What is the difference between a CFR 141 Certified School and CFR 61 non-certified School? Why train 141?

FAA Part 141 refers to Part 141 of Title 14 of the Code of Federal Regulations. Training in a Part 141 flight school is much more structured, organized, and streamlined than you would experience under a Part 61 flight school and is normally associated with larger independent flight schools like Advanced International Aviation Academy, or with some University aviation programs. The training curriculum, syllabus, maintenance, and aircraft are inspected and approved by the FAA, periodically, whereas Part 61 is not. Training in a Part 141, you only need only 35 hours of total time before being eligible for your private pilot test, compared to 40 under a Part 61. Under Part 141, you require a minimum of 190 hours of total flight time to be eligible for commercial pilot test, compared to 250 hours under FAA Part 61 school. IN 141, you save 60 hours for your commercial training and certification compared to Part 61. To summarize it, training and a part 141 school increases the quality of your training, aircraft maintenance, training syllabus and significantly lowers the minimum our requirements to complete the course. If your goal is to become up a professional pilot, this is the best program, at the lowest cost and shortest time.If you are learning to fly each for pleasure are recreation, you may want to train under the Part 61 program. This would give you more flexibility in your training process, but may not be the cheapest and safest.

What are the BIG mistakes students make when choosing a flight school? How do you choose?

  • Most students make some big mistakes while searching for the best flight school for their training. Flight training is considerably expensive due to its inherent costs in operating airplanes. Students tend to compare the advertised training costs between schools and often choose the cheaper advertised fees/prices, not realizing its a “bait” pricing, and the terms, conditions, and fees/pricing may change after you start training. This is the biggest mistake.
  • The typical first question by a prospective student to the flight school is “how much is your hourly rate for the Cessna 172/152?(the most commonly used training aircraft). Not realizing, the Cessna 172 and 152 have been manufactured since 1950’s. One school may have new airplanes which is more expensive and safe, but at higher hourly rates, another might have very old, cheap, and unsafe planes, at lower hourly rates. The purchase cost difference between the old and the new plane is approximately 10 times and your training experience and safety also varies similarly.
  • The next question typically this, “what is your hourly rate for flight instruction?” One school may have very low experienced, low paid, low time instructors, who are training you to build hours they need to be hired by an airline, whereas, the other school have highly experienced, well-paid instructors who are dedicated purely to your learning. There is a BIG difference in quality of instruction you receive.
  • Moreover, one school may not have a dedicated maintenance team with the necessary facilities and equipment and maybe using ad-hock mechanics, questionable tools and parts, to cut costs, while the other may have a full-fledged FAA Certified Commercial Repair station with the required facilities, tools, genuine parts, insurances and FAA certified crew. Quality of planes & Safety matters.
  • One school may be operating in a remote village, with low cost below average facilities in a non-towered airport, while the other may be in a good city with the best training facility at a control towered airport. How does all this effect your safety, quality of your training, and lifestyle?

Why is Sacramento Executive airport ideal for Flight Training? Weather, Costs, Facilities better? Benefits?

Sacramento is the capital of California and is in the heart of the sunny, golden state. AIA Academy chose to locate its training facilities in this great city at the downtown Executive Airport because of its ideal location for flight training weather, costs, training airports, living facilities, culture & great student life environment.

Below are some of the important factors that certainly make Sacramento Executive Airport, the best place for flight training in USA.

  • Great weather through out the year for Flight Training. We don’t have the humid hot weather of Florida or Texas, nor do we have hurricanes and storms which disrupts and delays your training. The Sacramento weather is moderate and pleasant, no freezing winter or burning summers.
  • Sacramento executive Airport is 10 minutes to drive from a downtown Sacramento. Students can have a great city life easy access to the Airport and our training facility. Our airport has a fully operational control tower and instrument approaches, which makes it a great safe environment for training. There are over 10 airports and all the different types of air-spaces for training and practice within 30 minutes of flying time.
  • The city has great recreational activities such as multicultural dinning, night life, water sports, beach activities, hiking, fishing, scuba diving, mountaineering, skiing, snowboarding, horse riding, rock climbing, gliding, sky diving etc are available for students in Sacramento region and is quite close to San Francisco, Lake Tahoe, Napa valley. It is a multi cultural and liberal city with a large student population from many countries. Cost of living in Sacramento is one of the lowest among US cities.

How long will you take to complete the courses, tests & what is the Class Schedule for the courses? Costs?

AIA Academy offers both self-paced and Fast-Track pilot training courses. If you do it the self-paced course, your training schedules are decided by you. You may attend classes 1,2,3 4 or 5 days a week or even once a month. Its all according to your availability for training. Its very flexible and the completion time will depend on how often you attend the classes & fly.

If you do the Fast Track courses, you would have classes and training 4 to 5 days a week, about 4 hours each day. You can then complete the Private pilot course in 30 days, Commercial Pilot course in 120 days, instrument pilot course in 30 days, Multi-engine course in 30 days. So, from zero to commercial –multi-engine pilot course completion in a total of 210 training days.

The self-paced courses are based on the hourly rates of the type of airplane and instructor used for your training. The hourly wet rates for the training airplane vary between $95 to $140 for single-engine planes and $280 to 320 for multi-engine planes. Instruction fees vary from $40 to $65 per hour depending on the type of training and qualifications of the instructor you train with. Fees are paid “pay as you go”

How do I get started with my Flight Training? Do I need to take any tests before starting?

Starting your flight training and getting your pilot’s license is not as complicated as one may think. First, call or email the AIA Academy to schedule an admission counseling appointment. Then visit the school. The school will provide you with all the information that you would need to get started, in that meeting. If you are local, or in town, then take a “discovery flight” at the school, to understand the training better and feel how it is to fly the airplane. If you are a self-paced course student, then create a schedule with your training counselor and start your training. We would need at least 3 days’ notice to start your self-paced one-on-one training.

For the Fast Track, courses are typically chosen by students who wish to train as a commercial career pilot or by international students who wish to finish their course at the shortest time and lowest cost… local students can meet with the admission counselor and start the course with 5 to 10 days’ notice.