Micpk43
4th Mar 2005, 16:26
I'm a student pilot with about 37hrs and I'm looking for guidance with flight schools. I recently visited PAN AM in AZ, which was sort of overwhelming and I'm looking for some insight into flight training... I would like to find a flight school on the north west coast, Washington. If anyone has any insight it would be greatly appreciated...Thanks
Ok...
Why a flight scool in the NW?
What exactly are you looking for?
Finish PPL?
PPL-IR CPL ME?
All FAA or JAA?
PM me more info if you wish
:ok:
CRJRTST
12th Mar 2005, 02:12
MICPK43,
I may be wrong in guessing what you want, but here is my take. I am from Arizona, went to school in Arizona, and currently live in Arizona. I am very biased, but this is the best place to start professional pilot school. The airspace is very complex, but that ends up being good. I fly into large spaces and I have a comfort knowing that I was "raised" in the Valley of the Sun, and I can talk to anyone and get anything done.
The weather here is awesome. A lot of schools in the NW offer IFR trainers, but if you didn't know, it still needs to be VFR to fly. There are not a ton of IFR actual time schools out there. Now, if they are there, do you really want to learn where there is no margin for error? I will be honest with you, if you only have 37 hours, you DON'T know the pucker factor of landing at the minimums. I would like to have the opportunity to learn in good weather before I jump into that.
I went to PanAm at Deer Valley and graduated 14 months ago. When I talk to my buddies that I work with I realize that I learnedso many more things at that program than the others. The thing that I can tell you is that going to a school that has a "contract" with an airline is awesome.
As for Phoenix itself, if you are with a partner, and going through the school, you are set. My wife is an RN and made great money as a traveling RN. That was great because they paid her to go to all of these different hospitals and work because they are short staffed. Whatever your significant other does is great because that is income!! Now if you are single, god bless ya!! The night life is outstanding.
I would think that since you have seen PanAm, you have seen the best program on the west coast, if not the nation. I looked at these topics when I went to school. Location and weather, cost of living, structure in the school, age of aircraft, and qualifications of instructors. All of these were met and that is why I picked PanAm.
I hope this helped you a bit, and good luck in all of your schooling.
J