Any Airborne Energy Grads Out There?

[tDawe]

I was wondering if there was anyone out there who went through their training with AES, and if so what you thought of it. Im looking to do the conversion and AES is one of the schools on my short list.

Thanks for any input anyone might have about the company or their affiliated school.

tDawe

 

[lowtime]

It is a good school (the one in Kelowna). The training areas are right there. John and mark are great instructors and both very different from each other for a good mix.

 

[412driver]

i believe that the "mark" mentioned above is now in bc...........

 

[HeloTeacher]

Airborne's school is out in Kelowna, actually.

The guys are out there, they'll respond eventually.

 

[Vortex Ring]

Just curious, what is an average salary range for a helicopter instructor with an instrument rating and night rating?

 

[412driver]

when you get your class IV you can expect around $45.00 per hour. then it goes up in stages to around $75.00 per hour for a class I.

 

[Vortex Ring]

Oh hourly salary uh...well then how many hours month are guys averaging at schools? I imagine it really varies but still...?

 

[412driver]

alot of depending factors. how many students you have, wx ect................

 

[100ft]

It's difficult for any graduate of any school's CPL program to recall much bad to say about that school, much less compare that program to another school's.

I think that most of us Airborne grads are very happy with the environment of learning we were brought up in and I believe the vast majority of Airborne grads are now working in the industry.

I will mention that the Kelowna school's (www.airborneflighttraining.com) is steadfast about keeping the operation relatively small in order to be choosey about it's student selection and subsequent graduate skill level. John has issues with those programs perceived to be 'puppy mills'.

100ft

 

[action jackson]

just wondering, is it worth it to take their extended training course?
it seems like it would be very useful but its a lot more money for the newbie on a budget....any thoughts?

 

[100ft]

jackson,

The AFT add-on training might be likened to turbine training at the end of a 100 hr program. It of course costs a little more but you must decide if it might pay off or not.

John at AFT is sold on the reliability and performance of the Robinson 22 and 44 so chooses to offer the 44 endorsement c/w sling, bucketing, mountain exposure to round-out the licensee's skill set a litlle and to remove some of the surprise down the road when one of his graduates is on the job and suddenly asked to longline a load ect ect.

I can say that the mountain flying (bush camp) and 100 ft line each greatly contributed to my confidence in flying as well as removing some of the unknowns I anticipated encountering down the road. You know these additional skills have been added to my resume as well.

John does not feel comfortable sending minimally trained students out the door so really prefers not to flog a 100hr course. Another example of this are his type endorsements. If you as a lowtimer are counting on an endorsement for 3-5 hours of flight time, John will likely send you away. He prefers to provide something at little more comprehensive (ie. 10hrs+/-) to be certain the student is going to survive their next 100hrs of work.

I am happy having chosen to pay the extra $ for these specific skills.

 

[action jackson]

here's another question... was anyone who trained with them able to get a student loan?
i've heard that only accretited schools can offer them.

 

[100ft]

The school would have to have PPSEC (private post secondary......) designation by the Provincial gov't as far as I know but check with the student finance board on the amount available. When I inquired the amount available for flight training was roughly $4100.00. I have not met anyone who has ever bothered with that financing for a $40-60K CPL program. It just doesn't seem worth the effort.

On the plus side, CPL flight training throughout Canada is considered post secondary tuition for income tax purposes; as long as the flight training unit is a flight training unit by Transport Canada standards.

 

[412driver]

it depends which province you live in that determines the amount you can receive via student loans. i believe alberta tops the list at around 22k so very worthwhile investigating the possibility........

 

[duf]

AFT is now called OK (Okanagan) Mountain Helicopters...
Last time I checked they were waiting to be 're-accredited' for PPSEC due to a name change technicality
They are also on my short list (but I need that PPSEC!!!)
Check out their site, great videos!