FTSI Acquires CAPT

[Flying Ninja]

http://www.erau.edu/er/newsmedia/new...2006/capt.html

A warning to all prospective student pilots: Do Not Go Here! FTSI is retaining the incompetent management that failed to deliver their promises to 20% of their customers. Go somewhere else that has over 95% placement rate. Trust me, you do NOT want to take your chances with your time and money with FTSI/CAPT because if you end up on the 20% side of the coin, you are very much screwed.

Even their Executive Director has admitted in this press release that "CAPT was a tremendously effective experiment in proving that an individual could go from zero flight time to the right seat of a commercial jetliner with as little as 225 flight hours," said Martin Schaaf, executive director of CAPT. Well, if 80% placement is their definition of "tremendously effective" you need to ask yourself if that's your cup of tea. Going to FTSI/CAPT is like playing Russian Roulette. Don't be the one that gots the bullet. Put down the gun and don't play their game!

Be warned!

[Doug Taylor]

Did ya see the thread in General Topics?

[thebot]

Hey there Ninja,

First off I hope things are going better for you with your aviation career.

I've read several of your posts, and its very scary what you've gone through and the amount of debt you've accumulated.

I have some questions though as to why you havn't found a job yet... Is it more your choice or there simply arn't any positions avaliable for you? (Choice meaning that you could have a CFI job, but for some reason "financially", location, experience, etc" haven't taken it.)

Assuming you have your CFI ratings (its been a while since I read all of your posts) you shouldn't have any trouble at all getting a CFI job so you can reach the minimums for some type of corporate / commercial job in this industry.

I know you mentioned that your loan payments are enormous so perhaps the CFI job wouldn't net you enough to make ends meet.. but i'm thinking even part time like weekends at some local FBO would be one way to keep yourself flying and eventually working your way to your dreams.

I noticed in your signature that your hours are great but are not really near the minimums that i've seen posted as of the past few months (but I might be wrong) As overall, it seems like most of the regionals are back to the 1000/100.. or at the least it seems that is the magic number that most are still aiming for before they send out their resume's.

Anyway, I'm just asking this as a person who has just started out their training and wanted to know how often these "road-blocks" similar to what you've experienced arise.. and more importantly; how to work around them once you've hit one.

[DE727UPS]

"Assuming you have your CFI ratings"

I don't think he does. The whole point of programs like Capt, FSA direct track, MAPD, Gulfstream, and Jet U is you don't have to get your CFI.

"I noticed in your signature that your hours are great but are not really near the minimums"

The intent of these programs are to get you hired with less than the normal mins and quals. They all promise this in one way or another. That's the big selling point.

[Flying Ninja]

Originally Posted by thebot

First off I hope things are going better for you with your aviation career.

Hi, thank you for your concern. The aviation career path is pretty much over for me.

Originally Posted by thebot

I've read several of your posts, and its very scary what you've gone through and the amount of debt you've accumulated.

Scary is one way of putting it. But after you've gone through what I've gone through, you either think suicide or you laugh out loud in crowded places at odd times. Just kidding (but not really). What's scary is my monthly minimum payments of $967 and the 8.5% variable interest rate that only knows how to climb.

Originally Posted by thebot

I have some questions though as to why you havn't found a job yet... Is it more your choice or there simply arn't any positions avaliable for you? (Choice meaning that you could have a CFI job, but for some reason "financially", location, experience, etc" haven't taken it.)

This is a rather complicated question. You see, when I joined the CAPT program, they promised me that they have several guaranteed interview agreements. And verbally, I was told 7-9 regional airlines were on board. So naturally, I thought this was an excellent opportunity. With low time, I have access to 7-9 regionals that others would not. What's not to like about that situation? Well, you'd like it alot too except, they had 0 guaranteed interview agreements when I signed up. CAPT then managed to sleep with Focus Air and got a slave labor pact going. But, it wasn't a flying job. My goal wasn't to go through CAPT to push papers for a year and look left for traffic at 12 o'clock (second year you get FE, which has yet to materialize for their first batch of graduates that went there). In that agreement Focus says that they MAY offer you a FO seat but that was too big of a MAYBE for me after investing 2 years at Focus and still not log a single flight hour (PIC/SIC). When I graduated, ASA was threatening a hiring freeze and thanks to the expedient service in my resume preparation (sarcasm), my resume didn't get out to ASA in time before they placed a hiring freeze on. So that left me with Pinnacle, and as you can see, Pinnacle is about the worst place you can be. I wanted to be a career pilot with a regional for at least 5 years. I just don't see that happening at Pinnacle. And this was the extent of CAPT's offering at the time (and presently as well). They do have an agreement with American Eagle, and at the time I was the only person qualified with their absolutely rock bottom reduced hours of 400/100 (more on this and me later). However, since CAPT graduates walk out with 225TT and less than 100ME time, that agreement is non-viable for just about everyone that didn't walk in with time outside of CAPT. So why didn't I take American Eagle? After all the delays at CAPT and their slowness in getting my resume prepared, my financials were no longer viable for me to start in a new city. I tried to figure out how to make things work but at the end, I just owe too much money and didn't have enough in the bank to do it. I could have taken out my entire 401(k) to get started, but many people told me I was insane to do that after an ass kicking by CAPT. But I was ready to do it. However, I was looking at other opportunities like Air Wisconsin and told CAPT to send my resume off to them. AW would have worked out better for me than AE but with CAPT taking 1 month from date of request to date of mailing my resume to AW, and with my grace period on my loan ending fast, I was stuck. Therefore, I had to seek employment elsewhere that would get me the money I needed to make monthly payments.

There was a time that I could have managed the debt at a regional pay, but that time has gone and past. Thanks to CAPT's mismanagement of their promised 10-12 months of training time line as well as their incompetence of day-to-day administration which lead to delays in processing paperwork.

So, at the end, it really wasn't my choice anymore. CAPT made the choice for me in a sense. And because they don't give you a CFI, I had no way of building time without paying for it. You ask why I don't just get a CFI. I'm working on that on my own time now. But, it's slow going with a full time job and with no guidance, it's hard to know if I'm even studying for the right things. Either way, I got plenty of time now on my hands to read anything aviation related regardless of if it's on target or not. And of course, I have time to spend on the Internet because I don't have money to go out partying or do road trips or whatever else people with money do with their time.

Originally Posted by thebot

Assuming you have your CFI ratings (its been a while since I read all of your posts) you shouldn't have any trouble at all getting a CFI job so you can reach the minimums for some type of corporate / commercial job in this industry.

Let's assume that I have my CFI right now. I can't afford to pay my monthly loan and meanial expenses (I live with my parents) that I have. So maybe I can move to a location where I can make a little more? Sure, then you add the expense of moving and the rent and the cost of living, and all of a sudden, it makes no sense again, because if I could start in a new city, I would have been able to make it with a regional.

Originally Posted by thebot

I know you mentioned that your loan payments are enormous so perhaps the CFI job wouldn't net you enough to make ends meet.. but i'm thinking even part time like weekends at some local FBO would be one way to keep yourself flying and eventually working your way to your dreams.

I absolutely have plans to fly on the weekends and teach people how to fly once I get my CFI rating. But it won't make much of a dent in my debt although it would help some. By the time I pay off my debt and have enough time to be doing this dream, I'll be in my early to mid 40's and making $18-20K for that first year and living in my parent's place just doesn't quite make any sense. Because what most people don't realize is that after that debt's paid off, I would still have NO MONEY in my bank accounts to do anything! So, let's recap. My debt's paid off at say age 44. I'm still living with my parents. I have no money in the bank accounts. So I'm essentially starting life at 44 when most people start their lives after college when they're 21. What do you think? Is that dream worth it still?

Originally Posted by thebot

I noticed in your signature that your hours are great but are not really near the minimums that i've seen posted as of the past few months (but I might be wrong) As overall, it seems like most of the regionals are back to the 1000/100.. or at the least it seems that is the magic number that most are still aiming for before they send out their resume's.

I have more hours than any graduate out of the CAPT program. You would think I'd be an easy sell for CAPT. But, that's something you'll have to ask them as to why they screwed up and screwed me. And you're right. Most people need 1000/100 to even be looked at by the regionals. And that's why I went to CAPT. They promised that they're revolutionizing the industry and that 225 hours is enough to get hired because after all, the military puts pilots with that amount of time in fighters. But I can assure you that while I do not know what the military's pilot training program is like, it most certainly isn't what CAPT makes it out to be. It's anything but elite training.

Originally Posted by thebot

Anyway, I'm just asking this as a person who has just started out their training and wanted to know how often these "road-blocks" similar to what you've experienced arise.. and more importantly; how to work around them once you've hit one.

It's important that you ask these questions. The more you know, the more informed you are, and the better decision you'll be able to make. And for starters, you can drop CAPT as a training solution from your radar because I'd hate to see good people get fried by CAPT's incompetence and lack of professionalism. In the future, they're going to try to make themselves look great with shiny new airplanes for people to train in. Just remember, nice airplanes don't make great pilots, and it certainly won't get you a job. Flight experience shown on your logbook in the form of quality hours is what will get you into the industry. Unless they can put in writing that they can guarantee you a job placement, I wouldn't even bother with these types of training academies. You risk everything while they collect your hard earned money sipping cool drinks on the beach. And with CAPT, they won't care if you get hired or not. Just ask 20% of those who didn't get placed.