PEA

[AaronPilot4life]

Greetings!

I visited Phoenix East Aviation last week when I was in Daytona Beach and it seemed fairly reasonable price wise. Is there anyone on here that is a current student at PEA? I will be moving to the Daytona Beach area in December and trying to decide between Phoenix East Aviation in Daytona or Regional Airline Academy in Deland. Any thoughts on either school would be appreciated.

Aaron

Fly Safe!

[kellwolf]

About the only negative I've heard from PEA came from a friend of mine that got his PPL there. They sometimes won't let you know your plane is nixed due to mx until you get there. You may or may not have another plane to go up in. Other than that, it's a pretty straight forward, FBO style school. At least to me it felt more like an FBO than an academy.

[Doug Taylor]

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They sometimes won't let you know your plane is nixed due to mx until you get there.

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That ain't just PEA, baby! [img]/ubbthreads/images/graemlins/smile.gif[/img]

[Raskolnikov]

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That ain't just PEA, baby!

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Are most FBO's/schools like this?

[Doug Taylor]

I can't say most, but when I was a CFI and a plane went down for MX, it was usually up to the individual CFI to make the phone calls to either reschedule or rearrange the training flights.

Now if that particular CFI was already out on a training flight, his next student might already be on the way to the airport by the time he says, 'Zoinks! N123AB is in the hangar!"

[Mr_Creepy]

I lost my notes - what is the Chief Pilot's name?

[Doug Taylor]

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I lost my notes - what is the Chief Pilot's name?

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PEA's? I dunno.

[Aviator409]

I visted PEA and RAA. RAA puts PEA to shame - in fact, there is absolutely no comparison.However, Regional Airline Academy is $20,000 more, and they'll try to luer you into a CRJ rating for another 20 grand, totalling $70,000. (By the way, don't sign up for that CRJ rating unless you are rich and stupid with money).

If you are fine with spending more money, I highly recommend regional airline academy. They have great instructors, honest administration, and a new fleet of planes plus top of the line FTD's.

[afterburnerkid]

I have to disagree with you, Aviator. Currently, I am near the end of the PRO 3 program at PEA. In the time that I've been there (around a year) they've added 6 172SP's, 1 Seneca, and unloaded the older Piper Warriors. They also bought a shiny new 172SP with the g1000 panel that should be arriving within the next two months.

As for the training I received at PEA, I am completely satisfied. I am anxious to teach and build flight experience.

My roommate is an instructor at RAA. I hear plenty of stories about the operations there, and they don't sound like a place that I'd want to be.

[drumminpilot]

They finally got rid of those Warriors? Wow..... Glad to hear they're adding planes, and new ones to boot. Maintenance was always my biggest issue with them.

Who was your instructor down there?

[EDUC8-or]

I have a student who just started on his PPL. He went to PEA and supposedly there weren't any airplanes on the ramp for him to see. I know the MX department is kept pretty busy over there keeping the fleet airworthy.

[Hollywood]

I've been in and out of there a few times and i had a hard time finding anyone who spoke english. that place is looks like an alqueda(sp?) training camp.

[SmitteyB]

[ QUOTE ]
Greetings!

I visited Phoenix East Aviation last week when I was in Daytona Beach and it seemed fairly reasonable price wise. Is there anyone on here that is a current student at PEA? I will be moving to the Daytona Beach area in December and trying to decide between Phoenix East Aviation in Daytona or Regional Airline Academy in Deland. Any thoughts on either school would be appreciated.

Aaron

Fly Safe!

[/ QUOTE ]

Stay far away from Regional Airline Academy. Why do you need a $25,000 type rating? The airline will give you that. Forget you ever heard of RAA.

Seriously

[Aviator409]

RAA, like Delta Connection Academy and others will use many different ways of milking more money out of you. Most big academies do this. You have to be smart, and know when to say no. Some schools will make you practice stalls and turns for 90 hours before giving you your private, others will promise you a full time CFI job and give you 2 students. RAA doesnt practice anything like this, but they do try to sell you something you dont need, which isn't so bad. I still think PEA has a big maintenance and fleet problem and I'm glad they're trying to fix it. I know pilots who graduated RAA and they had no complaints. If you purchase the PPL - CFI ratings and everything in between, plan on finding your own CFI job, you'll be alright.

[MAS]

Is Ghassan Reslan still chief pilot?? Ask him about scabbing with Eastern!

[Mr_Creepy]

from the list:

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Reslan, Ghassan M EAL 89 70074, 7/89


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[MAS]

Glad we got that established.

Hope that answers questions whether to join PEA or not.

[daaviater]

PEA is very good. IF the weather is clear most or all the planes are out. I personally know the chief pilot. And Ghassan is still curently the chief pilot. PEA has 4 simulators and has about 30 planes of which are cessena 152,172,citation, and twin props. THe planes are brand new the oldest one is from 1999. PEA offers special programs that get your commercals in 120 hrs rather than 250 and stuff lke that. I hope this gives enough information.

[Persian_Pilot]

hey Guys.
Well I think i need some help in here. I've heard so many good and bad things about PEA. we all know that they don't charge as much as DCA or ATP. not even close to them. But I am wondering how's their quilty in training.
any one been there befor?

[Doug Taylor]

Pardon me when I barge in but the three aforementioned schools offer the same 'end result product' which is a license, but those are probably three entirely different training philosophies.

Kind of like steak au poivre, rindfleisch and boeuf grille -- they're all beef, but different preparation methods.

Ok, so it's dinnertime here in PHX...

[Persian_Pilot]

Thank you Mr. Taylor for your replay.
you have a good point. But does an Airline really cares which flight school i went to?

[kellwolf]

Airlines really don't care if you got your ratings from Riddle, DCA, FSI, Joe's Pilot-O-Rama, or anywhere else. They're all printed on the same card and come from the same place.

[Doug Taylor]

[ QUOTE ]
Thank you Mr. Taylor for your replay.
you have a good point. But does an Airline really cares which flight school i went to?

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Personally, I think no.

But my contact that was a manager of pilot selection says "kinda" -- primarily because a 'known quantity' candidate in certain circustances, is going to fare a little better than an 'unknown quantity' candidate.

I didn't agree with his answer but I think maybe what he was getting at was comparing two pilot candidates, one that went thru Air Force undergraduate pilot training (and theoretically stopped flying) in comparison to another candidate with similar hours that attended Joe Six Pack FBO. Knowing that the UPT-trained candidate went thru a demanding program and survived compared to another pilot applicant who showed up with the appropriate ratings tilts favorably in the UPT-trained pilot.

That's probably a bad example, but I doubt if he's up this late in order to answer my email for clarification.

But, pick a good quality flight training organization because you're building important skills. A good quality flight program doens't necessarily mean the glossiest ad in Flying Magazine, the most expensive or the flashiest name, it's largely between quality and availability of aircraft and the instructor.

Cheap rates are one thing, but if the aircraft are often down for maintenance, or it returns from a 100-hour inspection with a clean bill of health and you find yourself wondering "Geez, I can't see that tub confidently making it around the pattern", it's a moot point. Saving $10 on renting an aircraft may potentially increase your training costs in the long run because of aircraft availabilty, potential maintenance downtime.

Not saying that a more expensive flight school is going to have better reliability but there's more to finding a training environment than cost alone. You're looking for value, which is a combination of cost, reliability, environment, location and uhh, whatever!

Larger flight schools, depending on who you ask, may or may not help with certain airlines, but if you're simply a number and in order to complete remedial training, you've got to fill out six forms in triplicate, visit the flight training manager and wait for approval, it's not conducive to learning.

Notice I didn't say "Hey, choose a flight school for the airline affiliation!"

Interview A LOT of flight schools before making your choice. Also interview local FBO's as well. Talk to instructors, talk to students, talk to the mechanics, talk to everyone. Hell, talk to us!

[ComplexHiAv8r]

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Joe's Pilot-O-Rama

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You have a website for them? I hear they might have a good PFT program

[kellwolf]

[ QUOTE ]


You have a website for them? I hear they might have a good PFT program

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Nah, they're the competition. Give us a couple of months. There's been talk of starting the Kellerreshoff flight school. For only $50K, we can give you right seat time in our King Air and gurantee you an interview.

<note: the above comment was in jest. Any serious inquiries will be met with mocking laughter.>