Oregon or Florida ?

[nimblenoodles]

Hi there !

I'm planning to study flying in the US hopefully this April.

I was pretty set on studying in Oregon, Hillsboro Aero Academy. However after talking to several American Pilots and reading forums, I have learned their number 1 concern: weather. Majority of them would suggest Florida. Then also mentioned it's too expensive in California.

Can anyone give more insight re: Oregon weather and how it'll affect my training ? Hoping to finish PPL thru CFI within 1 year of full time training.


As for Florida, I have my eyes on Florida Flyers. I would love Flight Safety but it's way too expensive.

Not easy to decide as I won't be able to check the schools before enrolling.

Thanks for the help !

[gene88]

you can take a look at DFW area in Texas...good weather, relatively cheap to live, lots of flight schools and very busy area to gain experience

[galaxy flyer]

The advantage of Oregon--you'll learn to fly with weather as a problem. Florida will be easy of a TRW will stop flying and you won't learn how to deal with weather decisions.

GF

[nimblenoodles]

you can take a look at DFW area in Texas...good weather, relatively cheap to live, lots of flight schools and very busy area to gain experience

Hi ! Thanks for the reply. I'm not too interested in Texas as it might feel more comfortable for me to have a lot of asian/international students around. :)

[nimblenoodles]

The advantage of Oregon--you'll learn to fly with weather as a problem. Florida will be easy of a TRW will stop flying and you won't learn how to deal with weather decisions.

GF
Yeah I thought about this but I am also worried that it might take me so long to finish due to the cancelled flights 😞 Longer stay = more expensive. But the challenge makes me want to attend Oregon more.

[340drvr]

You should contact the school (e-mail, phone, whatever) and ask them what their average cancellation rate is, and find out if they think it's feasible to reach your goals within your desired time frame. Choosing a good-weather location may be very appropriate for someone seeking a quick upgrade rating, say, adding multi-commercial to existing single-engine comm., in perhaps a 4-day weekend, which might be a pilot's pre-scheduled vacation window. But, that doesn't make that much difference for a long-term training program.
Given your two choices, I'd lean towards Hillsboro too.

[nimblenoodles]

You should contact the school (e-mail, phone, whatever) and ask them what their average cancellation rate is, and find out if they think it's feasible to reach your goals within your desired time frame. Choosing a good-weather location may be very appropriate for someone seeking a quick upgrade rating, say, adding multi-commercial to existing single-engine comm., in perhaps a 4-day weekend, which might be a pilot's pre-scheduled vacation window. But, that doesn't make that much difference for a long-term training program.
Given your two choices, I'd lean towards Hillsboro too.

Thanks for the response ! Have talked to other students from Hillsboro as well and they are pleased with their training there. They are pretty honest with how weather affects them but I guess it might really be good training !

[tdracer]

Contrary to popular belief, the weather isn't always lousy in the Pacific Northwest - the summers are generally quite nice. From June to September, the weather will likely be better for flying lessons in Hillsboro than in Florida (lots of summer thunderstorms in Florida).

[Booglebox]

In Florida I can recommend TCFT (http://fl-flight.com)

Oregon sounds pretty good though...

[nimblenoodles]

Contrary to popular belief, the weather isn't always lousy in the Pacific Northwest - the summers are generally quite nice. From June to September, the weather will likely be better for flying lessons in Hillsboro than in Florida (lots of summer thunderstorms in Florida).

How about the cold mornings ? Will it affect training and cause delays ?

Have you flown in Oregon ?

[nimblenoodles]

In Florida I can recommend TCFT (http://fl-flight.com)

Oregon sounds pretty good though...

Sounds pretty good... how ? :)

[corrigin]

I have friends that studied at both flyings schools.

Oregon is not cheap unfortunately (not as expensive as California) and from a 'minimising cost' point of view, Florida is the better option.

Weatherwise, tdracer said it best (#8) so don't worry about having lessons canceled on many occasions. From weather experience (i.e. cold weather experience, low IFR 'ceilings'), Oregon is where you'll obtain that experience. Florida is known for it's thunderstorms in the summer and I cannot recall (at the moment) of a snowflake on record.

Wish you the best in whatever you decide.

[rhomek]

Hi. Regarding Hillsboro Aero Academy - can anyone comment on the present situation with F1 visa and OPT as CFI after completion of the course? Latest information I have managed to find mention about some problems caused by the Immigration Department rejecting OPT applications.

[nimblenoodles]

Hi. Regarding Hillsboro Aero Academy - can anyone comment on the present situation with F1 visa and OPT as CFI after completion of the course? Latest information I have managed to find mention about some problems caused by the Immigration Department rejecting OPT applications.

Where did you hear about that ?

[Amadis of Gaul]

Hi ! Thanks for the reply. I'm not too interested in Texas as it might feel more comfortable for me to have a lot of asian/international students around. :)
There are plenty of those in Texas also. Just FYI.

[mary meagher]

nimblenoodles, Florida is by far the best. Those thunderstorms in summertime are of brief duration, mid afternoon, and can be avoided by flying nearer the shoreline.

BUT. and this is a rule anywhere you go, DON'T PAY UP FRONT! because a lot of flying schools go bust, and there goes your money. So be sure to do it by degrees, and get to know the condition of the organisation, the capability of the instructors, if the aircraft are properly maintained. There are plenty of places to stay in Florida that do not cost all that much, because driving any distance is easy and cheap.

Also the water is lovely and warm for sea bathing! (NOT in OREGON, IT ISN'T! )

[MungoP]

Depends what you want by way of weather. I lived in Oregon for a couple of years and found the weather not too dissimilar to southern England except longer warmer summers.. no real severity to the winters.. I'm talking about lowland Oregon south of Portland not the mountains to the east. Having said that and being a sun worshiper I'd probably choose Fl. but that's a personal preference.. Also if you've a lot of studying to do Fl. could be more of a distraction.. again a personal view, I just happen to find near naked ladies a distraction.

[rhomek]

Where did you hear about that ?
I read somewhere here on pprune, but these were information from like 2013.

[rick1128]

There are a few schools in the Dallas area that have a fairly large number of asian students.

Things to keep in mind is that Phoenix, Dallas and Florida are Hot in the summer. At times flight training will take place during EARLY mornings and late evening. The Portland Oregon area weather doesn't have the extremes as some other areas. I lived in the area for 3 years. There will be days of poor weather, but that is also true of every place else on your list. Plus no hurricanes, almost no tornadoes, no tropical storms, few severe thunderstorms. Plus you get some mountain flying experience.

[MartinCh]

HAA, Hillsboro, former HAI,
have run THIRD base/location in Prineville, Eastern Oregon for couple years by now. This is exactly for the reason some feel their progress may be hindered. Helicopter flying wise, SVFR is just fine for local patterns, although there are too many students to fit into those so they have to 'ferry fly' elsewhere for circuits/patterns and autos.

Fixed wing/aeroplane wise, indeed, the NW Pacific winter with icing ceilings, low cloudbase or fog indeed make for different winter than Florida. Eastern Oregon is 'high desert' climate different to coastal areas. Lot drier and sunnier. I flew along Columbia river and it's different picture passing the Gorge suddenly.

Mind you, I never spent time in Oregon not within May to October. The early autumn weather is fairly OK still, early morning inversion/fog lifting up, if no frontal crap passing through or low pressure area sitting overhead.

Have you counted in the sales tax in Florida to your costing for living expenses? No sales tax in Oregon. That applies to RENTAL/solo flying also, not just food/petrol. Do ask HAA about the fuel surcharges as they don't include it in quotes. Adds up.

Hillsboro and airports in area have plenty and variety of IFR precision or non-prec approaches, there's the coastal range misty IFR to plan for if going over, not far from Northern California or WA state if doing longer XC trips. PDX if flying faster ship like a twin for missed approach practice, even.

Mountains, rivers, gorgeous summer, variety, neighbouring states. Do you get that somewhere in flat southern Florida? Where you'd be suffocating from humidity half of the year out on the ramp/ground, unable to fly part of the day during thunderstorm season and wishing for winter.

If you're going to US specific month, then maybe consider the initial training VFR weather etc, but West and NW of US is definitely more useful. Some Midwest places with high DA all the time may teach you to be cautious about PA/DA, keeping speed, calculating performance etc, but they'll have VERY hot summer. Still better than Florida.

Wanting Asian students/cadets around? Almost any big school in the USA, honestly. I'd actually say that it may be better to avoid/reduce exposure due to improving aviation English. Some Japanese students shouldn't even be flying solo or passing checkrides but that's another story and no point digging into it. Have heard first person or own experience that reduced safety.

One can also fly out of Troutdale with HAA, but I recommend HIO for exposure to bizjets, Kingairs, housing cycling distance from airport, more complex airport, better approaches/STAR/SIDS right there, Newberg VOR will be your new best friend on IAPs. Troutdale isn't as busy as HIO, less turning and burning on taxiway. It can get tiring. OTOH, you got PDX upside down cake with glidepath near, the Cascades around the corner. More limiting.

Your call, just consider the downsides of Florida. I spent summer around Atlanta ages ago and that's still inland and further North than most of FL and the only acceptable heat/humidity combination for me started in October, ehrm. Seeing your original location, you may be fine with tropical weather, for many Europeans it gets tiring as one doesn't spend all the time in aircon buildings and cars, doing flight training.

[rahulgoyal_93]

Hi there !

I'm planning to study flying in the US hopefully this April.

I was pretty set on studying in Oregon, Hillsboro Aero Academy. However after talking to several American Pilots and reading forums, I have learned their number 1 concern: weather. Majority of them would suggest Florida. Then also mentioned it's too expensive in California.

Can anyone give more insight re: Oregon weather and how it'll affect my training ? Hoping to finish PPL thru CFI within 1 year of full time training.


As for Florida, I have my eyes on Florida Flyers. I would love Flight Safety but it's way too expensive.

Not easy to decide as I won't be able to check the schools before enrolling.

Thanks for the help !
I am also looking forward to join HAA please give information about which weather is good for applying.

[GeraldW]

Which schools besides HAA alows CPT and OPT?

[nimblenoodles]

Which schools besides HAA alows CPT and OPT?

Check out flight schools with F-1 Visa. Tho with schools like Aerosim and FSA -- I have read bad experiences about how they don't take you in for CPT/OPT after.

I'm currently flight training in HAA now and the program looks promising.