Freshman flight time

[KevinJH87]

Hi,
Just a question to any recent freshmen at ERAU. How long was it until you got flight time at ERAU and did you get a good amount? Did you start from scratch or did you already have hours? I am just asking because a lot of people I have spoken to have said that freshmen get little or no time at ERAU.
Thanks, Kevin.

[RiddlePilot]

I'm an AS senior there now, but during freshman year they started me out flying right away. I was flying probably 3-4 activities per week, which is fine by most standards. I started FA110 (PPASEL course) with zero total time.

What campus are you going to?

[cessna2351]

Would the same hold true for FAA133/206/commercial flight 2/whatever. I believe you said there was extensive ground school at the start of the year (and understandably so for a more complex a/c).

How many hours should I plan on receiving this year for the PPL-AMEL?

Mike McM

[RiddlePilot]

I'm a PRC student, but I'll do the best I can to answer your question...

You should be able to knock out all of the syllabus requirements this year, i.e. somewhere around 17-18. ERAU does not make you complete groundschool first, and then give you the keys the the airplane. You will be flying while attending groundschool. Some of the groundschools are 2-4 months long (Private, Instrument), so waiting to start you after that long of a stretch would be a bad idea.

[KevinJH87]

I'm entering my senior year of highschool. How many hours did you fly the first semester, or freshman year?
kevin.

[RiddlePilot]

I finished my private certificate during my freshman year, so I got something like 60 hours. As for first semester? I dunno...I'd have to add it up, but I estimate 30 or so (3-4 activities per week).

[TallBoy85]

Remember, pay for as little as you can and get paid for as much as you can. Flight time that you paid for is great, but it doesn't pay bills. The quicker you get a low time marketable certificate (CFI/II AND MEI) the quicker you will make money and stop resenting aviation for making you poor.

At Riddle expect to fly 70-80 hours average (Regardless of what anyone says, I've seen the logbooks, this is how long FA110 takes) the first year, get about 20 twin and another 40 hours your second year, another 40 twin time and ~40 hours of single time your third year and try to work your 4th. Most people do come out of the pipeline with about 220 hour or so. I got my CFI with 237 hours with very little outside flying (15 hours or so).

But I hated paying for every hour of it, and considering my entire aviation training bill was right at $120,000, I've made up for approximately $25,000 of it and I've been employed nearly 2 years. [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/bandit.gif[/img]

[KevinJH87]

Thanks for that info.

Is getting an internship from ERAU as common as they say while visiting? If not, do you think that going there helped you get into the industry more easily than a smaller school would have?

Thanks for answering all these questions, Kevin.

[TallBoy85]

Internships common, yet not totally required. I didn't do one and I turned out ok...it all depends on what you can handle, and if I did do an internship, I'd do it at somewhere that you want to work later on down the road like Alaska or the like. I've heard extremely positive things from people that did internships there, especially considering those guys got offers flying in Alaska and at Horizon out of the deal.

I heard through the grapevine from someone that at least some airlines were looking more closely at people who had degrees other than in some form of professional aeronautics. However, my AS degree did make ground school a much easier affair than if I hadn't done it. It's all basically about your personality and your abilities as a crew member when it comes down to it.

Basically, you're darned if you do, darned if you don't.

[gurisudenko]

I'm going to be at ERAU Prescott on the 25th as a freshman with no flight time.
How many hours per week on average will I be training in the 172? I have a total of 20 hours per week as my "flight block".

[RiddlePilot]

[ QUOTE ]
I'm going to be at ERAU Prescott on the 25th as a freshman with no flight time.
How many hours per week on average will I be training in the 172? I have a total of 20 hours per week as my "flight block".

[/ QUOTE ]

That flight block is just there as a reference for when you're available to fly. You won't fly 20 hours per week, of course. I looked over my logbook for when I was doing my private in FA110 (I think it's called something different now), and I was flying 3-4 times per week. That equates to about 4 hours per week, which is more than enough when you're starting out.

Best of luck!

[kellwolf]

Might be more often if they're 142 now. Granted it won't be "flight" time.

[RiddlePilot]

[ QUOTE ]
Might be more often if they're 142 now. Granted it won't be "flight" time.

[/ QUOTE ]

I actually just went through the Part 142 syllabus for ERAU's revised PPASEL courses (FA132 and FA133), and it's really not as bad as I had thought.

Through the entire Private training, the flight/sim breakdown is:

40.0 hours minimum total time in the actual aircraft
14.0 hours minimum in the sim

Other than the sim time, that's pretty comparable to most curriculums out there. The big thing I still disagree with is the large amount of time students spend in the sim prior to their first solo. I hardly think sitting in a dark room with a fancy visual is going to instill the confidence they need...

We'll see.