US Training
Hi there,
I'm training in the US so I'm fairly in the picture. The best school for you depends on a lot of things. Do you need a degree? Do you have previous flight experience? What's your citizenship (visa issues)? How much money do you want to spend and how much you have? Are you ready to pay even more for the conversion?
ERAU is not considered to be "special" here in the US for pilot training purposes, nor are any of the other pilot factories. If you want to be a rocket scientist, that's a whole different issue. No one cares here where you trained as a pilot as long as you know what you are supposed to.
If you need a degree, you should check out Ohio State, Purdue, UND-univ of N.Dakota, WMU - western mich. univ., ASU - arizona state... so on the list is endless, just look for a college with an aviation degree. Also AOPA's Flight training magazine december 2005 issue is the "college issue" check it out. All the above mentioned are well established schools that have an even better reputation then ERAU, specially considering the costs, some of them cost half of ERAU, so why would you go there, unless you have a "special" reason, i.e. you have a lot of cash to dump.
I did not go to ERAU so I don't have first hand experience, the graduates from there are generally well trained and happy with what they got, but also most of them admit that they got it at an inflated price.
If you need a visa, but no degree, you have to go to a Part 141 school, one that can issue the necessary papers for your visa.
If you don't need a visa, or just come to build time and do not add any certificates or ratings you can go to a Part 61 school, usually called "local FBO" or "mom and pop shops", these are generally cheaper then the 141 schools, and the training is just as good if not better....
So, if you're aiming for a UK issued JAA license and you live there, you should start with the ATPL theory and PPL, then come to a cheap place to build time, then go back for a higher rating, then come back to build time, so on....
Whatever you do, do your research first!
Regards,
lilpilot