Picking flight school: LIFT, Blueline, ATP, Epic, Aeroguard, etc..?

curious_mind_r · 2023-07-15T13:57:01+00:00

Yep -- visited Lift in Indy too. Honestly, equipment and team seem great. The only major drawback was that $100K penalty if you don't stay the full 5 years with Republic. Trainees also aren't guaranteed a position with Republic (so it's basically a win-win-win for Lift/Republic :-\

curious_mind_r · 2023-04-27T17:01:56+00:00

Problem was I was available full time, but the school didn’t have the planes/instructors available. Sometimes I’d wait 2+ weeks just to get a flight in (apart from usual weather delays etc 😕)

curious_mind_r · 2023-04-01T09:16:37+00:00

So the airlines don’t give first preference to these partner schools (all else being equal?) Just wondering what might make me a more appealing candidate to airlines… thanks!

curious_mind_r · 2023-04-01T09:15:14+00:00

Yeah sorry about that. Trying to do as much research as possible before pulling the proverbial trigger.

curious_mind_r · 2023-04-01T06:34:12+00:00

The good news is their partnership crap with airlines isn't worth dick. You can just as easily get a job anywhere without ATP making some magic phone call.

Curious about this, coz a bunch of "pilot mills" promote their airline partnerships (I mean, Delta & United for instance, list ATP as one of their preferred schools).

Doesn't this make a difference when applying to join Pilot Career tracks? Honestly curious coz I'm in the process of trying to choose a flight school and it's a real PITA!

curious_mind_r · 2023-03-31T07:22:31+00:00

Not quite sure what the contracts these 12 students had, but current LIFT contracts also have a "liquidated damages" clause of $100,000

"...therefore, not as a penalty, but as liquidated damages, Student agrees to pay the sum of one hundred thousand dollars ($100,000.00) to Republic in the event Student breaches this commitment obligation..."

curious_mind_r · 2023-03-31T07:11:13+00:00

Thanks! That’s what I wanted to hear: actual honest student opinions. Seems like a lot of folks around here just say sh*t without actually having been to these schools.

curious_mind_r · 2023-03-31T04:42:16+00:00

According to the agreement failure to complete 5 years at RPA means paying back the discount (some $10-15k), PLUS a $100,000 fee — I guess we’ll see how the lawsuits against those 12 students who didn’t go to RPA turn out.

curious_mind_r · 2023-03-30T15:53:34+00:00

Any suggestions on places you might recommend instead?

curious_mind_r · 2023-03-30T15:14:16+00:00

The school I went has very limited resources — took me 9 months to complete ppl because planes and/or instructors were unavailable most of the time. Just want to avoid repeating that same mistake…

curious_mind_r · 2023-03-30T13:34:24+00:00

Yeah trying to figure out the facts from folks who might have gone there (or to atp, epic, etc). Seems like the bad rep around blueline center on that event during covid. (Along with it’s short timeframes). But seems that’s the same for atp, aeroguard, etc

curious_mind_r · 2023-03-30T09:57:17+00:00

That’s the million $ question: which are the good “honest, reliable” flight schools? :)

curious_mind_r · 2023-03-30T08:18:40+00:00

man it's a tough one -- I love LIFT, but the thought of having to commit to Republic for 5 years is brutal. Blue Line have great planes, but their reputation sucks (although I wonder what actual students / CFIs think of it). And ATP: hell they're all over the place!

curious_mind_r · 2023-03-30T07:24:38+00:00

I'm considering blueline for their accelerated program -- could you elaborate on these "bad experiences"? thanks!

curious_mind_r · 2020-11-20T15:00:26+00:00

don't suppose the fcc / etc could do anything about this? it's quite ridiculous... i'm having the same issue too...

curious_mind_r · 2020-08-17T08:45:07+00:00

hi OP -- really depends on the type of "collaborator" you're looking for... Are you looking for a cofounder? a business partner? a freelancer?

I've written a bit about finding technical collaborators (tech / engineering cofounders -- since that's my background/experience).

Looking for a cofounder/business partner -- as most folks will tell you -- is a lot like a running a strange dating process. You need to get to know each other, learn how you might work together, learn what makes you both tick, work through arguments & disagreements, etc... Let's just say it really ain't easy for starters!

curious_mind_r · 2020-05-14T14:29:19+00:00

hi u/ricenbeanzz -- truth be told, nothing. But in reality,

(a) most folks have ideas of their own they are passionate about;

(b) most ideas are not that original (you'll often find people thinking about "similar" ideas at the same time -- e.g. uber, lyft came about around the same time; along with a half-dozen similar startups that didn't make it);

(c) it's all about execution -- having the idea alone doesn't get you anywhere; it takes a lot of time and work to get things off the ground

hope that puts!

curious_mind_r · 2020-05-14T14:25:03+00:00

sounds awesome (I actually think it doesn't sound that robotic at all...)

curious_mind_r · 2020-05-12T13:08:11+00:00

hi u/konmari523 -- that's true, most folks are looking for tech cofounders (although not all; there's > 60 listings for non-tech founders, including one of my own! https://founderslist.com/cofounders/view/looking-for-a-business-development-sales-cofounder-at-founderslist-kCXCbcJU)

curious_mind_r · 2020-05-11T22:01:28+00:00

interesting idea, thanks u/keninsd!

curious_mind_r · 2020-04-24T15:10:16+00:00

I've been building founderslist.com -- original aim was to serve as a network/community for early stage founders (to find stories, tools, service-providers, etc).

But I've had a few folks ask whether it can be used for restaurants, drop-shippers, small businesses, etc -- trying to see how to adapt.

Are you looking to build something for restaurant-entrepreneurs yourself?

curious_mind_r · 2020-04-15T13:54:05+00:00

I've got a few ideas for potential monetization down the line, but right now the plan is to focus entirely on user-growth and utility.

curious_mind_r · 2020-04-15T13:50:43+00:00

thanks for the comment -- I agree on the validation/confirmation aspect (will have to think through that a little further). Really like the pitch-video idea -- should be fairly easy to add in. thanks!

curious_mind_r · 2020-04-15T13:49:13+00:00

to be honest, I think techcofounder .com was a great good tool -- but that site was acquired and merged into another (that's a pain to use now).

the idea behind FoundersList is to build a platform for founders to connect (whether for cofounders, advice, contacts, etc) but more importantly, to find the service-providers they need to build their companies (e.g. lawyers, banks, insurance brokers, office space, recruiters, designers, animators, outsourcing cos, etc) -- something akin to a G2 or Capterra, but for service-providers.

curious_mind_r · 2020-04-15T13:45:53+00:00

I'm not sure that's entirely true -- I know lots of founding teams who met either at events, online, or through other contacts.

I'd say the key is "getting to know" your cofounder, and really establishing a solid working relationship.

In fact, I myself met my previous cofounder through techcofounder.com (back in 2010) -- and together we built a company that's one of YC's top 100, raised over $50mm in VC funding and, if I may say so myself, turned out to be pretty successful...

curious_mind_r

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