Russell Aviation 10 day CFI course?

[centralhome]

I was wondering if anyone is familiar with http://www.russellaviation.com
I have been studying on my own about a month and I noticed they say to schedule a month ahead of time to do their required reading.
That would give me a couple of months studying on my own and then the 10 day course. Would like to hear what any of you think about this option.

Thanks in advance,
Joey

[SmitteyB]

Nearly 5 grand....thats pretty expensive.

[CTFlyer]

I think 10 days is enough time, but it all depends on the student. I completed my CFI.I tickets at an accelerated school in 8 days. We flew 3-4 flights a day, did ground in-between, and I studied every night into the late hours, and I also prepped for a couple of weeks before I started. I prefer this method vs dragging it out over several months doing a flight here and there.

[Milesar]

Originally Posted by SmitteyB

Nearly 5 grand....thats pretty expensive.

Whats an average/decent price for a CFI course?

[Ian J]

Originally Posted by Milesar

Whats an average/decent price for a CFI course?

Considering most of the CFI cert is knowledge based, rather than flying based, you can get ALOT of it done on your own.

Study your butt off, pass the writtens, practice teaching in the air and on the ground, and you will not only save yourself tons of cash, you'll make your CFI's job that much easier.

[SmitteyB]

Chinooks right- you need maybe 8-10 hours in the airplane...

9 x $140/hr (single complex)= $1,260
15 x 35/hr (ground school)= $525
Misc. Expenses (charts, binder)= $500

Total- $2,285

That is a good estimate. If you study on your own, teach to anyone who will listen, chair fly and explain maneuvers then this estimate is more than enough.

With the Russell Aviation- you're paying for the instructors lodging and transportation to get to you. Do it at an FBO or place like ATP/Skymates.

[CTFlyer]

Originally Posted by Rich

I think 10 days is enough time, but it all depends on the student. I completed my CFI.I tickets at an accelerated school in 8 days. We flew 3-4 flights a day, did ground in-between, and I studied every night into the late hours, and I also prepped for a couple of weeks before I started. I prefer this method vs dragging it out over several months doing a flight here and there.

Sorry, correction to my post... I just found my expense records. My courses took 11 days. Also, I had all 3 written exams complete before training.

CFII was $2600, 4 days, 10 hours dual.
CFI was $4700, 7 days, 21 hours dual.

Costs included everything - text books, oral study guides, checkrides, examiner fees, written exam fees, airplane, instructor.

I agree with SmitteyB that it should cost less. I had a former military pilot/IP, and he wanted to do a lot of extra things, like 1 day of low level mountain flying/navigating (it was well worth the extra day!).

[Monty]

I guess it depends on your situation. If you need/want to get done ASAP and are willing to sacrifice a little extra cost to do so, then an accelerated course might be the way to go. However, if you go with the "study your butt off on your own" method, there is really no reason why you couldn't finish the CFI with less than $3000.

[thumper2727]

I looked into this school after a college classmate went to them to get his CFI.

They really under sale their service. Yes, they cost a little bit more than some and less than others. But, should you really be price shopping for training that is going to effect so many lives.

As my classmate says bottom feeders should not plan on attending this school.

What they don't tell you anywhere on their website and you have to force it out of them is that they currently have a 100% pass rate on the first attempt at the CFI (I guess they are trying to stay under the FAA radar - G*d forbid someone having a 100% pass rate). When I talked to them they told me that pass rates really arn't the question you should be asking. The one instructor I talked to said that you should ask what is the rate on signing off pilots for the checkride. Alot of schools maintan a high pass rate by just not signing off pilots for the CFI checkride.

I believe that most flight school and instructors have a good service. Most students that complain about this or that school just don't have what it takes to be a pilot and even then many don't have what it takes to be a CFI. Oh, don't get me wrong there are plenty of 300TT hour instructors that were taught by another 300 hours instructor that was taught by another 300 hours instructor .... that you just don't get your money's worth with. But, I've also flown with alot of sharp 300 hour pilots also. Okay, I'm a 300 hour pilot

Oh yes, about having to pay for the instructos lodging. That is only if the instructor comes to you and I've found that is perty standard around the different schools. If you go to there website (not sure where it is now, the just changed up there website a few weeks ago), you should be able to find that if you go out to them that you can go on a long cross-country training flight to several other states, my classmate did this (I don;t plan on doing it, because I already have mountain time and lots of cross country time). Anyway, they really enjoyed the trip and would do it again.

I plan on taking the CFI training with Russell Aviation this summer. Will be doing alot of advanced reading on the subject before I get there, don't want to be their first fail <grin>.

On the con side, they only have 10-12 training slot per year for the CFI. They expect you to already know how to fly. They are selective on who the decide to train. I felt that I was going for a job interview when I talked with them. They sometime book up weeks to months in advance. They seam to be the slowest in late winter and the middle of summer. I've seen their website say that they are booked up 2-3 months in advance, and other times it was on a couple of weeks. It is a small operation with only about 2-3 planes and 2-3 instructors.

Hope this info helps, alot of it is second hand - so your mileage may vary.
And to all those that complain about this or that school or instructor. Sometimes it would be nice to hear what the flight school or instructor had to say about the student that is complaining about the training they got ... After all you can't fix stupid!

Cheers,
Dave

P.S. They have just updated their website (I liked the old one better). Anyway here is their website: http://www.russellaviation.com.

P.S.S. I almost forgot - they train you in both the Diamond Star with a G1000 and a Mooney for the CFI.