I am considering Skymates

[Spbeyond]

Hey everyone I am looking at flight schools for my 0 Experience- CFI/ Pro pilot. Can some people tell me how they like Skymates. And what the costs of living are like in that area. What is the stuation with getting loans up there. How much debt does the adverage student leave with? Why should I go to skymates instead of another school? Thanks

[Customx]

Look through the other messages on this page. There are over 7 pages, which should give you enough information

[meyers9163]

As mentioned before look on this forum. There are a lot of people's views here who have actual experience. However I would just say I dont think anyone is going to "sell" you skymates. You will choose skymates because you want to be there and they are not going to sell you something on this forum (or i'd be surprised). You ultimately have to find the school for you not be sold on one.

[todd584]

You can get a furnished apartment for $500 a month plus 125 for electricity and water/trash at a place where we have a number of students. I'm not sure what a 2 room place goes for there but getting a roomate would reduce the monthly cost vs having a single. There are of course other housing options.

The situation with getting loans is applying. There is a link to an online application at www.skymates.com under the financing tab with all of the information you need.

Debt is dependant on what you want for multi time. You can spend 33-35k with enough multi time to get your multiengine instructor rating or you can get 200 hours for around 48k. There's no upfront costs. The courses on the website aren't set in stone meaning you can do what you want. They were put together from per-hour costs and are for the most part safe estimates. Personally I came out under budget.

[kellwolf]

Originally Posted by todd584

You can get a furnished apartment for $500 a month plus 125 for electricity and water/trash at a place where we have a number of students. I'm not sure what a 2 room place goes for there but getting a roomate would reduce the monthly cost vs having a single. There are of course other housing options.

Okay, Tom's officially smoking crack. $625 a month for a bedroom and a shared bath with 2-4 other people? If you're planning on being there for a short time (ie just a couple), then this might not be bad. If you're moving to GKY for the long haul (ie taking your time or instructing afterwards), you might be better off with a rommie in a 2 bedroom/2 bath (or even a 1 bdrm/1 bath) with a 6-12 month lease. Cost of living is CHEAP in the area. If it weren't for my family being in MEM, I would stayed there. Then again COL is cheap here, too.

As far as debt goes, Todd's right on. It depends on how much you want to spend on time building. The more ME time you want, the more it's gonna cost you. If I had it to do over again, I probably would have gotten everything at Skymates. I would have been done quicker and saved a few grand over what I paid at Air Orlando.

[todd584]

Not in Tom's place, I'm not sure what's going on with those houses. Was talking about an apartment complex

[SpiraMirabilis]

Skymates' planes seem to be in fairly good condition but the people seem to be a little mean.

The instuctors who man the counter seemed to get a little churlish with me when I came in to buy sectionals/AFDs as they could tell I'm from ATP.

Skymates: "Itemized recipt? That'll probably take 10 minutes to print out."
Instructor-guy taps a key on the computer and the recipt immediately prints out, then he promptly ignores it and me for several minutes by helping other customers, then hands it to me derisively.

[kellwolf]

Oh, man. I can tell ya about that printer. You can honestly never tell about those receipts. Sometimes it goes right off the bat, sometimes it takes 5-10 minutes, sometimes it prints out when you boot the computers up the next DAY. I opened one day, and I got 6 itemized receipts when I started the computers.

Sometimes, I just grabbed a credit card slip and wrote on out by hand. 9 out of 10 times I'd beat the computer.

Also understand that the guy behind the counter is working for free.....

[jtrain609]

Word. When I was there (only a few months ago) none of the instructors had any problems with anybody over at ATP. Heck, we invited them all over to a party we were having at one of the houses one night, even gave them one of Austin's famous posters!

You were probably not getting crap because you're with ATP, they were probably just being asked to do a crap ton of stuff as Steve said, for free.

[WAFlyBoy]

I'll let people with more recent experience answer regarding cost of living, financial aid, cost of program, and such.

However, I will say this: I went to Skymates last year (June 05) with a private and finished in November with the works (CSEL, CMEL, CFI, CFII, MEI). I actually ended up spending less than originally quoted, and found Skymates a great place to train (and eventually, to work). Good equipment, people, and location. And it seems the instructors who either trained or taught (or both) at Skymates are advancing their careers nicely.

If you're shopping for a flight schools, it's not a bad idea to invest some money and tour your top picks. If you do, be sure to stop by Skymates. You'll be glad you did.

[ryanmickG]

Originally Posted by jtrain609

You were probably not getting crap because you're with ATP, they were probably just being asked to do a crap ton of stuff as Steve said, for free.

Ya, I can honestly say we dont care if your from ATP or anywhere else. John what else where you asked to do for free but sit your ass in a chair..haha

[jtrain609]

Hey, man, you know...I mean I sat around...and...well I mean I ate popcorn from Harrison...and...sometimes they had cookies...and....we.......erm....I'll get back to you.

[kellwolf]

"Steve, the computer's busted again...."

"What's wrong with the sim now? Can you fix it?"

"Hey, could you start that Lasergrade test?"

And my favorite.....

"Uh, hi. I need to take a Cosmotology test. Where are you? I'm coming from Plano."

[Captain_Bob]

Never had a problem with the Skymates guys... even though I was from "The other side of the field". Heck... they were even nice enough to run over naked and streak the flight line for us during one of our torrential downpours!

Bob

[SpiraMirabilis]

Heheh, I guess you guys make more sense. I've only been in Skymates a few times and never really got into conversations with the guys behind the counter. I guess you could modify the old phrase slightly: Never ascribe to malice what you can ascribe to old ass equipment.

[frog_flyer]

Sometimes I come out to GKY only to get cookies from Harrison but figure I'd might as well fly whilst out thataways....


ps. fuel surcharge? yea/nay? What's the scoop? FF is gonna be flyin alot with the gas this low if y'all are zingin the prices back down...

[mwinnett2003]

I was in the same boot about 3 months ago, I did a discovery flight at SM and had a great time. That flight and expierence there preaty much helped me decided to go the SM and if still feel like it was a great dicision.