Unique oppurtunity

[More_Cowbell]

I think I may have come up with, thanks to all of the great advice I've recieved, a workable and realistic solution. This whole time I have been looking at it as matter of going to this or that school that will get me my private thru CFII ratings. I think there might be some advantages to breaking it up into blocks, and attending a different school for each block.

 

Theoretically, if I were to go to Longhorn for my private and instrument ratings, it would allow me time to sell my house, liquidate some investment properties, and generally get my affairs in order to able to head out for the life of a nomadic helo pilot for a while. I could then follow that up by pursuing my commercial rating at Western, and eventually wind up at Tomlinson for my CFI/CFII.

 

I can see some real advantages to that. Mainly, it gets me in training faster, without having to wait to liquidate assets or be obligated to maintain them (physically and financially) in my absence. It puts me training in Texas, California, and Florida. From a networking standpoint, that'd have me training and exposed to three distinct and widely separated markets when it comes time to look for a CFI job. From the standpoint of absorbing all of the instructor's experience I can, it would allow me to be exposed to so many more instructors.

 

Thoughts?

 

I'm now really leaning towards this. I think it may be the perfect situation for me. Now all I have to do is figure out the exact order to put the which schools in ... but I'm getting there.

[ascott20]

My advice, is to find a school you like and stick to it. I see your idea of trying to get a diverse training dimension, but that will cause you more headaches than anything else. If the school you pick is good and you like your instructor then there is no logical reason to leave it. In reality, no employers really care where you're trained (I heard a rumor that Air log is not accepting apps from SSH students, but that is more or less due to competition between Bristow Academy and SSH) as long as you are a competent and safe pilot who meets their requirements.

[jehh]

Thanks for mentioning Longhorn Helicopters. I was already familiar with Summit down in Addison, but had some questions that they either couldnt answer, or didnt have the time.

 

I am going to contact Longhorn and see if I can run over there this weekend. I am north of Mckinney, so them being over in Denton would be pretty convenient. Do you have any direct experiance with them?

 

You're welcome...

 

Actually, I'm surprised to hear you didn't get the answers to your questions from us... I'm the owner of Summit Helicopters and pride myself in spending whatever time it takes to answer questions and explain the process to potential students. This is a major investment of time, money, and commitment, not one made lightly. I've been through the process, from student to commercial pilot flying for a living, so I know what that is like.

 

Please give me a call at the office, 972-385-4785, I'll answer all your questions... (or post them here and I'll be happy to reply to them)

 

Dale owns Longhorn, he is a great guy and runs a good school. I have no problems recommending him and his school for the professional training they provide. The only challenge is that he flies only Schweizers, which limits your possible job options when you're done. That doesn't mean you cannot get a job, it just limits you to schools that only fly them, and those are rather few and far between. Just to give you an idea, there are 6 helicopter flight schools in Dallas, only 1 is Schweizer only. 3 are Robinson only, the other 2 are Schweizer and Robinson. If you train in both, you can fly anywhere.

 

Jason

[jehh]

Thanks, I think we do it the right way, but I'm certainly not unbiased.

 

Weight is always an issue with an R22, if you aren't able to get down to 200 pounds then you have a much tougher time getting a job as an R22 instructor. A school like mine, which has 300s, does not hire 300 instructors, we hire 22 instructors who are also qualified to teach in the 300. Being both is great, but if you didn't do the majority of your time in the 22, well you may have the 50 hours, but you can't compete with guys with 150 22 and 50 300....

 

 

Weight is an issue in the R-22... I'll hire CFIs that I trained up to 225lbs. If I didn't train you, then 200lbs would be the limit.

 

That being said, I'm looking for CFIs with 75 to 100 hours in a Schweizer, and 50 to 75 hours in the R-22. Of course I'd like more R-22 time, however I generally will not accept less than 75 hours in the Schweizer, so to each his own.

 

Our CFIs start teaching in the Schweizer from day one, they do not teach in the R-22 until they have 300 hours, so the 50 in R-22s is enough because 100 hours of dual given in Schweizers prepares them for that.

 

Personally, I'd love to do all the training in the R-44, however that would be expensive...