2 routes, advice needed ( yea its about RAA )

[airrick]

Hey, guy’s thanks allot for taking your time to read this thread. Basically here's my deal. A while back I've been looking into flight academy's and came upon (you guessed it) RAA, regional airlines academy. But after reading this forum and others I think I am going to pass on that idea. I was close to forking out 60k, 700 dollars a month apartment fee. I visited the AZ campus the other day, got a free intro flight and sim flight. I have to say I personally had a lot of fun. Then I went to check out the apartments they had for rent and I asked the sells lady if I rent a 1 bed room apartment from them how much would it cost me, and she said 700 bucks, and I asked her if I rented a 2 bedroom apartment how much would that cost and she said around 1200 a month. I was kind of bothered by that because RAA charges their students 700 dollars a month to live in a 2 bedroom apartment with roommates, "we have special offers with near by apartments." If by special offers they mean ripping 100 bucks off each student then yea.

Anyways, I have decided to go to a local FBO to get my ratings and do Mount San Antonio's ATC training program at the same time( which allows me a shot at getting into FAA’s training academy and if not at least gives me an AS in Aviation science and a chance to transfer to a 4 year university. Do you think this is a good idea? I’ve heard (mostly from RAA) that without connections it’s hard to get a job. What do you guys think? My main concern is I won’t get any interviews because I am from a small FBO that no one's heard of. RAA might not be GREAT, but they do offer interviews with airlines. I also like how RAA has ground school classes which I think might help a lot. I think just reading out of a book might not be enough.

My local FBO has a Private Pilot package deal which includes 30 dual ( with instructor) and 20 solo hours , 5 hours ground instruction + all books and charts, Avcom headsets, + FAA written test for 4550 in a Cessna 152 ( they don’t have 150's I asked . Is that a good deal? Will I most likely be able to finish my PPR in 50 hours? Or even learn to solo in just 30?

Anyways, I have decided to go to a local FBO to get my ratings and do Mount San Antonio's ATC training prgram at the same time( which allows me a shot at getting into FAA"s training academy and if not atleast gives me an AS in Aviation science and a chance to trasnfer to a 4 year university. Do you think this is a good idea? Ive heard ( mostly from RAA) that without connections its hard to get a job. What do you guys think? My main concern is I wont get any interviews because I am from a small FBO that no one's heard of. RAA might not be GREAT , but they do offer interviews with airlines.

My local FBO has a Private Pilot package deal of 30 dual ( with instructor) and 20 solo hours , 5 hours ground instructtion + all books and charts + headphone, + FAA written test for 4550 in a cessna 152 ( they dont ahve 150's i asked . Is that a good deal?

[Doug Taylor]

After all you've read, and I suspect you've read, why?!

[DE727UPS]

"I’ve heard (mostly from RAA) that without connections it’s hard to get a job. What do you guys think? My main concern is I won’t get any interviews because I am from a small FBO that no one's heard of."

Total BS. It doesn't matter where you train. Networking gets you contacts. You can do that at an FBO as well as at RAA. For example, I helped a guy I free-lance trained for an IFR rating who went on to Mesa, get a job at UPS. He never set foot in an academy.

Your PPL quote sounds like a good deal. Ask RAA how they compare.