Sierra Academy, Oakland

[weasil]

I would appreciate anyone's personal experience with the above flying school or information about san francisco in general.



------------------
"eagles may soar but weasils don't get sucked into jet engines..."
http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~dfckm/weasil.htm

[JJflyer]

I know something about them...
They have a busy enviroment there , good for flying ... where else can you in an hour fly
4 different approaches to 4 different airports???? Excluding KOAK.
Unfortunately quality comes with a price,
you most certainly pay for the name with the bigger more known schools.
If you have any questions feel free to email me.

JJ

[JJflyer]

With Sierra Academy you have three visa options... M1, J1 and F1.
After completing your ASEL AMEL COMM INST, you can continue in to their CFI CFII program.

Beware that getting all your ratings with Sierra does not guarantee you a job with them as an instructor.
You need to do your fair share of being a "nice boy" and keep your " nose clean "
as hiring is on the discretion of Chief flightinstructor and bsed on the recommendations of other instructors.

Although some have been hired With CFI only the usual prerequisite is CFII.
Most of the instructors get Their MEI after they have been hired, as they get staff discounts.
You are not hired as an MEI only you'll fly all the types in their fleet C152, C172 and the BE76 Duchess.
Sierra will assign you students and as they progress and move to the multi you will teach them in it.

You can build around 6-8h a day depending how many students you have.
Instructor makes an average of 1200 - 1600 USD a month ( minus taxes ) again depending how much you fly.
Sierra Academy also has 2 separate programs the Korean Air program based in Livermore airport and CAFC ( Civil Aviation Flying College Of China ) program from PRC.
Instructors in those programs are on salary.

If flight instructing is your way of building hours ,Sierra Academy is a very good place to build those as they have plenty of students start on every months first monday.
Anyways any questions ... I'll do my best to answer.

JJ

[CFIT]

Quite a while ago, I was once a student at Sierra Academy. Excellent flying environment, and I love living in the San Francisco bay area (in Alameda for me). I had an excellent flight instructor (now flying for the majors) who was very knowledgeable and caring. However, at the time, the planes were not what I would called up to par, and the school building itself was extremely old. All in all, I was quite pleased with the overall training.

[weasil]

Thanks guys. You have confirmed what I have been led to believe already. I was surprised to hear that such a busy school only operates 5 172RG's and some 152'a and duchess's. One thing I was hoping for in America was to find a flight school with modern facilities and aircraft.

------------------
"eagles may soar but weasils don't get sucked into jet engines..."
http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~dfckm/weasil.htm

[JJflyer]

Here again...

Well Sierra does have several BE76... But unfortunately more than often they are not all in the line at the same time.If I remeber correctly they had 5 or 6.
Thus every now and then Scheduling was a major problem. Especially if there were a lot of students trying to get through their Multi at the same time.

Also as airline hiring is increasing instructors are ever younger and more inexperiencced ... And that has to reflect to the standard of instruction.
I had a very good instructor and he out of US now being hired to fly for airlines.
As for the overall quality on a scale from 1 - 10 ,I would rate Sierra Academy around 6+. Depending largely on who do you get as your instructor.

Also, as with any pilot school in US, be VERY careful about the prices quoted as they usually have hidden charges in them
( Sierra being no exception).
Cost of living in San Fransisco is one of the highest in the US .If you rent a room the standard going rate is from 400 USD to 600 USD / month. Figure around 1000 USD/ month for overall living expences...

JJ

[Luftwaffle]

Old? The building is *historic*. Didn't Charles Lindbergh slept there, back when it was a hotel?

[PositiveClimb]

How about Westwind in Phoenix, AZ?

Modern Fleet (load of new Archers direct from Piper this month, all Air Con, GPS, etc..). 100% Instructor Retention on the Airline Prep Program, very busy ATC environment (I've been, it's busy). Heard from an ex-instructor who did the course and spoke highly of the place.

An I only seeing the good bits here? I've heard Sierra is better, but if low $$$ is important surely this is the one? A guaranteed instructor position has to be the best you can get.

[Flame Out]

Weasil, who really cares about the facilities. You just go there to learn how to fly a buck-fifty and then you get out. But what's great about Sierra is you'll get the chance to become an instructor (if you can fly halfway decent) and build time. I grew up in San Francisco and went to Sierra some years back so I know what I'm talking about. JJ is correct about the busy flying environment, keeps you sharp and you will become proficient with the R/T. As in any school, it is how you make it. If you hussle, hit the books and don't goof off all that much you'll do well. That building IS a historical landmark. It was the old airport hotel which Amelia Earhart stayed prior to the fateful flight.

CFIT - I see that you are still lurking around PPRUNE. How do you like flying the Mad Dog 11? Give me a call. I know this great place in Patpong (good food, really).

[weasil]

Sierra sounds like the school for me. I put in my resignation to my job this week and I am heading there in January hopefully. I am going to put in my application in the next few weeks.

Does anyone know how selection works? Do they take anyone or only some applicants? I will ask the school themselves also but would love to hear your opinions people.

Flame out... they tell me San Francisco is the most expensive place to live in USA. Sound true to you? I can't wait to get there.. it is going to be fantastic.



------------------
"eagles may soar but weasils don't get sucked into jet engines..."
http://users.hunterlink.net.au/~dfckm/weasil.htm

[Flame Out]

Well, i don't know if it's the most expensive city, there're also New York and Honolulu. But I know it's one of the most beautiful in the world.

The latest influx of the new riches (Silicon Valley) have driven up the price of the real estate in the "City" and the South Bay (Palo Alto, Santa Clara, San Jose etc.) but Oakland is in the East Bay so it's still fairly reasonable (but then again, I've lived there (SF) all my life (not presently, however) so I don't really see the differences as compare to one that has just arrived from the Midwest.

You can probably find reasonable housing in Alemeda area. That's where most of the students stayed during my training there.

You don't want to live in the "City", that's what folks in the Bay Area refer to San Francisco. It is too expensive and the commute is impractical (gas, toll, time).

I hope this bit of info helps. Good luck.

[weasil]

Yep sure does. Thanks. Alameda seems to be the place to go from all accounts.

Weasil.