You should consider the following factors when deciding which flight school can provide you the best training and opportunities:
Westwind School of Aeronautics does not require you to sign a training contract or pay in advance for flight training. You simply pay for each flight after you complete each lesson. Many schools around the country require you to pay thousands of dollars in advance, and if the school goes out of business you lost that money. Before you consider another school that required you to pay in advance, click here to read an article in the Las Vegas Review Journal about another flight school that collected $80,000 from 2,700 students before suddenly shutting their doors, leaving the students with nothing to show for the $80,000 they spent. There is really no need to pay in advance for flight training!
Upon graduating (full time student status) from our Airline Pilot Direct Track or our Flight Instructor Direct Track programs, you are GUARANTEED A JOB with Westwind School of Aeronautics as a Professional Flight Instructor. Our full time Flight Instructors pay starts at $25 per hour giving you the opportunity to earn some money while you build up your flight hours teaching at Westwind School of Aeronautics. Some schools guarantee you an interview upon graduation, Westwind School of Aeronautics GUARANTEES YOU A JOB!
Westwind School of Aeronautics has a modern fleet of aircraft and simulators, which includes state of the art Glass Cockpits. Our fleet of Garmin G1000 equipped aircraft and simulators will help prepare you for the modern aircraft you will likely be flying as you continue your career as a professional pilot.
Westwind School of Aeronautics has as part of our Airline Pilot Direct Track Program a 4 week Jet Transition Program using a Boeing 737-800 simulator. This course includes 40 hours of simulator time and 40 hours of ground school. The class was developed and is taught by two retired captains from American Airlines and United Airlines. While other schools have similar courses, Westwind School of Aeronautics uses experienced airlines captains with decades of experience to teach this program as opposed to in house flight instructors who have little or no experience flying for the airlines.
Westwind School of Aeronautics has a program available to graduates of our professional programs. Under this program, you will be able to fly as co-pilot in our turbine powered Cessna Caravans. These aircraft are used on our sightseeing trips to the Grand Canyon, and offer you an opportunity to gain experience flying turbine aircraft, and more importantly, log turbine time in your logbook. Once you log 500 hours, you can apply for a position as a Captain in our Charter department gaining valuable Turbine Pilot-In-Command time!
As a result of the high quality of training Westwind School of Aeronautics has provided, graduates of Westwind School of Aeronautics find that the airlines recognize the a student from Westwind School of Aeronautics typically performs well in the airline industry. Colgan Air, which operates as United Express, US Air Express, and Continental Connection has an agreement in place to interview select students as soon as you earn your Private Pilot Certificate at Westwind School of Aeronautics. If you pass the interview, they will make you a job offer to fly as a First Officer with Colgan Air (contingent of finishing the program and instructing for one year). It is unheard of for an airline to make a job offer to a pilot so early in their training, but because Colgan Air has hired so many of our graduates and has seen the quality of training that Westwind School of Aeronautics provides they are willing to make the job offer to select students at such an early stage.