USA flight training

[triggersbroom]

OK guys, i'm new to the forum thing so please no funny remarks or insults. I recently was unsuccesfull on a military helicopter pilots course. In this time I gained approx 60 hours fixed wing and 175 hours Rotary. Since that dream has now failed I'd like to head out to the states and gain a CPL, IR, CFI (fixed wing) qualification from any state. Does anyone know best places to go, who not to use and who to avoid like the plague? I've heard nothing but bad things about this Flyeasa company, previously flyoba in Ormand Beach, FL. Can anyone back this up. I look forward to any useful comments, thanks

[B2N2]

First of all, welcome.
You've obviously chosen not to let this put you down, good choice.
Give us some more info; what are your ultimate goals?
Do you want FAA & JAA ratings both or just either one?

[triggersbroom]

Looking to stay US side, so FAA would do me fine, any good ideas?

[flyndad]

I would give Angel City Flyers a call in California, have heard good things about them. I am in Canada so if you are interested in feedback about schools up this way feel free to contact me.

[Adios]

Do you have the right to live and work in the US? It's very difficult to get. Plenty of British wannabees undertake FAA licences and ratings and then convert them to JAA. I don't think it saves you money and it probably takes longer, so give some thought to just taking JAA training in the US and then the IR back in the UK.

[Johnny Bekkestad]

you cannot just take JAA in the US. You will not be allowed to fly in the US with a JAA license. So that is why you first take an FAA license and then a JAA one.

[Booglebox]

Au contraire Johnny Bekkestad, you can train to JAA / JAR Stateside, with no conversion required when you return to Europe. However you can't fly commercially with the wrong ticket.

I did my PPL with Orlando Flight Training at Kissimmee. They were OK, but I don't have an opinion on any other schools in Florida. I would add Falcon Executive at Falcon Field in Phoenix to your list of schools to look at though, and there are other places in Arizona (check out Chandler too) that don't share the common Florida FTO characteristic of having rubbish fleets of a/c, or being oversubscribed and/or cut-throat. Although then you've got a longer flight and you're in the desert and you can't go to Disneyland, but I see all those as good things :}

[Wilton Shagpile]

From memory, you can undertake the entire JAA syllabus in the US apart from the IR test. There is no need to do one then the other. Clearly you'll need to do some IR flying in the UK prior to your test as its all a bit different. There is plenty of advice about FAA vs JAA on these forums so have a cup of tea and read some of the (very good) advice. I would personally go for JAA training in the US - best of both worlds really - lower costs, better wx and no need to faff about trying to convert.

If you want to remain the US you'll need a green card - something (assuming you're a UK citizen) you can pretty much only get through marriage or having significant funds to invest in a US business employing a certain number of people.

Good luck. If you have the right to live and work in the US and you are planning on staying there, I would look at the following school in Fresno, CA. Did some flying with them a few years ago and they seemed sound.

Flight training and flight schools in California from Mazzei Flying Service, flight training schools for airplane, flight training for helicopter, flight training schools for U.S. India and Taiwan professional pilots and flight instructors (http://www.flymfs.com/)

[flyhighsky]

Hello,
I would like to my CPL & ME in Easa / Fly oba is any current student in the forum...Any advice...pls...

[kaptn]

Unless your bank account has many zeros....I would strongly recomand you to self study and save some money for flying rather then studiying with the instructor with books...
For the flight schools, don't get too much details into the prices, because no one on earth can tell you that a PPL will cost you 8000.00 USD....Prices are only for advertising. However, you can use some general approaches to determine if the school is good enough or no, depending on (my point of view) :
-Quality of the Instructor.....Some instructors do not care if you spend 100 hours to get soloed or 200..they just want money and they underteach you..
-Rate of the instruction per hour....Very important, that helps you to compare between schools
-Dry flying or Wet flying (Cost of the fuel included or not)....
-Rate of renting the airplane
-One last thing, Weather & location....where will you be flying, Do not go to a place where you will be flying only once a week , or twice a month because of the meteorological conditions....

Hope that helps....PM me if you need further infos

Instructor