GI Bill Benefits

[crosby87]

I'm in the process of preparing for my CFII and plan on using my GI Bill to help pay for it. I know that I will only need the minimum of 3 hours before the check ride, but I was hoping to drag it out to build some multi time.

If I overfly the quoted cost of the CFII program will the VA still continue to pay? I'm not sure if they use the quoted prices as a hard limit, but if I could get another 30 multi that would be awesome.

I don't want to apply and start flying only to find out they aren't going to reimburse me.

[Chewie von Nubbins]

Not sure how much help you are gonna get on here with this question. But, getting reimbursed for flight training using the GI Bill is all dependent on what any particular school has gotten approved under part 141 and is approved by the VA for use with the GI Bill. To answer your question, you will first need to find the program you are interested in and find out how the specifics of that program and how many hours are approved. Then, you have to follow that 141 program almost letter for letter.

I don't think there is a snowball's chance in hell that you are gonna be able to scam an extra 30 hours of multi time and not follow the strict guidelines for the 141 program that is approved by the VA for GI Bill reimbursement.

Just my .02 shekels.

[USMC-SGT]

I used my VA and chewie is correct.

You will have to follow your 141 course to the letter (or at least your cfi will have to document your records to reflect that you followed it to the letter) and you will be allowed up to and not a .1 over the allowed flight hours that have been approved for that courses syllabus. Your school will have all of this on file and handy to email so you can see exactly how many hours are possible. If you do the CFII in a twin then it should net you 30 hours or whatever the typical part 141 II syllabus calls for. Sometimes a school has not listed their twin as an approved aircraft for a certain rating (IE instrument) but that is just a matter of a quick call to their VA rep and is what my school had to do.

I had the same thoughts you did, my answer was that I just did my instrument in a twin, initial comm in a twin and MEI as my initial. I needed to fly the hours and get the ratings anyway so I may as well build PIC multi while the VA was footing 60% of the bill.

[crosby87]

Thanks for the replys. I figured it would be a long shot, but I still have $13,000 in payable benefits remaining and I was hoping for a way to use them.

I sort of understand how the process for VA certification works for the 141 programs. Would the VA reps be able to tell me what the allowable limit is for the specific program?

I know I should probably just call them, but they have given me the run around before. I spent 9 months waiting for benefits before, being told they were approved and they were waiting for the treasury to fund it. I heard that answer several times, then finally I was told that the benefits had been denied. Something along the lines that I had been using it for college and the time periods overlapped (by a month) and benefits could not be payed concurrently.

It took them 9 months to tell me that - after I had called before I even applied and told it would not be a problem.

[nosehair]

Originally Posted by crosby87

Would the VA reps be able to tell me what the allowable limit is for the specific program?

The VA rep can only approve whatever is the 141 school's program is.
Look at 141, in the index, and you will see the double-eye program is 15 hours. But that can be modified by a particular school's syllabus. Your school may be 20, but probably not 30. But whatever it is, the VA only approves the flight hours (and ground) for that particular school program.

And, they only approve whatever airplane that school uses in their program. You will have to find a school which has a ME as their 'normal' instrument instructor program.