CAPT Program: Questions and Answers

[cessna2351]

Take the advice you're getting on this thread to heart. There are kids here who actually think they'll be flying ERJs right after they graduate. I joined ERAU as an AS major but quit the flight program after a month because of all of the BS I went threw. I switched to ATC which will not only save me some money, but will set me up for a career and a lifestyle which appeals to me more than an airline pilot. In fact, I had mentally already switched to ATC before I even arrived on campus.

For example, because I was coming in with my PPL already, I was supposed to do 8 cessna flights (to become riddleized i guess) before I would start my AMEL. I was never told about those that before and costed me 3,200 bucks I had never planned for. Also, I was slated to go on a solo XC to Georgia with a check in time by 6am (really 5:30am). Well turns out it wouldn't be bright enough until 730am. So then I was finally about to be authorized to go by the flight supervisor but it turns out the METAR at by destination airport was like 1 knot above my "PQ rating" (A rating which spells about a pilot's solo wx limitations, mine was a xwind up to like 11kts I think and the winds were at 12kts). So at 830am, I am told I can't go. So I go back to bed very angry for having wasted my time. However the final straw was having my first flight in the Seminole which ran me over 500 bucks for a 1.4 hour flight. Complete bull#####.

I have friends who've spent all school year trying to get their AMEL, and have spent over $10,000 bucks, and some have still not gotten it. There are Part 61 outfits that will give you your multi addon (only like 10-15 hours flight time) for less than 3,000 bucks. In fact, yesterday I heard that the Chief and Asst Flight instructors, along with the chairman of the Flight Dept, we're canned.

If you are really set on coming to ERAU, be sure to check out off campus flight schools are there are an abundance of them. All cheaper than Riddle. The most popular is Epic Aviation (www.epicaviation.com) which has VERY good rates for Riddle students (PM me if you're interested). I rented their aircraft this past year and will start my instrument with them this fall. I'll stop before I sound too much like an advertisement.

However, if you have a VERY think wallet and don't mind dropping over 45k for you're flight training you will come out of ERAU as a respectable pilot. What gives ERAU the bad name are their rates and those who come out thinking that ERAU is the 'holier than thou' flight school and who think they have leverage over the Part 61 candidate. They will try to sell you alot of BS but you should be thankful you've seen jetcareers.com and know what to look for from those who have been through it.

[project7]

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the METAR at by destination airport was like 1 knot above my "PQ rating"

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Dude, don't get me started on "PQ ratings". I remember wanting to turn the flight supervisor's desk over on him after what seemed like the 50th time I was told that I couldn't do my solo XC because the winds were 1 knot too high. And this was after I had my Private.

I think it's one of the biggest problems with the riddle graduates we see here who want to finish training or get a checkout or something. They had all their decisions made for them throughout their training, then once they get out in the real world they seem lost because there's nobody telling them not to go, or what decision to make. Heck, I'm not even an instructor yet and even I have to give these people the "it's up to you" advice way too much in the planning room.

[highspeed]

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In fact, yesterday I heard that the Chief and Asst Flight instructors, along with the chairman of the Flight Dept, we're canned.


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Anyone else here this, I'm interested in knowing. Is/Was Ken D. still the chairman?

[flightlevel350]

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In fact, yesterday I heard that the Chief and Asst Flight instructors, along with the chairman of the Flight Dept, we're canned.


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Anyone else here this, I'm interested in knowing. Is/Was Ken D. still the chairman?

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Ken Doucette (Chief Flight Instructor) was fired along with Pete Thing (Assistant Chief Flight Instructor). Shortly after they were fired, Richard Theokus (Chairman of the flight department) apparently "stepped down" from his position. Tim Brady (Dean of the College of Aviation) apparently did the firing. Although I am no longer on Riddle's campus, I heard this from one of my buddies there who called me to let me know because he figured that I would be pretty happy about it. I'm going purely off of someone else here. I had discussions about the program with each of these three men during my exit interviews for my withdrawal process. They were firm believers in the new part 142 program, which I now so passionately hate.

[SmitteyB]

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The reason I am choosing ERAU PRC is because I too want to be surrounded by aviation. My choices are UND and Embry-Riddle, and after looking into it more...you would be with a lot more stupid people at UND (their website states that any high school grad with a 2.5 GPA who received a 990 on the SAT is still considered for automatic acception...pretty lousy i think).

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Wow. I think you're stupid for making that comment. One of my friends applied to ERAU BA in Aeronautics...71 high school average, 890 SAT...Didn't get into UND, but got into ERAU...

If you're going to make comments like that, maybe you should go to ERAU. I think it's good for people to get exposed people of all walks of life and people majoring in something else...personal opinion.

[B767]

Holy crap people, stop it already. I told you where I got the information from. UND's website and the Princteon Review. I didn't just look at UND and say they suck and skip over ERAU. I am fully aware that the avg GPA during high shool for students was 3.38 and the avg ACT was 25 and the average SAT was 1100 (or something like that). I am also aware that 80% got accepted to PRC for the 2005 year and only 30% enrolled. I also know that only 75% return for another year, and only a lousy 26% graduate in 4 years. I also know that ERAU's male/female ratio is 12:1...the second worse in the nation behind VMI. I'm well aware of the facts for both sides. So it would be greatly appreciated if you guys actually read and took a little time to comprehend what I'm saying and not just bash me by calling me "idiot and stupid" just because you think I make this crap up.

Taylor

[project7]

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I am also aware that 80% got accepted to PRC for the 2005 year and only 30% enrolled. I also know that only 75% return for another year, and only a lousy 26% graduate in 4 years. I also know that ERAU's male/female ratio is 12:1...the second worse in the nation behind VMI.

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Well, if you're cool with all of that, then knock yourself out. It sounds like you were set on ERAU before asking any questions, and now you're getting pissed because we're not giving you the answers you were looking for. We're not an admissions staff who are going to tell you what you want to hear. What we are is a group of people who did what you are planning on doing, and now we're giving honest advice about it (something you won't find in the princeton review stats). Let us know how things turn out for you.

[B767]

Actually I was always set on ERAU and my initial question was why do people bash ERAU all the time. I know this isn't an Admissions board and with the help of this forum I know what to expect so I wont have my hopes so high, like some people stated that they did but when they actually got to ERAU they thought it was crap. So I just wont build my hopes high on anything and wont expect anything and I'll see where that leads me. I only wanted to know why so many people hate ERAU...therefore I was not looking for any specific answer. I am happy with what I got. I will definetly let you all know what happens when that time comes...but that's not for a while...another year and a half until I start college. I'm not pissed either. I just thought people could have siad that the Princeton Review is stupid for the facts taht they have...I had trusted the PR until now people have told me otherwise, and I thank them for that...even though they probably still think I'm idiotic and stupid. Oh well, guess it happens.

Taylor

[MikeD]

Lets watch the personal attacks here.......

[SteveC]

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Lets watch the personal attacks here.......

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I don't know about anyone else, but I sure enjoy watching them....

[project7]

Just tryin' to help a brotha out.

[kellwolf]

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Actually I was always set on ERAU and my initial question was why do people bash ERAU all the time.

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Just out of curiosity, what other schools did you visit/consider? If you're basing all your decisions off the Princeton Review, then I wouldn't be set on ANY college until I'd visited that one and at least two or three others. Hell, I was looking at STATE schools, and I checked out four before I made my decision. And I think you've gotten a lot of valid reasons (and some not so valid) that answer your initial question.

[B767]

Yes I have gotten quite a few valid reasons. Even the personal attacks were valid reasons. I am checking out UND this summer, and just for kicks and giggles I have checked out U Maine Orono, CU and CSU as well, and about as much of the Air Force Academy as they let you.

Taylor

[MikeD]

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and about as much of the Air Force Academy as they let you.

Taylor

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Oh man....you really want no college life!

[B767]

Oh and Mesa State in Grand Junction, CO. Yea well I've have taken trips to the USAFA quite a few times on fields trips...once was even to disect rats in a bio class they had (12 seniors in that class). And I wanted to become an airline pilot through the military at one point...but for some reason I decided against it.

Taylor

[francais]

I wouldn't let the haters make any kind of decision for me. Anyone so bent on dissin' all the time can't have your best interest in mind. I would find some folks that absolutely loved it and ask them their honest opinion of some of the weaknesses. I have heard many terrible things about ERAU, as well as many positives. One thing that impressed me, although I did not attend the university, is their safety record, they have far fewer accidents than the GA community in general. They rank up there with the airlines. Definitely get some other input from someone other then the downers here, they do not, regardless of what they presume, have your best interest in mind. Best of luck to you. Remember it is fun, flying and learning to do so, perfect practice makes perfect performance.

[Phil_Eagle]

i agree. I wont let anyone make a decision for me. I'm just listening to both sides. With the current plan in mind, I have all the time to change plans

[B767]

I have. I've been keeping in touch via email with a 2001 grad who flies Hawkers for PrivatAir and an instrucotr at the FBO where i work who was a 2002 grad. I have also talked with a grad who flies 767-400's for Continental and an alum that flies MD-11 for FedEx. They have all given me both positives and negatives. The main negatives from everyone were the annoying little things, like weight and balance before every flight and having to get a go/no-go decision from a chief pilot...even when it is your final solo before the commercial license. They said that many of these were insurance related so no one could sue if something bad happened...just like many of the other major flight programs in the world.

Taylor

[kellwolf]

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They said that many of these were insurance related so no one could sue if something bad happened...just like many of the other major flight programs in the world.

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I've never had to go to a chief pilot post solo and get the "okay" to fly or been told "you can't fly today since the xwind is 16 kts and you're only rated for 15 kts." Now, that being said, if I had made a PIC decision and it came back to bite me, it would be MY BUTT not the flight schools. Anyone that says it's an insurance deal is not looking at the whole picture. It's not the flight school's responsibility to insure the safety of the flight, that's a job for the PIC. I can guarantee you that if there is an accident in an ERAU aircraft, there are clauses in their contracts that absolve them of all responsibility. That's also true of all flight schools. The responsibilty falls on the PIC of the aircraft, not the owner. Now, if there is a mx problem that caused the accident, then it might come back on the school. I'd be more willing to say that ERAU is trying to avoid bad press than err on the insurance side of caution. IMO, if you start letting the chief pilot make the PIC decisions for you (xwind maxes, weather, etc), then it will seriously hurt you down the road.

[doubleo6point9]

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Metro State has a great program. I used to stick my head in on DEN layovers. My favorite thing about their program is you can fly at your choice of a few different flight schools in the Denver area. This choice keeps the overall cost down and allows you the most options. Yeah, Metro State's on campus program is only simulators, but they say they have more sims than any other school. If you absolutely MUST have a degree in aviation, I'd highly recommend Metro.


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I went to Metro and graduated in 2003. I've gotta say that it's the best thing that I could have done in terms of picking schools. Originally I had applied to ERAU, was accepted and in the end I decided that I didn't want that 100k debt in my name once I graduated.

Anyways, even though the school doesn't have any fancy sims or their own flight department(thank god, they actually tried to set up a deal with Delta Academy that fell through) they've got one of the best aerospace departments out there in my opinion. They've got some really knowledgeable professors, most of the students are down to earth about wanting to be professional pilots, the campus has plenty of WOMEN if you just walk across the street to the main campus and best of all it's damned affordable.

Now they've restructured their major's a bit since I was there but I can tell you that if you really want a degree in aviation and you're willing to fly in conjuction with the courses you take then you can't go wrong for the price. The only thing I would have changed was getting a major in something outside of aviation, possibly in my minor which was meteorology so that I could make a living outside of flying if I had to. But I can tell you I don't regret going to Metro one bit. Even if no ones really heard about it. And besides, I graduated with only 5k of debt with my CFI ticket.

Now the only downside is that it might be a bit hard to find a place to instruct at around here if that's what you want to do afterwards.

[Screaming_Emu]

Since UND was brought up I'll give my 2 cents I guess.

I decided that I wanted to major in aviation becase I did not have a website like jetcareers to point out that it wasn't exactly necessary. By the time I found this place I was already so far along that changing things would mean that I'd be here (or somewhere else) for a loooong time.

If I were to do it over again I would go to somewhere like ATP or Skymates right out of high school. After that I would find a school in a more interesting place in the world and been a CFI throughout while majoring in something that would be a good backup plan for if I end up not being able to fly for some reason.

With that said, UND has been a good academic experience for me. The flying has been great, airplanes are in great shape, I have yet to have a bad instructor, and I've learned a whole lot. One of the reasons I didn't want to go to Riddle (other than the fact that its outrageously expensive) is that I wanted to go to a 'normal' college.

As was stated above, UND is a normal State School with many other programs that aren't even close to related to aviation. I've met a lot of really cool people that aren't aviation majors. As much as I love flying and airplanes, I dont need to talk about them all the time, so its nice to have some non-prop head friends around. We also have great sports teams which are very entertaining to watch (especially hockey). We have one of the nicest hockey arena's in the world (seats about 13,000 people and cost $90mil to build). The only things that I have absolutely hated about going to school here are the dining facilities (absolutely gross), the housing (but then again dorms anywhere are going to suck), and the fact that its in North Dakota.

While there is a bit of a drinking problem in GFK, its not everywhere, and if that's not your thing its pretty easy to avoid it. Dont believe everything you read, its definately a good idea that you're going to come here to check out the school, though I dont think you are doing it with a truely open mind.

Yeah, this is getting fairly long winded and pointless. So to sum it up. Has getting an aviation degree been good for me? Yes. Is UND a good place to do it? Yes. Would I do again, probably not.

[Flatline]

Anyone? Beuler?

[project7]

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Anyone? Beuler?

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If someone asked a question about CAPT, he'd probably pop up again. This thread has deviated so far from the original subject, I don't think he's had any reason to post anything.

Let's give it a try.

Seth, how's the success rate been lately? How many CAPT grads hired last month? Who hired them?

[ComplexHiAv8r]

Also, can a SEL COM pilot jump into the middle of CAPT?

[project7]

*crickets*