School Help Ii

[transquebecniece]

Was tryin' to post this when first thread got axed; gotta learn to be quicker than Twinnie. Ha!

 

Nova Colorado: Were I you (which I'm not!), I'd start research in my own backyard (Boulder, Colorado Springs, Front Range—where you know we also have extreme terrain/wx, etc.), then branch out from there. Just a thought.

 

Couple of links:

 

http://www.bestaviation.net/schools/colorado.asp

 

http://www.landings.com/_landings/pages/fbo/fbo-co.html

 

http://www.flightinfo.com/flightschool.asp

 

Couple of locals:

 

Falcon Helicopters, Inc.

5264 WCR 16 3/4

Longmont, CO 80504

 

Highlander Helicopter

1420 Newport St.

Denver, CO 80220

 

Highlander Helicopter Flight Training, Inc.

37800 Cessna Way

Watkins, CO 80137

 

Rotors of the Rockies

11915 Airport Way

Broomfield, CO 80021

 

Zephyr Helicopter Company

1540 Meadow Lane

Steamboat springs, CO 80487

[NOVA]

Hey transquebecniece, Thanks for the help. I actually went and visited Rotors of the Rockies yesterday and it seemed like a decent school. Im going up with one of the instructors on monday which should be an awesome time.

Ive also been checking out Precision Aviation (www.precisionflight.com) and Hillsboro Avition (www.hillsboroaviation.com). If anyone knows anything about these schools it would be great to hear.

 

Thanks, NOVA

 

(Hopefully this question won't have the same effect as the last one )

[transquebecniece]

Not a problem. Drive 'em nuts with a bazillion questions (like I do all the time!), then dig deep when making comparisons...history, background, instructor qualifications, FAA, BBB, you name it! It's yer money, safety, future—ya know?

 

BTW, Rotors has dinner flights to The Fort all the time. Unfortunately, I live close enough to walk to it. Pffft! Tell me...is the Blue Parrot still there on Main Street? Gosh, haven't been there since after the rebuild when it burned down. Gotta make a run sometime soon! Ciao, baby!

[Htech]

Nova, ask lots of good questions of a prospective school. dont be shy to ask lots of questions..

 

1) do they help with job placement ?

[NOVA]

Yeah Blue Parrot is still there, though I personally think its kinda.... :down: Anyways I will not be afraid to ask a million questions if I have to.

Thanks for your advice guys

[412driver]

my first question would be:

 

"how much experience do your instructors have?"

[Ryan]

Second question(s):

How many, and how often, do your students do full autos to the ground? How about TR failure/stuck pedal landings?

 

You might notice you get vastly different answers depending what side of the boarder you ask those questions. Aim for schools that do these kind of emergency procedures more than others... if they have experienced instructors that is.

[Cole]

Thats a biggie Ryan, ALOT of people I talked to that are/were training in the states said they didnt even know you were allowed to do full downs. The more informed you are the better the school you will pick. (The cheapest isnt always/ is rarely the best. Make sure you dont have any personality conflicts with any other staff, this can cause some problems. Maintainance is a biggie, you'll note that say BC helicopters deals helicopters so they always have new ones to fly. (I was in there just after christmas and both machines in the hangar added up to less then 300 hours.)

 

I know what I said about cost, but get a quote at the beggining of your training and ask if they will stick with that all the way through. You may end up paying a lttle more then you have in this case. Many schools say that "the price for helicopter time will be as of commencement" This isnt a big one, normaly only a difference of a couple hundred bucks but if fuel skyrockets you dont want to spend to much more money. ie my school (FW) had a price increase about 3 weeks after I started training, like 5 an hour (doesnt seemlike much but 5$x40Hours I had left=200$)

 

Basically just write down everything you want to know about the school, and anything not supplied in their website/brochure etc ask. Try and get the biggest bang for your buck (again, this may not mean training at the cheapest place, but with the best instructors.)

 

Cole

[Ryan]

And if a school asks for all your money up front before they even show you a helicopter... run for the hills!

[transquebecniece]

Yeah Blue Parrot is still there, though I personally think its kinda.... :down: Anyways I will not be afraid to ask a million questions if I have to.

Thanks for your advice guys

Once was a time the Blue Parrot was THE place for Italian. That's too bad. Lotta rich history there, too.

 

Stayin' on topic: I'm really surprised that this place doesn't have like a list of the Top 20 Key Training Questions and/or Top 20 Key Training Tips. That stuff's gotta come from the pros and those who've BTDT and learned the hard way. Hmmm...