Flight school in California

[saroth]

Hi everyone,

I plan to do CPL IR/ME in the US after the ATPL exams here in Europe.
For some reasons (girlfriend, etc), I'd like to do it in California.
Can you suggest some good flight school there, which can provide a M-1 visa ?
If it can be in the San Francisco or San Diego aera, it's even better !

Thank you very much for your advice,
Benoit

[BHenderson]

Angel City Flyers at Long Beach

Highly, personally recommended.


I would personally avoid anywhere that is training indian students. They tend to be too busy for their own good.

[RSFTO]

Instead I would recommend a lot a place were they train indian student too. I do not remember the name of the school and I believe that right now they are also running cadets programs for alteon boeing training, besides indian caa.

[MartinCh]

RE: CPL/MEIR after ATPL in Europe, ie are you looking for JAA fixed wing school? There is Anglo-American but there was some paperwork problems with SEVIS from what I remember. Most JAA FW schools are in Florida.
Or do you want to do FAA licences and then do CPL module in Europe?
AFAIK (from PPRuNe), JAA IR can't be done fully outside Europe, some training towards it in JAA schools's OK, a la Cabair etc.

If you're after FAA only, read on below. Btw, Bobby Henderson went to Angel City Flyers due to Irish guy (if I remember right) who can accommodate JAA requirements for 'stick skills', according to his words. ACF have whole 'phases' JAA training thing - as mentioned, where you finish up papers in the UK.

I'd say only small outfit without visa sponsoring capabilities and 'international marketing' is without Indian or Chinese.
I can't say personally which what where, as my firsth hand experience of US FTOs is limited, but I don't think having certain foreign customer base is necessarily bad thing.

Do your research, check pros and cons, compare schools, their rates (ideally updated, not what some schools have on their websites - I suspect some don't bother to update prices if they publish them online for the convenience of grabbing attention, only to find out 'prices current as of 05/2007 etc).

This list below is my own extract from ICE's website of SEVIS/SEVP authorised schools/colleges. I picked aviation related from the list.
Some are more of a jet type rating or do contracts for cadets etc.
Btw, 'California Airways' is rather school than airline.. Huh.
Every school that is on this list -should- sponsor some kind of student visa.
Pricing is different, though.

Btw, there may not be 'dba' as the common name for the school. It's company names that may or may not look like usual known name.
Sure, I might have missed some. Plus, you can do F1 visa doing associate degree with Uni or community college. Which is not likely if your pure reason going to the US is to fly only. Then you'd have visa covered by school which can use small local school with which it has links, to provide actual flying..

If there are more schools sponsoring M1 visa (and not just being approved by/registered with TSA - not the same) I either missed them or they aren't on the SEVP list for some reason. Google these below to find their websites.

For visa waiver vs M1 visa check out dedicated threads via search function.

CALIFORNIA

ATP Pacific Incorporated d/b/a/ Bel-Air International San Carlos CA
California Airways, inc Hayward Airport Hayward CA
California Flight Academy, LLC California Flight Academy, LLC El Cajon CA
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University - Worldwide, Oakland Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University Oakland CA
Flying Vikings Inc. Hayward CA
GROUP 3 AVIATION, INC GROUP 3 AVIATION, INC VAN NUYS CA
IASCO Flight Crew Training Center Napa CA
International Flight Training Academy, Inc. Bakersfield CA
Long Beach Flight Academy Long Beach Flight Academy Long Beach CA
National Air College, Inc. National Air College, Inc. San Diego CA
Nice Air Nice Air San Jose CA
Orion Aviation Inc. Orion Aviation Inc. Carlsbad CA
Rainbow Air Academy, Inc Rainbow Air Academy, Inc. Long Beach CA
San Diego Flight Training International, Inc. San Diego CA
Scandinavian Aviation Academy Scandinavian Aviation Academy El Cajon CA
SKY WALK, INC. SKY WALK, INC. SACRAMENTO CA
Sunrise Aviation Corporation, Inc. Sunrise Aviation Santa Ana CA

[JulietWiskey]

Bonjour Benoit!

It s Jurrien you met in Bristol. I am still thinking about the same routing... Did you find some more information about the USA Jaa schools? And did you finish you re second module? I am attending module 2 in Bristol january 2009.

Take care,

Jurrien

[Keygrip]

Already asked, many times. Answers in Search function.