Flight Schools in Los Angeles

[Damon]

I'm a newbie here. I took a trip to Santa Monica airport and have pretty much narrowed it down to two flight schools. Justice Aviation or Seaside Aviation.

Seaside trains on the Cirrus 20, but cost 18k. Justice seems to be a more establised school with several Cessna planes. Has anyone had any experience with any of these two schools, or any flight school at te Santa Monic Airport?

If I decide to go with Seaside Aviation, is anyone aware of scholarships for graduate students or minorities to help offseft cost. Or am I looking at a private loan as the best means of funding?

Thanks

 

[GolfNovember]

Hey, how you doing?

Well, I started my flight training at Justice a few years ago. Their pilots are quite knowledgeable, and they have (if not, had) the largest fleet on the field. But I stopped my flight training due to money constraints.

I am currently setting up returning to the cockpit with Santa Monica Aviation (they're right above the V1 Pilot Shop, which is next to Justice, right in the same building). My instructor there used to be at Justice, and since I know my instructor's teaching style (and it works for me quite well), I'm staying with SMA. But, believe me, Justice is an excellent school. Their fleet is quite big, and you can fly just about anything you fancy (at one time, they used to have a Bellanca Decathlon, but they don't have it anymore).

Me, since I haven't been at SMO in a long time, I have not heard of Seaside. But price and quality of instruction is what you should look for. Look at the fleet, and the instructors (if they're out to simply build time, rather than "instruct", you're wasting your time and money, and as much as I hate to say this, I have seen instructors who try to milk their students for time, or money, or for whatever reason). It'll be hard to tell in the beginning, but if your CFI is beating around the bush regarding a certain subject that you already know quite well (and demonstrated as well), you may need a different instructor.

Here's an MP3 PodCast from the Aero-News Network that can assist you in your search.

http://www.aero-news.net/podcasts/casts/3/...-2006-11-20.mp3


As far as scholarships are concerned, I have not had any luck with it (but you may have better luck with it). There are some flight training scholarships that you can apply for. You can search for it at sites like http://www.fastweb.com (FastWeb is more catered to the college student looking for scholarships, and most of them will be for scholarship or vocational programs, but there are some in there that can be used strictly for flight training. You just have to look....you'll have to REALLY look).


Blue Skies and Tailwinds to you and your budding flying career!