Tour

[FloridaPilot]

I have learned to much from reading the post's that everyone writes, and I thought I would contribute by describing my experience at Flight Safety. I just returned to CA after spending 3 days in Vero Beach checking out Flight Safety. I took their offer on the tour, where they give you a room. I have been reading everything I can, and visiting this web site daily(several times), and decided that it would be best to visit and see for myself. They gave me a visitor's badge, assigned a student to give me the tour. The lady took me everywhere, and answered all 10,000 questions I asked. At no time did anyone try to convince me to attend!! No hard sell . . no sell. They presented the facts, and let me make the decision. I wandered around and talked to several students', and even sat in on one of their ground school classes. The school is extremely organized, and structured. Everyone is serious about learning to fly, and they all seem to want to help each other. I was very impressed. The Pilot Shop, Library, Flight line (operations) every aspect exceeded my expectations. My feeling is that not only will you receive a quality education and flight training, but the school has the contacts to help put you in front of the people that can make a hiring decision. The only negative thing I heard was that sometimes, FS requires more checklist's and procedures than the FAA requires. (Safety) The only negative thing I personally see, is trying to find a place to live!!! It seems that most of the housing is either age restricted, or income restricted, or it is more than I can afford. Other than those issues, I feel it is a great school, and I am going to be attending!!

[Baronman]

Don't worry so much about the housing, I moved down without any idea about where to live...I spent 1 month in the dorms before finding a place off campus. And there are alot of apartment complexes around without restrictions. The higher end apartments run around $1,000/month, the more economical run $555/month (2 bedroom). Also I'm sure on the tour they showed you the board with people looking for roomates etc. If you want any specifics just ask, I'll find out

[Acadia]

I second what Baronman had to say. Unless you have a large pet (like my dog) housing is not that tough to come by. As of today there were probably 6 or more posts on one of the school bulletin boards from students with housing looking for roommates. I’m not sure how it is now, but when I set up my housing here there were many $500ish apartments available.

aca_dia@yahoo.com

[FloridaPilot]

Thanks for the info . . I will be coming by myself for the first 3 or 4 months, then my wife will be moving, so I will not be able to take advantage of the roommate situation. I just may look for a house to rent, it seems to be a little cheaper! I am looking forward to getting started!I am going to finish some crosscrountry time here which will save me a lot of money!

[chunk75]

Since it seems to be a popular topic lately (myself included), here's the website for Indian River County's Chamber of Commerce.

http://indian-river.fl.us/

Go to the real estate section, fill out the web form, and realtors will send you listings of rental properties, condos, etc. etc.

Man, I'm just givin' away the good gouge! [img]images/icons/tongue.gif[/img]

Chunk

[FloridaPilot]

Thanks Chuck . . I am also looking at living in Melbourne. It's only 30 minutes on 95. When are you planning on attending?

[Baronman]

Hey guys, I think living in Melbourne isn't the best idea, yeah there's more life up there but you're going to be complaining about that 30 minute drive when you have a cross country at 6am. Let's say you have a 6am flight, that means leaving your house at 5:30am, having spent at least an hour doing preparations for the flight (4:30am) and maybe a shower or breakfast (4am). No, it's not the end of the world but just keep that in mind. Also there are times where maybe you'll want to ride on a friend's flight (It's called Gemini) and it'll be a real pain to organize everything if you're up in MLB. I know that there are some people living in MLB, but it's gotta be a real pain in the butt.

[chunk75]

kdrake,

I start ppl audit 6/3/02.

Peace Out!

Chunk

[flybimmer]

kdrake...

if you can't find anything in Vero(which you should have no trouble finding), keep in mind Sebastian (15 minutes to the north), or SOME parts of Ft. Pierce. I live in St. Lucie Village, which always has some small effiency available. Also in the village is Caribe Colony, a tiny community of little cottages. I think the prices are fairly reasonable there. Again, about a 15 minute ride in the car to VRB.

Hope that helps...
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