regret it. Fry, sorry to you for being rude. T, CONGRADULATIONS! I am also finding everyone including students very helpful.

[fry]

Here ya go Dave, from a thread posted at JH:

 

http://originalforum.justhelicopters.com/D...M=485183#485183

 

The real question is, why would anyone go to SSH? It cost $12k - $15k more than competitors in the same area; a student can get the same financing through any school; the contract is extremely biased in favor of the company (e.g., 10% non-refundable per month); and, the student is competing with 20, 30 or 50 other students for flight time. Scam or no-scam is irrelevant...there are just plenty of better options.

[Tenacious T]

The real question is, why would anyone go to SSH?

 

Personally I think the question on many members' minds is, why does Fry so badly want people not to go to SSH and not want people to finance helicopter training?

 

There is plenty of information available on which to make a decision, both here, at JH, and on the web.

Why would someone build themselves up as a source of what people shouldn't (in his opinion) do without at least offering some positive alternatives?

 

I feel that taking such a one sided stance puts ones credibility in question. I realize when it comes to SSH people tend to have a polarized POV but surely there is some path they would endorse instead. Why would someone join and post on a helicopter pilot forum if they felt a career as a helicopter pilot was a poor choice to begin with?

[fry]

Personally I think the question on many members' minds is, why does Fry so badly want people not to go to SSH and not want people to finance helicopter training?

 

...surely there is some path they would endorse instead.

 

Good question. So, why not Silver State?

 

Because there are plenty of better alternatives. The training is very expensive (without a very good return on the investment but that's a different issue) and SSH makes it easy to get in but hard to get out...without spending a lot of money. There are other schools, even within SSH's competitive geographic areas, that do not have this risk and they are generally $12k to $15k cheaper for the same amount of flight time.

 

SSH is an all-or-nothing proposition. Either the new customer goes all the way to being a paycheck generating pilot...beyond the CFI apprenticeship...or they have wasted $70k (twice that if they finance the training). And most aspiring birdmen will not go all the way but SSH knowingly takes a big bite out of their financial future anyway.

 

Hell, a pay-as-you-go arrangement is always the best way to train but even a fixed-price-per-rating arrangement would be reasonable. So why doesn't SSH charge a fixed price for PPL, another for CPL, another for IR, etc? Because he knows most students will not go all the way to CFI. So charging a single fixed price for a comprehensive program of zero to CFI gets big bucks in the door right from the gitgo. Then, in order to keep as much of that upfront money as possible, he charges 10% of the contract price per month. It's just a really bad deal for a student.

 

As for endorsing an alternative path? A poster at JH said it, "SSH is too costly, too inflexible and too risky, so why bother? Read the contract and then go to another school".

[fry]

Here's another from JH (love this one, a different instuctor with each flight), from SSH CFI:

 

Location I instruct at is about 200:14. Of those 200 I have no idea how many are active, as I dont think I have had more than 10 students at one time.

 

If you have a very flexible schedule outside of schooling you will be able to fly with just one instructor usually, if you don't you could well end up having a different instructor each day of the week you fly. There are benefits of occasionally flying with a different instructor to see different ways of doing things and different perspectives, however continuity with one instructor is very helpful in the early stages of learning.

 

There is a lot of bullshit written on this forum regarding silver state, and a lot of truth. The training you will recieve is largely down to the quality of the instructor(s) you recieve, this is supposedly standardised however after you are employed there is very little checking, at least at my location. Problem is each location is different, it shouldn't be but then some managers are better than others at ensuring what is supposed to happen does.

 

Best advice is read the contract carefully, don't sign it just after you are taken up for a joy ride in a R44. Go to the school you are enquiring about unannounced and talk to some of the students and cfis hanging around there. ask how many aircraft, students, instructors are at that location. Ask the students how many hours they have, how long they have been enrolled and what their schedule outside of work is like. Ask yourself how you know if you have the aptitude to fly because its pretty much all or nothing at SSH.