My Experience

[FL530]

I am writing this to inform and warn others planning to attend career pilot school. I started on July 2nd, in the aviation educator program. For the first three or four days we went over the FOI stuff with Michael. After those three or four days the program turned into a self study program at the office. Basically I paid thousands of dollars to study with other students.

After my CFI I started my CFII. The CFII training was an exact copy of the checkride I would be taking with the examiner. We would go fly the exact approaches in the order of the checkride on the ground we would go over the exact oral on the checkride. For example, we never went over anything related to an enroute chart because it wasn’t on the checkride.

After my CFII ride I was asked if I would like to instruct for them. The owner was always on the instructors to get done in the fastest time possible. I did not believe in the schools way of teaching how to pass a checkride, and I didn’t do it. Since I signed up for the aviation educator course I still paid for the MEI. I asked repeatedly if I could start it. Even when I had one student in the evenings only he would not let me start it. Finally after putting up with all the crap I applied and got a job somewhere else.

I gave Michael my two weeks notice and it was all down hill from there. Now since I had two weeks left he offered to get the MEI done. I told him I did not think I could get it done in that time and that I wanted my money back. In the beginning I was told I paid for 16 hours of flying at $168 an hour. When I asked for my money back he said that it was for 15 hours of flying @ $160 an hour. On the day I went to get my money and he said it was 15 hours of flying @ $150 an hour. I then reminded him about the three different prices he quoted me at. He finally settled on $160 an hour and 15 hours. He also charged me for “quitting” $500. Even after many attempts to get the class done.

In the end I paid about $6000 for my CFI and CFII, with 17 total hours of flying.

Also, I had an instrument student that quit. We only flew about 20-25 hours. Michael paid me the whole 40 hours for the course even though we did not fly it. Good for the instructor bad for the student.

I have learned several things here:

• This school will tell you anything to get you in the door.
• If you want to learn to pass a checkride come here, they are good at it.
• If you want to learn to fly don’t come here.
• This school requires you to pay all up front. DON’T DO IT. I did and I regret it. Michael does not give a receipt and tells you nothing about how much is what, and what is going where.
• If you do come here ask to learn how to fly and not just pass a checkride.
• Ask for a breakdown of everything you are paying for.

Be careful and watch where your money goes.

[Michael95U]

Originally Posted by FL530

I am writing this to inform and warn others planning to attend career pilot school. I started on July 2nd, in the aviation educator program. For the first three or four days we went over the FOI stuff with Michael. After those three or four days the program turned into a self study program at the office. Basically I paid thousands of dollars to study with other students.

After my CFI I started my CFII. The CFII training was an exact copy of the checkride I would be taking with the examiner. We would go fly the exact approaches in the order of the checkride on the ground we would go over the exact oral on the checkride. For example, we never went over anything related to an enroute chart because it wasn’t on the checkride.

After my CFII ride I was asked if I would like to instruct for them. The owner was always on the instructors to get done in the fastest time possible. I did not believe in the schools way of teaching how to pass a checkride, and I didn’t do it. Since I signed up for the aviation educator course I still paid for the MEI. I asked repeatedly if I could start it. Even when I had one student in the evenings only he would not let me start it. Finally after putting up with all the crap I applied and got a job somewhere else.

I gave Michael my two weeks notice and it was all down hill from there. Now since I had two weeks left he offered to get the MEI done. I told him I did not think I could get it done in that time and that I wanted my money back. In the beginning I was told I paid for 16 hours of flying at $168 an hour. When I asked for my money back he said that it was for 15 hours of flying @ $160 an hour. On the day I went to get my money and he said it was 15 hours of flying @ $150 an hour. I then reminded him about the three different prices he quoted me at. He finally settled on $160 an hour and 15 hours. He also charged me for “quitting” $500. Even after many attempts to get the class done.

In the end I paid about $6000 for my CFI and CFII, with 17 total hours of flying.

Also, I had an instrument student that quit. We only flew about 20-25 hours. Michael paid me the whole 40 hours for the course even though we did not fly it. Good for the instructor bad for the student.

I have learned several things here:

• This school will tell you anything to get you in the door.
• If you want to learn to pass a checkride come here, they are good at it.
• If you want to learn to fly don’t come here.
• This school requires you to pay all up front. DON’T DO IT. I did and I regret it. Michael does not give a receipt and tells you nothing about how much is what, and what is going where.
• If you do come here ask to learn how to fly and not just pass a checkride.
• Ask for a breakdown of everything you are paying for.

Be careful and watch where your money goes.

As much as I hate to do this online, I will respond to this student/CFI since he decided to post here and we have a solid reputation to uphold.

What this student won't tell you is that:

1) He was taught to teach, not just pass the checkride
2) He was given TWO students right after he passed his CFI/CFII
3) This student DID receive a receipt when he paid in full.
4) I couldn't provide a receipt this morning as the whole building was without power
5) This CFI gave me less than 2 weeks notice that he was leaving.
6) I did pay this CFI for ALL of the instruction he gave to both students and MORE.
7) We are an accelerated flight school. One of his students (a member of this board), had a specific time by which he needed to finish. Hence, I was on both the student and instructor to work hard.
8) I told this CFI that we would complete his MEI last week and he told me he couldn't because he didn't have the time now.
9) He read our refund policy on the first day of CFI class (as did the 2 other gentleman in his class) and never once questioned it. If you quit, you lose the deposit. Period.

I have a LONG list of CFI students who are more than happy with my program. I also have a VERY long list of students from our other accelerated programs who are VERY happy. This student/CFI came from a local college where things are done less than thoroughly. We did ALOT of ground, but I guess he didn't understand that there is also some self study. When other people are flying, students should be studying on their own or with a partner.

Furthermore, I am always disappointed when someone airs their dirty laundry on a web forum instead of addressing their concerns personally with the company. Bridges are burned in this way. And in aviation, it is about who you know.

If anyone needs further clarification on this subject, feel free to PM me.

Michael

[wildwezul1]

Tyler, I'm sorry that you feel this way. I cant speak for your CFI Training, and I know very well, as do you that when I trained you for your CFII you were more than ready for ANYTHING that the DPE would have thrown at you. We went over systems, GPS, WAAS, FMS..etc. things that you didnt want to go over because " if they arnt in the oral than why do I need to study them?" Remember that? you said that to me more than once.

We had to pretty much retrain your way of thinking and flying from your previous school, and after all that, we than shot multiple approaches at the Airport we were based at, at the time. AN ILS, A VOR with a holding pattern, and a GPS approach.

After taking your CFI inital you should have known how to teach, and you were already a qualified Instrument pilot that I was very comfortable with, or I would have gone over the basics of IFR flying again. But you didnt need that. SO I ask, What in the CFII are you looking for? I taught you above and beyond " just the checkride" more than you wanted to study, actually.

Tyler, I always enjoyed working with you, and I hope you find something that makes you happy, but this is unfair, Inaccurate and uncalled for.

[Michael95U]

See below (it seemed like you enjoyed your CFI experience):

http://forums.jetcareers.com/career-...tml#post890893

And see here:

http://forums.jetcareers.com/member-...part-tres.html

[killbilly]

FL530,

Airing these grievances in this way on a web forum is quite unprofessional - that goes for any of the forums, not just CPS's.

Remember if you ever have a falling out with a student not to get peeved if that student posts all over the place how awful you were as a CFI.

See my point?

[kgflyboy]

I'm planning on attending CPS to finish my commercial and get my cfi/cfii. For what it's worth, unprofessional rants like the one above do not affect my opinion of the school. It's not fair to give a one sided story on the internet to a bunch of people who don't know enough background info to form accurate perceptions of the events.

Every job I've ever had was obtained through networking. I can't imagine how writing that post could possibly be a smart career move.

[wildwezul1]

Originally Posted by kgflyboy

I'm planning on attending CPS to finish my commercial and get my cfi/cfii. For what it's worth, unprofessional rants like the one above do not affect my opinion of the school. It's not fair to give a one sided story on the internet to a bunch of people who don't know enough background info to form accurate perceptions of the events.

Every job I've ever had was obtained through networking. I can't imagine how writing that post could possibly be a smart career move.

I have seen more than one person network themselves out of a career on this site. ( not saying that he has here. ) Ya gotta remember, aviation is a very small community and things tend to stay with you.

[notawannabee]

Originally Posted by kgflyboy

I'm planning on attending CPS to finish my commercial and get my cfi/cfii. For what it's worth, unprofessional rants like the one above do not affect my opinion of the school. It's not fair to give a one sided story on the internet to a bunch of people who don't know enough background info to form accurate perceptions of the events.

Every job I've ever had was obtained through networking. I can't imagine how writing that post could possibly be a smart career move.

I respectfully disagree with your post (except for your opinion of the school).

I think it's completely fair to give his perspective based on his experience. The sponsors pay to be listed here, but I would hate to think that gives them the right to only positive feedback on the forum.
I think it would actually be a disservice to other pilots if he did not air these grievances. At least when someone goes in to drop 10's of thousands of dollars they hear some bad truth along with all the good. This also gives the school a chance to improve it's service. Otherwise, there may be no other motivation to do so. Being a sponsor on a forum such as this has inherent risks with respect to customer satisfaction. I wish I had been warned before I chose to go here.
I will follow up with my story one day soon (on a separate post). Right now I'm too busy trying to pay off the bill from CPS. I paid about 8k and got about 25 hours of training ( I will look at my logbook to get the exact number, but that's very close).

Granted, it would be difficult for a flight school to please everyone, but that's business. Would you actually be afraid to stand up for principle out of fear for not getting a job ? Networking is nice to have, but I would rather be hired and respected on my abilities above all else.

[Michael95U]

Everyone has a right to post whatever they like on any forum. CPS is not here to bask in positive feedback. We can't please everyone, and I think if everyone takes a look at the other sponsors (as well as other non-sponsor flight schools) on the board, there is positive feedback and negative feedback for each school.

Everyone is entitled to their opinion and to relate their experience to anyone they wish. If it is on this board, I will always stand by my company and defend it. This is not an easy business, and even more so, it is tough to keep everyone that comes through my doors happy.

Not only that, but each student has to be happy with where they are in life prior to going to ANY accelerated flight school. This is probably not the place to be when having tough times in your home life, kicking a bad habit (smoking, alcohol, etc), when you are sick, etc etc. When students come in with issues, we try to accommodate them as much as possible. I think most of my students see that I want EVERYONE that comes to CPS to succeed, have a good time, and leave as a good pilot and/or instructor.

Michael

[Patrick]

Originally Posted by kgflyboy

Every job I've ever had was obtained through networking. I can't imagine how writing that post could possibly be a smart career move.

I can't even begin to describe how much I agree with the above.

[corpkcflyer]

I have been a lurker here for a long time; until I stumbled across this post. I am voicing my opinion here for much the same reason FL530 did; for the sake of future students. This school was first flying out of IXD, my home airport. I have heard of many complaints much the same as FL530. I have also heard a few personally. Just recently the school moved to GPH. A location that is northeast of their previous. I’m not sure the reason but maybe because of the reputation they were making for themselves. Many schools have many problems, but one big one that should raise a flag is when you don’t know where your money is going. Just be careful anywhere you go. It’s your money, and you are the customer!

[wildwezul1]

This actually makes me kinda laugh. Not only was our reputation at IXD good, it still is, as we are still there as well. I will agree all students should always know where their money is going, and we have no problem with that and being very open and honest about it.

We have Two locations and now, and are have many referrals from local people... So I have to kinda wonder.. who is this and what actually did you "hear" if anything?

[Michael95U]

Originally Posted by corpkcflyer

I have been a lurker here for a long time; until I stumbled across this post. I am voicing my opinion here for much the same reason FL530 did; for the sake of future students. This school was first flying out of IXD, my home airport. I have heard of many complaints much the same as FL530. I have also heard a few personally. Just recently the school moved to GPH. A location that is northeast of their previous. I’m not sure the reason but maybe because of the reputation they were making for themselves. Many schools have many problems, but one big one that should raise a flag is when you don’t know where your money is going. Just be careful anywhere you go. It’s your money, and you are the customer!

As much as I hate to revisit this thread, I will respond to this post. Firstly, this gentleman was not and is not a student, past, present, and possibly future, of Career Pilot School. FL530 is one of the only complaints (no business is perfect) in the past two years that I have heard. However, he did review AND SIGNED the refund agreement PRIOR to the commencement of his course. Everyone has to sign the agreement prior to the start of their specific course. That way we are all on the same page.

Corpkcflyer, PM me if you have any personal complaints against the school. Or call me at 816-781-2300 if you have some concerns that I can address. Probably a little better choice than making it your first post on a forum.

Why did me move from IXD? Well, we didn't. We still maintain an office and 1-3 aircraft at a time at IXD. I also still maintain my Part 135 Operation at IXD. So I guess we didn't make a bad name for ourselves at IXD. In fact, people were very sad to see us expand into the northeast side of town (where we were welcomed with open arms). We EXPANDED to Liberty and KGPH due to space issues (needed space for the CRJ Sim) and to have access to much less expensive fuel (to save students money).

CPS has had many, many students in the past few years. They have ranged from hobby pilots, airline seeking pilots, and businessmen who own their own aircraft. I would say 95% of our clients leave here very happy with their experience. I wish I could make 100% of the people happy all of the time, but business just doesn't work like that.

Michael