Vortex open house pics

[pasbonsimon]

 

Air Logistics brought a 407, ERA brought in a ASTAR, Louisiana State Police brought in a 206, RotorCraft brought in a 206 and a 407. And most of the pilots were former students of Vortex!

 

 

 

Monday, June 25, 2007 11:30 AM CDT

BY RANDY LOUIS, THE DAILY IBERIAN

 

Hundreds of future helicopter pilots turned out Saturday to participate in the first Vortex Helicopter open house.

 

Future pilots had a chance to learn more about helicopters while also getting a chance to get a sneak peak at the newest helicopter facility in the Teche Area.

Vortex Helicopter owner Joe Sheeran said the purpose of the open house was to let the community know they are in New Iberia. "We had a good turnout of students today (Saturday) who are interested in learning to fly a helicopter," Sheeran said. "We are currently working through the Louisiana Technical College and potential students can enroll there."

 

To be eligible to participate in classes at Vortex, Sheeran said students must be at least 18 years old and have a high school diploma or GED.

 

"To complete the training here our program is 200 flight hours and 170 ground school hours," he said.

 

Students attending the class full time can complete the program in about 10 to 12 months. Part-time students naturally will take longer.

 

"Right now helicopter pilots are in great demand and the starting salary right now for a helicopter pilot is $50,000 a year," Sheeran said. "The salaries for a helicopter pilot are really good and it is also a good profession to be in."

 

Shannon Elias, 32, of New Iberia, attended the open house and said she has wanted to be a pilot since she was 10 years old.

 

"I received a lot of valuable information here today and right now I am thinking about signing up for the classes. I also learned a little about what type of work helicopter pilots do, and I think I would like doing that type of work," Elias said.

 

Ben White, 26, of New Iberia, said he was thrilled about the open house.

 

"I liked it a whole lot and this fall I will be signing up to learn how to fly a helicopter," he said. "The money you can make is awesome."

 

The Vortex Helicopter's new facility is located at 1113 Vortex Drive in New Iberia. For more information, call the office at 337-364-8909.

Edited June 27, 2007 by pasbonsimon

[Autorotator]

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing. Is this their new location?

 

--CM

[pasbonsimon]

Nice pics. Thanks for sharing. Is this their new location?

 

--CM

 

Yes - New Iberia, LA

[Autorotator]

Thanks for making me look like a dum**ss by adding that artical after my post.

[slick1537]

They have quite a nice looking facility.

[fry]

"To complete the training here our program is 200 flight hours and 170 ground school hours," he said.

 

What's the cost for this program?

[mechanic]

"To complete the training here our program is 200 flight hours and 170 ground school hours," he said.

 

What's the cost for this program?

Fry,

I hope you are not going to TRY and complain about this school. You are gonna have a hard time ruining this one's rep. When you call a company like PHI and talk to the Human Resource manager and they recommend this school as well as Air Log also recommending them, too. I know first hand because I called them. They sign up students thru Louisiana Tech College. Cost was quoted to me at 50k when they first moved to LA. Its not hard to Google Vortex Helicopters. Read the Profesional Pilot Course all the way down to the bottom of the page. Joe Sheeran is well respected in the Heli world and is in a different class than that other name brand school that you dislike some much.

 

Later

[fry]

Cost was quoted to me at 50k when they first moved to LA.

 

Yeah, that's what their website says too. $50k for zero to CFII. So what does a student get for $69.9k at Silver State? A tee shirt?

 

Do they charge the their students the $50k on a monthly basis over 10 month?

 

They probably do collect the loan funds in three installments over six months thought, huh?

[mechanic]

Do they charge the their students the $50k on a monthly basis over 10 month?

 

They probably do collect the loan funds in three installments over six months thought, huh?

 

I not sure about how they collect the disbursements? But, it goes thru the LTC. Joe won't pass you through if you can't cut it as a pilot. You can't beat the CFI program IF you want to fly in the GOM. They have hired nearly all that he sends over for interviews, that I heard from a few that have gone thru the program.

 

I know when Katrina leveled Longbeach, MS. He refunded monies to students wanting to go to other schools. I am sure he has a fair refund policy or we would be hearing about it on all the forums. I have flown with 2 CFI's that trained there at different times with no major complaints. I am sure its hard to be 100% in agreement with any school.

 

Vortex Helicopters Refund Policy This school has and maintains a policy for the refund of the unused portion of tuition,

fees and other charges. In the event the student fails to enter the course, withdraws or discontinues the course at any time prior to completion, policy provides that the amount charged to the student for tuition, fees, and other charges will not exceed the prorated amount that the length of the completed portion of the course bears to its total length. No more than $10.00 may be retained for a registration fee. 100% of the student's tuition will be prorated and returned to the student within 30 days of withdrawal or termination. If a student wishes to terminate training, the student should notify the school Director in writing. Notice may be hand delivered or mailed. A student that is terminated by the school will receive a written notice detailing the cause for termination and a refund will be made within 30 days. In a case where funds are dispersed through a student loan, the refund will be made to the loan company. Refunds cannot be made on funds that have not cleared our account.

 

International students will be charged a fee of $150.00 for VISA processing if the student withdraws or is discontinued prior to the completion of at least one half the Program they are enrolled in.

Later

[pasbonsimon]

no-

funds are only withdrawn from your account after each flight. You can see a detailed invoice anytime by logging into your web based account and see exactly where your funds are going.

 

If you take out a $25,000 loan through Louisiana Technical College, the funds are dispersed to the College, NOT Vortex. Vortex only gets paid when the funds are invoiced AFTER the flights.

 

FYI- I did "zero to CFI in 12 months" and CFII one month later for $50,000. So I know the system works.

Edited June 29, 2007 by pasbonsimon

[helifool]

no-

funds are only withdrawn from your account after each flight. You can see a detailed invoice anytime by logging into your web based account and see exactly where your funds are going.

 

If you take out a $25,000 loan through Louisiana Technical College, the funds are dispersed to the College, NOT Vortex. Vortex only gets paid when the funds are invoiced AFTER the flights.

 

FYI- I did "zero to CFI in 12 months" and CFII one month later for $50,000. So I know the system works.

 

 

What is the lowest percentage rate you can get through Louisiana Tech College loan?

[r8z^]

What's the deal?

 

Vortex website says professional program is 49k but on this site (look on the right): http://www.ltc.edu/techearea/ it says 300 hours for $42,950

[fry]

What's the deal?

 

Vortex website says professional program is 49k but on this site (look on the right): http://www.ltc.edu/techearea/ it says 300 hours for $42,950

 

The "300 hours" does not refer to flight time, it's a combination of flight and ground...in fact it indicates 300 "continuing education" hours (whatever that means) in little tiny letters up above in the picture.

 

In any case, if you add up the hours and dollars for each rating (PPL, CPL, IR, CFI and maybe CFII) on their website I believe it comes to 170 flight hours and 130 ground instruction hours for the $42.950. An additional 30 solo hours at their advertised rate ($215) would get to 200 flight hours for about $50k.

 

I'm not affliated with Vortex, I did the above analysis for most of the major schools as a comparison to Silver State. For 200 flight hours Silver State is more costly than any I looked at.

[fry]

In the event the student fails to enter the course, withdraws or discontinues the course at any time prior to completion, policy provides that the amount charged to the student for tuition, fees, and other charges will not exceed the prorated amount that the length of the completed portion of the course bears to its total length.

 

If I were a prospective student I'd ask what's the definition of "the course" being prorated and what is the proration is based on? Is a course an individual rating (e.g., PPL, CPL); all of the ratings zero through CFII; or maybe, a class at LTC? Is the proration based on flight time, some combination of flight and ground, just days (like Silver State's 10% a month); or maybe the retail rate of the services provided? I'd have them work through an early withdrawal scenario and tell me how much it would cost.

 

That's just common sense when signing any contract to understand fully the terms.

 

No more than $10.00 may be retained for a registration fee.

 

Compare the above to SSH's policy of retaining "10% of the contract amount for any full or partial month enrolled plus $1,000."

[pasbonsimon]

the following is a message from President of Vortex Helicopters Joe Sheeran

(He is having problems with his log in)

 

 

 

 

Mr. Fry is correct in stating the 130 ground hours and 170 flight hours to come to the 300 program hours. I thank him for pointing that out. The most accurate description of the programs, and courses offered, is in our catalog. Pricing info can also be found there, it is a little over $50,000. to get to the 200 flight hours you will need to instruct in the R22..

 

The Technical collage runs a little different than a normal flight school, so the way they advertise our program would be like they would advertise say a welding program, so many hours Lab (flight) and so many classroom hours. I hope you understand we are trying to serve many masters here. The FAA, LTC, VA, and the Board of Regents. Vortex, is registered as a stand alone technical school, the first and only flight school in the state to achieve this. As such we needed to satisfy the requirement concerning the wording of the refund policy. Our biggest battle was with the VA and The Board of Regents. Both had different requirements, so the wording is kind of difficult to understand,( I actually think it is poorly written), but the attorneys for both of them seem to think it met each of their requirements. The refunds are made by LTC, since it is the State of Louisiana that holds the student funds. As mentioned above on another post, we receive student funds from the State only after the services have been rendered. Refunds are broken down by classroom (ground school) and Lab (flight time). Books, check ride and written test fees are included in the price of the program so they are also subtracted, but again only after they have been received by the student. As an example if you had $5000. on account, and you withdrew from the program you would get back $4990. The $10 would be the registration fee. If you took 1 flight hour at the rate of $240 per hour, and 5 ground hours at $20.per hour the refund would be $4650. So as you can see the funds are refunded 100% and at the advertised regular rate. The reason we ask that the student advise us in writing of their withdrawal from the course, is so that when audited by the Board of Regents or the VA, we can show refunds were made within the time period specified in the refund policy.( strange as it seems we are still held accountable, even though the State holds all the money, and is responsible for the refund) Fry I thank you very much for the advise you give to prospective students. From what I see you are giving advise from the heart and mean well. This is all you can ask of anyone. The reason we go through LTC, is that in the past few years so many people have been dealt with unfairly, with regards to refunds, and it has given the flight training business a bad name. By doing it this way students can be confident that they will get a full refund if requested. I started this business 20 years ago last month, and in that time I can only think of a hand full of students that were dissatisfied. Even those students will tell you that if they asked for a refund they were refunded 100%. I hope this clears thing up. If anyone has any questions I will be happy to take your calls at 337 364 8909 ext.201

Sincerely

Joe Sheeran

President, Vortex Helicopters

Edited June 29, 2007 by pasbonsimon