Any information of Gulfstream Academy?

Question

I am looking to become a commercial airline pilot and wondered if Gulfstream Academy was a good way to go? I really don't have a ambition to be a flight instructor and I also don't want to fly banners around. I love flying single engine piston but don't think instructing is for me. I have talked to a few pilots that have gone through the program and they have said they loved it.

http://www.gulfstreamacademy.com/

Answer 1

There is much hiring now of low-time pilots, you don't need 1500 hours to get on with a commuter air carrier.

There are many entry level pilot jobs beside instructing and banner-towing.  Fly charters, patrol pipelines in Iraq, do USDA aerial monitoring flights, ferry planes, do aerial photography, fly checks,  fly explosives, fly film.......

Answer 2

Then go part 61 - One on One with an instructor. Get your Private Certificate with Instrument rating. Should run $10K to $15K if done right.  Have your money saved up ahead of time. Don't borrow it.  Schedule 3 flights a week, fly at least two. Get your Medical out of the way first. Study for your written as you go.  But, if you don't want to become an instructor, then don't go to a flight school. And if you don't want to become an instructor, plan on about five times the money to get your ATP.  Instructing is the way to minimize it's cost to you.

Answer 3

A lot of people in this industry, myself included, hate the idea of Gulfstream.  The reason that a lot of people dislike this program is because you are essentially buying a job.  You pay a lot of money for airline training- the same training that every other company in the industry pays you to take.  They get around this by giving you some certificates in the process... your Commercial AMEL, etc.  But the simple truth is this:  You're paying for a job.  You pay gulstream an insane amount of money to sit right seat in a 1900 (where they make money flying passengers) just so you can skip the normal route of instructing or whatever.  This brings the industry down.  If everybody did this there would be no paying jobs in the industry.  People would pay to sit right seat in 737's for Southwest if they could, or pay to sit right seat in any other airline out there if the option would arise- and every time people do this they would be taking work away from a qualified pilot who could be sitting in that seat making legitimate money.

If you don't want to instruct don't instruct... you'll be hurting more pople than yourself.  But, get a job flying.  There are a lot of people out there that take flying jobs they don't necessarily like or want to get the necessary experience to get better jobs.  It's called paying your dues.  Fly skydivers, fly pipeline patrol, fly traffic watch-- do something that pays you.  This day in age if you have a commercial and 500tt you'll get a job with a regional-- and you'll only have to fly one of these jobs a few months to get that experience under your belt.

You can get your ratings for half the cost of gulfstream, find a job that pays you after, and you'll be ahead probably 40k.  Doing it this way you'll have less debt and will also not make so many people mad.

The simple truth:  Gulstream is hated by many many many pilots.  I wouldn't want to risk a career by going there.  Don't do it.