Comair Academy. Orlando, Fl.

[Simon W]

Does anyone know of 'Comair Flight School' in Orlando, FL.? It's ownded by Delta Airlines and has a pretty nice looking website. They do all kinds of training (commercial and recreational) and also hour building packages. Just want to know if anyone has been to this school, condition of aircraft etc.
http://www.comairacademy.com/

Regards,

Simon

[Si]

When I very first started looking into flying training especially for the ATPL, I looked at this place, in the end i came to thought that this place seems a little too good to be true, in the fact they almost guarentee you a job at the end.

However recent strikes in the states regarding comair, leads me to belive that they will not be recruiting. Plus you have to have a Green Card and the stuff about working as a paid instructor as well....hhmmm i don't know?

This is just MY opinion and two peneth thrown in...for all i know it may be the best place in the world!

BTW, i got a call off a french woman, asking me when i wanted to start..besides the fact i could not understand a word she was saying i decided to go against the idea in the end!

[kangy]

I started at Comair last april to do me FAA PPL. I decided to go part 61 (non-approved) rather than part 141 (approved - acadamy) & thanked my lucky chickens I did! loads of people had trouble with the academy (141) side as they were just another student in the system. The non approved side was very good however as it was run completely separate from the acadamy side. the training was first class but as previously mentioned, if you want to go the FAA way, you'll need a greencard (very hard to get hold of!) if you want to do the full course and the conversion routes with the JAA are virtually non existent unless you have shedloads of hours etc. so decide whether you want to live & work in the US or good old blighty! if you need to speak to someone, I'm still in contact with the UK rep for Comair, cool guy, e-mail me & I'll send you further info matey! ;)

[DeltaTango]

HI Bombay
I did some flying at Comair(part 61) and was sattisfied enough. However the part 141 students had a bad time getting flying.
Instructors would cancel, tests postponed etc. etc. but I understand that things have changed dramaticaly since last year.

If you go and do ALL your training there you can do it on a J-1 visa which allows you to be compensated for your work as an instructor after your training, but only for 2 years after you started training(which takes baout 8 months).

It's not a bad deal and it's a great place to fly.

Good luck to ya
DT

[hdaae]

I got all my ratings at Comair and worked as an instructor there (part 61 side)

At the time being a 141 student I werent 100% happy, but since then Ive seen what other 141 schools has to offer, I think Comair is one of the better ones.
Ofcourse, as any company, it wants to have a healthy profit margin, and as a student you get the impression that they are more intrested in your creditcard than in you.
But that goes for pretty much all the schools ive seen, and the bottomline is, do Comair have the aircraft needed and do the instructors have the knowhow? Is the school organized?
When I were there I would say yes, both as a former student and instructor.

I have several friends that are currently students at Comair, and every now and then they complain a little, but when they tell me their issues about the training and I compare it what I see elsewere, they usually acknowledge that Comair might not be as bad as they thought.
I had no problems getting flights and because there are soo many students and instructors there, any question you might have regarding theory, usually will be answered quickly. Add that to the fact that they have a understanding with several Designated Examiners that are doing checkrides daily, and you have a good source of knowledge at arms reach.

On a sidenote..I havent been at Comair since the strike, and dont really know how that will affect the Academy, but for now I havent gotten any indications from my friends there that they are sufffering from it.

My overall impression is that its mainly up to you how fast you get done with the training at Comair.
They are using (at my time) Piper Seminoles for multi training and whenever they get squaked they are repaired fairly quickly.
This is often a big hurdle elsewere at other schools.

I will ask my friends more detailed questions about the current state of Comair this weekend.

[kangy]

I hear ya skybug...
I thought Comair was very good, planes were ok, instructer quality excellent (thanks Sal!) etc etc. at the time 61 was a hell of a lot better than 141 but hopefully they've got that sorted.

what was the strike all about then? more info if you would!

[wotarascal]

I am currently training in Florida with an Irish guy who had a nightmare with Comair last year while training for his PPL. In the end he went home without his licence and Comair still owe him money to this date. I am English and live in Fl by the way so drop me a line if you want any more info on training out here.

[CAVU]

Guys

After reading the Comair ad in the back of Flight International and reading some of the comments on this thread, I am concerned that people may be duped into going over to Sanford.

The flight training in the 141 academy is excellent, but the aircraft are absolutely atrocious.

Comair is a school at which the flight safety officer got in front of 100+ instructors and told them that the official procedure in the event of an undercarraiges' failed to extend and lock, was to get in the back whilst the PF slowed the ac to 75KIAS and physically attempt to swing the gear with arm out of the aircraft.

Not necessarily dangerous, but hardly what you would call professional and very disappointing for a 117 ac fleet that flies up to 12000 hours a month.
I have it on very good advice that the Academy is an unwanted child at Comair and Delta, which it intended to be dropped as soon as it hints at posting a loss, and this attitude goes someway to explaining why an otherwise potentially very succesful school, has an almost complete absence of investment at a time where every other major school is commiting to a new fleet.

I am a JAA/FAA instructor myself and it is very frustrating to see the question of professional flight training in the States consistently raised.

Please head this advice, gleanded from almost ten years in the States-

1. THERE IS NO CHEAP OPTION FOR QUALITY FLIGHT TRAINING ANYWHERE IN THE WORLD, PARTICULARLY IN THE STATES.

2. IF YOU WANT TO FLY IN EUROPE AND/OR YOU DO NOT HAVE THE RIGHT TO PERMANENTLY RESIDE AND WORK IN THE STATES, TRAIN IN EUROPE- IT WILL BE, AT THE VERY LEAST, THE SAME PRICE IF NOT CHEAPER, BY THE TIME YOU INCLUDE LIVING COSTS AND CONVERSIONS.

Please feel free to E-mail me regarding this issue, I have seen many disappointed people waste lots of money and perhaps most importantly extra time (for pilots time means seniority) converting.

In the opinion of myself and my collegues, the only decent non-airline JAA program in the US, which had its own problems, at PAN AM is now closed. Pan Am are now only training for KLM.

[Ambassador1]

Simon,

There is something I wanted to add to what CAVU had to say.

Comair Academy is not part of Comair the airline. The Academy has told European students on the J-1 Visa program that if they train there, then work as an instructor, Comair the airline will do all the Visa work to get them to fly for the airline.

This is not true. As a non permanent resident of the U.S. you are ineligible to fly for the airline. There are plenty of U.S. pilots to choose from. They do not need to spend $5,000.00 to try and get you a permanent Visa to live in the U.S. for a $12,000.00 job.

As for the people that have done like Comair Academy wanted, instructed until their J-1 Visa ran out, they were given a thank you for working for us and have a nice flight home.

Florida Air
<<Edited for Typos>>

[ 30 August 2001: Message edited by: Florida Air ]