Expert: D. Norkus - 10/9/2008

Question
I'm planning to do my CPL training from the US. My mail concern is choosing a 'GENUINE' school. I have gone through many websites and even spoken to a lot of them, but could'nt get reviews on any. At present I'm talking to the Indian rep of MONARCH AIR, TX. I would like to get your advice on:
1.Is it advisable to join the course at this point of time in regards to the future opportunities.
2.Can you please suggest me some good school(s).
I am eligible for CPL and have even cleared my class1 medicals.

Answer
"My mail concern is choosing a 'GENUINE' school."

I am not sure what you mean by a "genuine" school. Large or small, all flight schools, pilot training centers or flying clubs in the USA must train their student pilots to meet the standards set by the FAA for airman certification.

Perhaps you mean reputable? As in they won't go out of business the week after they take your money?

If it is flight school reviews you want, you can surely find them at the message boards on one of these sites where you can search buy keyword:

http://forums.flightinfo.com
http://forums.jetcareers.com
http://www.usaviation.com/forums

1) Is it advisable to join the course at this point of time in regards to the future opportunities.

Again, I am not quite sure what you mean. If you are intending to take a commercial pilot course in the USA with the intention of landing a job in America as a pilot- then you will find the job market extremely challenging at best (providing you even have the right to work here). Otherwise, the opportunities abroad for pilots are growing very rapidly. If you intend to train here, to get a job abroad it seems that your chances of finding an opportunity are good. I suggest researching that more at http://www.pprune.org


2) Can you please suggest me some good school(s).

Any person who is not a U.S. citizen must get a special visa via the Alien Flight Student Program/AFSP that allows them to visit the United States for the purpose of flight training. This visa limits the schools you may attend. You can only chose from flight schools on the governments list. Since I do not know what schools are on this list, I cannot recommend one for a foreign national.

You can get all the information about this visa, approved flight schools and the application process here-

https://www.flightschoolcandidates.gov/

Other helpful links explaining the AFSP-

http://www.aopa.org/tsa_rule/
http://flighttraining.aopa.org/ft_magazine/special/training.cfm

Hope this helps,
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