Flight Schools

[flghtrookie]

Is anyone else having the problem of Flight Schools not getting back in touch with them? I mean i thought the point was to get new students so the current instructors could get flight time, schools get money and so the process rolls on.. I have had the hardest time getting a school to even call me back or show any kind of interest. For someone who has funding, full time schedule etc. I would think i would have schools practically competing over, guess not. I have been dealing with schools in Houston mostly, Vortex actually showed some interest. I was trying to stay in Houston for my PPL, but that is starting to look impractical. I'm just really ready to get started, any suggestions?

[Autorotator]

I'm surprised that this happens, although flight schools are very busy this time of year. Try contacting Quantum Helicopters, they are in Chandler AZ. I pretty much guarantee that Missy (Chief Pilot) will contact you back the very same day. Highly recommended school.

 

--CM

[klmmarine]

I recommend Classic Helicopters in Seattle. I know that you will get a call back immediately. Very good school, lots of aircraft, great maintenance, and a good staff of instructors.

[dogdaddy]

My own opinion is, if they don't contact you within a reasonable amount of time, just find a different school rather than calling them again. If they are too busy or too disorganized to contact you now, then they will probably act the same way when you need to schedule or reschedule a lesson or communicate with them about other matters. However if there is some unusual circumstances preventing them from getting back to you then when they do there should be an explanation ("sorry for not getting back to you sooner, our computer was own....")

I had such an experience with a fixed wing school. First, their "contact us" link on their site did not work. Next day I found a different email address and emailed them for info. No response. After a few days I called and was told simply to come in. I came in but no one was available to talk to me. From there it got worse and worse - I regretted having chased them down so I could take a lesson there.

[iflytandemrotor]

Glacier Helicopter in Washington is also very good.

[Goldy]

Glacier Helicopter in Washington is also very good.

 

 

We should change the name of this thread to "List your favorite flight school" !!

 

OK, mine is TwinAir out of VNY..Los Angeles area. However, realize that most flight schools do not have a recruiting person/ full time secretary sitting around waiting for your call. Most just have the CFI's pick up messages between flights so response can be spotty.

 

I agree with you, most flight schools could do a much better job of responding to you. Once you are in the "system" however it doesnt take much contact to fly. I schedule on line, show up, whether anybody is there or not doesnt matter, and off I go. Of course, you sorta need your ticket first !

 

Good luck wherever you end up. Goldy

[ChprPlt]

Just call SSH, they are in Houston (ok I'm ready to get flamed)

[fry]

Just call SSH, they are in Houston (ok I'm ready to get flamed)

 

But before you do, consider the following posted at JH:

 

SSH's advertised price is second only to Universal's (at $94k...are they nuts?). Most reputable schools are closer in price, for 200 flight hours, to Vortex, which comes in at less than $51k (http://www.vortex-helicopters.com/content/courses.php), or to Bristow at about $57k (http://www.heli.com/prospective-student/2-tuition-and-fees-FAA.php). SSH's "unlimited ground school", turbine transition and R44 time are all just unnecessary bells-n-whistles to rationalize a higher price.

 

But, in addition to the higher price other drawbacks of SSH's program that would not have been presented include:

 

- 10% of the contract amount (about $7k) becomes non-refundable each month unrelated to the services actually provided; e.g., withdraw after three months and have paid $21k for little, if any, flight time.

 

- The student may be limited to 18 months "due to no fault of the school", but, SSH gets to determine what is due to their fault.

 

- All the loan funds are disbursed to the company within six months of starting; i.e., the student begins accruing around $600 a month in interest long before they are finished with the training.

 

- There is little, if any, control over what SSH's owner can spend the students' advanced loan funds on; e.g., businesses unrelated to training, media stunts, etc. If the company runs out of cash before the students' training is complete...well, sorry 'bout that.

[helifool]

I was having a hard time deciding between Vortex Helicopters and Bristow Academy. Besides a few other thing the thing that really made me choose Bristow was that they actually seemed genuinely interested and enthused in me. So I think schools student services and customer service really should be at the forefront of their business.

[mechanic]

If you don't mind me asking, which schools in Houston?

 

Thanks,

mechanic

[joker]

It reminds me of when I instructed at quite a big school.

 

We (the instructors) would all be sat around the big wooden table in the FBO drinking coffee and generally chewing the fat about this and that. The telephone would ring over at the reception area, and you could hear the receptionist say those dreaded words...."I'll hand you over to one of our instructors who can answer your questions. Just wait a moment please....!"

 

At that moment, you'd see most of the instructors look at their watches, look outside, jump to weather computer or what ever. Only the greenest instructor would be left sat at table left drinking coffee looking like he had nothing to do, wondering why everyone was suddenly so animated.

 

Receptionist would walk over and say,"Can you take this call from a prospective student?" Off he goes. We all get back to drinking coffee and chewing fat.

 

Half an hour later, the once green (and now hot and sweaty) instructor gets off the phone (an ordeal which can sometimes be worse than an oral checkride) and joins us once again. He's learnt his lesson: Don't look like the one with nothing to do when a prospective student calls!

 

OK, on a serious note:

 

Actually, a flight school should take the time to return calls and speak patiently on the phone to prospective students. My story above of course is a little tongue in cheek. Once on the phone, I tried to be as professional, helpful and curteous as possible. If you don't like the tone or don't get the repsonse you expect, go elsewhere.

Prospective Students:

 

However, when ringing up, remember that most of your questions are ones which have been asked before, and therefore probably answered online or on the school's website. Remember the person at the other end probably has many other things to be doing (even drinking coffee and chewing fat). Talking for half an hour to someone who wants to learn everything about flight training in that phonecall is a little frustrating. If I got that sort of call, I'd subtly refer him / her to the website or email.

 

Joker

Edited July 29, 2007 by joker

[flghtrookie]

Thanks for all the good feedback.

 

 

Joker,

I can appreciate where your coming from. I wasn't really calling or sending email to ask questions, I was contacting them to setup or try to anyway, a first flight(discovery or w/e) I have a good bit of time in helos and around pilots. I was trying to setup the first flight just to get a feel for the school and the CFI, which I don't think can be done over the phone or in email. With the schools across town, I thought it would be better to make an appointment, then to just show up.

 

mechanic,

I only found 3 schools here in Houston. I must admit, I could have been more aggressive in trying to make contact, like showing up at the school. SSH and Anythings Possible Aviation. SSH not calling me back was probably a blessing in disguise, as I contacted them before I found this forum. Anythings Possible Aviation is nothing but a website to me, I have called and emailed with no response. The last school Helicopter Services, I have setup a discovery flight with them, we'll see how it goes.

Thanks again for everyone's feedback

[icqa]

Don't know if you're up for moving out towards San Antonio but there is Helicopter Experts in Bulverde just north of San Antonio. It's a small Part 141 school except for Instrument (61). They currently have 2 R22s and a R44. It's at a Class G airport which helps with all the crummy weather we've been having. Traffic patterns build time and you never can do enough autos. I haven't had any problems scheduling time except for the weather and during last year when they had one of their 22s at the factory for an overhaul. They are a Robinson dealer and service station. The owner is also a DPE.

 

The only other school around here is SSH in New Braunfels but then you'd also have to deal with their ATC school.

[helifool]

It reminds me of when I instructed at quite a big school.

 

We (the instructors) would all be sat around the big wooden table in the FBO drinking coffee and generally chewing the fat about this and that. The telephone would ring over at the reception area, and you could hear the receptionist say those dreaded words...."I'll hand you over to one of our instructors who can answer your questions. Just wait a moment please....!"

 

At that moment, you'd see most of the instructors look at their watches, look outside, jump to weather computer or what ever. Only the greenest instructor would be left sat at table left drinking coffee looking like he had nothing to do, wondering why everyone was suddenly so animated.

 

Receptionist would walk over and say,"Can you take this call from a prospective student?" Off he goes. We all get back to drinking coffee and chewing fat.

 

Half an hour later, the once green (and now hot and sweaty) instructor gets off the phone (an ordeal which can sometimes be worse than an oral checkride) and joins us once again. He's learnt his lesson: Don't look like the one with nothing to do when a prospective student calls!

 

OK, on a serious note:

 

Actually, a flight school should take the time to return calls and speak patiently on the phone to prospective students. My story above of course is a little tongue in cheek. Once on the phone, I tried to be as professional, helpful and curteous as possible. If you don't like the tone or don't get the repsonse you expect, go elsewhere.

Prospective Students:

 

However, when ringing up, remember that most of your questions are ones which have been asked before, and therefore probably answered online or on the school's website. Remember the person at the other end probably has many other things to be doing (even drinking coffee and chewing fat). Talking for half an hour to someone who wants to learn everything about flight training in that phonecall is a little frustrating. If I got that sort of call, I'd subtly refer him / her to the website or email.

 

Joker

 

I understand how busy schools get and how many obvious questions can be asked but calling a school is more about getting a feel for them than getting answers for me.

[ADRidge]

That's odd that David at APA didn't get back to you. When I was in contact with him, he would generally reply to my emails within two days. I think you'd be better served by showing up and talking with whoever you can face to face. There are good schools in the area, so don't get too discouraged just yet.

[pasbonsimon]

hey rookie

How did the discovery flight go? Stop in at the new Vortex facility in New Iberia, LA. It is 4 hours from Houston, you won't regret it! Any day of the week is fine, it is a 7 day a week flight school. $80 and certified birth certificate and a valid state ID or valid passport will get you a hands on flight.

[C.R.O.]

I went through this just a bit a couple months ago, when I was deciding which school to attend.

 

I contacted 3 schools; Hillsboro, Precision, and another smaller school that operates only a couple miles from me.

 

Precision called me back the same day, and I met with Ben Davenport (member here) a few days later, and had a good meeting with him.

 

Hillsboro called me right back as well. I had already been in contact with Wayne for quite some time, but he has always contacted me rapidly when I called.

 

The third school, I never heard back from, which really surprised me. Here I was, ready to go, just need to choose my school, and apply for the loan, and they never made the effort to even call me back.

 

As you can imagine, the choice came down to Hillsboro and Precision, with the other school not even being considered.

[ben_davenport]

I contacted 3 schools; Hillsboro, Precision, and another smaller school that operates only a couple miles from me.

 

Precision called me back the same day, and I met with Ben Davenport (member here) a few days later, and had a good meeting with him.

 

I'm glad to see that Precision is on the "got back to you" list. I hope everything is going well.

 

Ben

[C.R.O.]

I'm glad to see that Precision is on the "got back to you" list. I hope everything is going well.

 

Ben

 

Yeah, Precision called me back pretty quickly, I think it was 20-30 minutes from when I originally called.

 

Things are going well. Thanks again for meeting with me when you did, it was good experience. I did end up deciding to go with Hillsboro, but it wasn't due to any issues with Precision, just decided that Hillsboro fit me better.

 

Finally got my loan to go through, a couple weeks later than originally planned, so I will probably start flying tomorrow, or thurs. at the latest.

 

You going to go to the airshow on the weekend?

[ben_davenport]

Yeah, Precision called me back pretty quickly, I think it was 20-30 minutes from when I originally called.

 

Things are going well. Thanks again for meeting with me when you did, it was good experience. I did end up deciding to go with Hillsboro, but it wasn't due to any issues with Precision, just decided that Hillsboro fit me better.

 

Finally got my loan to go through, a couple weeks later than originally planned, so I will probably start flying tomorrow, or thurs. at the latest.

 

You going to go to the airshow on the weekend?

 

Good to hear that you are going to get started. It's a great feeling isn't it? Fly on over the to say hi sometime.

 

I can't make it to the airshow this weekend. I did go to the first day of last years airshow and had a great time.

 

Ben

[bellpilot]

Did you ever contact Leading Edge Aviation in Bend Oregon? If so what type of follow up did you receive? Just would like to know!

[C.R.O.]

Ben,

 

I am sure I will stop in at some point during school, and say hi!

 

BellPilot,

 

I didn't contact Leading Edge, mainly because I own a home just south of Aurora, and work in Wilsonville, so Bend would be a bit of a commute.

[james28]

if we're listing schools, here's my list:

 

specialized heli

quantum heli

vortex heli

[bellpilot]

Thanks Ben,

 

Hillsboro is a great school and good luck!

 

Bellpilot

[TarmacSpecialist]

Hello Everyone!

I'm also from the Houston area (Pearland) and also looking at Helicopter training schools around the area. So far I've found 3 in the area HSI, SSH and Salaika Aviation. From what I've read SSH is out of the list, while HSI seems to be a good place and worth checking. I don't know anything about the third one. Any ideas ?? All of them are quite a drive, but at least there are some with good possibilities.