Do certain flight schools look better than others?

Airline Pilot Questions & Answers
1

Hello,

My name is Steve and I am trying to decide on what flight school to attend, as of right now I’m looking into Embry Riddle. I’m transitioning out of the military soon and plan on using my G.i. Bill to pay for my schooling. Now my question is, do Airlines judge on what flight school you went to?

2

Steven,

Nope. They care more about ratings and hours. The name of the school on
your resume won’t get you hired any faster.

Tory

3

Gotcha, thanks Troy.

4

Steve,

As Tori said the name doesn’t matter when it comes to getting hired but obviously the quality of instruction does. Riddle is a great school no question as is ATP. Problem is ATP can’t take your VA bennies so not going to ATP may seem like a no brainer. Something to consider though is that ER will take you 4 yrs PLUS you’ll then have to build time. With ATP you can be flying for a Regional in 2. That 3-4 yr difference can equate to hundreds of thousands of dollars over your career. Just something to think about.

Adam

5

We always say that it doesn’t matter and that nobody will ask where you got your licenses, but when I interviewed with Continental one of the first questions they asked was where I had gone to flight school. We actually spent several minutes of my interview talking about my experience working for ATP and how I dealt with various situations with students. They were familiar with the school and I must have said something right, because they hired me.

6

Just an added tip for anyone else in this situation, ER takes GI bill for school AFTER using yellow ribbon program and even then it just barely pays for it. However, it only pays for school… the flight certs/ratings/etc. are too expensive to be included with the degree and are therefore out of pocket. It ends up being pretty close to the total cost of ATP. That’s what landed me with looking at ATP and saving my GI bill for later. Admittedly, it’s going to hurt not having that housing pay, but in the end I’d rather be flying sooner and working on my degree later since it’s not even important until major airlines.

7

Travis,

Good info. Thank you for sharing!