141 Schools

Many of you may not know these places by the phrase "141 school" so I
will give you some great ways to spot them. If the school is a
university flight department, if the name includes the word Academy, or
if their ad says anything that refers to training pilots for an airline
position it is a 141 school and you should carefully consider sending
anyone there. Here¡¦s your quick evaluation test: Do I want my
offspring to be a pilot or do I want them to be a regulation expert with
average skills? If it¡¦s the first, you should consider finding
another school.

Now if you happen to be a 141 graduate, please do not take this
personally. I know many pilots who made it through a 141 school
without the skills learned prior being stripped from them. If you are
a 141 grad and you get this newsletter, you likely know better than
anyone what I am talking about. And if you run a 141 school, there is
a chance you are one of the few who have received FAA approval despite
your good reputation. With that said, let¡¦s get to the meat of the
subject.

Why do people go to these schools and why do flight schools go to a 141
method of training? 141 Schools are typically accelerated programs that
are eligible for government grants, and whose students are eligible for
student loans. For this reason, it is very hard for me to blame a
flight school that chooses this route as it is sure to guarantee more
income. Likewise it is hard for me to blame students as they are apt to
seek out the quickest route through training. But does this encourage
the best training?

Because these programs are FAA sanctioned, these schools tend to focus
first on regulation, preparation for the airlines, and all the ways you
can get violated instead of how to fly an airplane well. Due to this,
the typical 141 graduate is an amazing encyclopedia of regulation that
can tell you what page and paragraph of the FAA bible describes the
current situation while simultaneously freezing at the yoke because they
have no idea how to read the weather ahead. But, as you fly headlong
into a level 5 or try to convince them you don¡¦t need to deviate a
hundred miles around a cloud the size of a VW Beetle, they WILL tell you
the technical term for that specific type of cloud.

Did you realize that a 141 school student:
¡E can get a full license in less hours
¡E can become a CFI in less hours
¡E is teaching the next class of students
¡E is allowed to do this because the program is a certified FAA approved
program

Knowing pilots are inherently cheap, I can confidently say that most are
tempted to get excited about fewer training hours but answer these
questions: How many of the ¡§highest quality products¡¨ in the world come
from ¡§sweatshops¡¨ or the phrase ¡§FAA approved", how many high schools
let sophomores teach the freshman, and how many people put their best
into ¡§sweatshop¡¨ style jobs? NONE¡K¡Kand WHY? Do I really have to
explain?. Strangely, it is never advertised that most 141 students
don¡¦t actually earn those ratings quicker. Yet with all this, those at
the top of aviation continue to support these schools in the interest of
pumping out pilots.

ON the positive side, I have flown with many 141 graduates and most of
them have a great pilot inside dying to come out. In fact, many of
them have great unused skills and knowledge. The only problem is that
their school did them a disservice in their training. Years ago when
I was spending the winter in the Keys, I helped pump gas at an FBO and
was witness to one of the most ridiculous aviation spectacles ever seen.
Back then most every Saturday brought a flight of 10-15 Embry Riddle
planes to the Marathon airport that would somehow arrive together. I
watched this over and over trying to figure it out until I had to ask
one of the student pilots what was going on. It turned out they were
doing their long cross countries to one of two syllabus approved
airports; DAYTONA TO MARATHON KEY. Go look at a map and tell me what
you would learn doing this long cross country, flying down the beach in
formation with 12 or so others, while following the wealthiest airline
offspring who happens to have a GPS . Today whenever I run into an
Embry grad I mention this to them and they all know exactly what I am
talking about.

But what you may have missed in this example was the fact that these
schools are pumping out pilots like crazy. This is a great opportunity
in disguise. Our aviation organizations need to be bringing these
pilots into our flock with the intention of making ¡§real pilots¡¨ out of
them. If this were the case, we could have many more people on our
side. The option is to have a future majority of pilots who say scary
things like ¡§ I will never fly another small plane¡¨ and who will gladly
sell out our freedoms and theirs to go along with an airlines efforts to
get user fees passed. All because they believe it will save their
jobs. These are the pilots of tomorrow. Bring them in or be cursed by
them later.

Is there anything else that could be done? As long as the FAA
continues to support (promote) these programs it is unlikely. But if
aviation as a whole would insist on a change in their methods, something
could be done. My suggestions would be to make the hour requirement
for a CFI higher, and make any flight school eligible to instruct and
receive payment from students using student loans and grants. This
would encourage a more professional and qualified group of instructors
and create the opportunity for students to learn from smaller flying
oriented organizations.

Once again, we find ourselves asking "Why is it so?" . . .