Nboomer

Currently looking for a degree or flight program that I can use my GI bill on. I know it might be a long shot but does anyone ever used or taken flight school with Aviation Academy Hawaii? I have heard mix reviews and was told they will just take my money with very limited flight time. Also wondering if any military guys have any experience with liberty University? Thank you for any help anyone can send my way!

peaches

I graduated and instructed at liberty for a few years and had quite a few GI students. Liberty does a good job with their military students. When I first was a student I envied the GI guys because they could fly as much as they wanted with hardly any spending limit. That has since changed. The bill covers the minimum hours needed to get your certificate. The minimum for a private is 35 hours so for example if it took you 45 hours to get your private you would be responsible for covering 10 of those flight hours. If you are interested in Liberty I would contact the military affairs office for more information.

Good luck

Nboomer

Thanks for the input.

Stoked27

Liberty is good. I have no knowledge of the Hawaiian school that you mentioned, but the biggest complaint that I have about Liberty is that (even while I’m enrolled), they robo-call me about once every other day to ‘help me enroll in the next semester’ or some other BS. If that’s all I have to complain about, it’s really not bad. The school structure allows for a good access of full GI bill benefits. The quality of instruction will be heavily dependent upon the flight affiliate school where you choose to do your training. The admin at Liberty really is helpful and accessible when you need them. I’ve gotten more “Run around” at two other universities I’ve attended.

Peaches has a good point about the flight hours covered by the GI bill. You might have some out of pocket expense. The flight hours that you can obtain at a remote flight affiliate school is dependent on the dollar per flight hour that the school charges (in addition to any remedial training you need). Your GI Bill will pay a lab fee to Liberty, which in turn gives the lab fee to the flight affiliate school. That lab fee is your pre-paid flight school budget.

Certain flight lessons are approved to be completed in a simulator... so... do your training at a flight school that has a low cost simulator option so you can manage your flight “lab fee” properly by completing some flight lessons that you are confident/proficient in through the simulator. It’ll free up your remaining budget from the flight lab fee to use the actual aircraft toward the end of your course.

Liberty is a solid and responsible choice to use your GI bill for your flight training. If you need a Bachelor’s degree and are wondering about the value of the “degree” in the marketplace from Liberty, I’m not sure how much pull a Liberty degree will offer you with employers.

Good luck with whatever route you go.

flat_land_flyer

Very good point to bring up. These are questions that should be asked when you start enrolling. Find out what their average completion time is for each rating to gauge any out of cost expenses. Then see if they have any CFI's who beat that mark. Chances are they are booked solid, but you never know unless you ask the question.

Dburg30

I am active duty Navy and was a Liberty University student at Aviation Academy in Honolulu using my GI Bill for little more than a year and I have mixed feelings about it. Liberty University is great but you will have to take additional classes such as theology, world religions, Christian Perspective 1&2, and about 4 more other religion oriented classes in addition to your aviation studies. If you have done online classes before then you know just how intensive they can be, adding on these classes just puts it over the top. Also, when you get to the commercial pilot stage it will be separated into three classes and you will only be able to take one per semester. Meaning if you’re the type that flies 3 times per week you could finish up your hours in a month and would be stuck like me waiting for the next semester to start before you would be able to resume flying using your GI Bill unless you want to pay out of pocket. With regards to Aviation Academy, the airplanes are in really good shape and they are really easy going with the schedule, however, they are really hurting for flight instructors and the owner/CP is an ********* and is never there so you will have a hard time getting stage checks and end of course flights scheduled. He also had an gambling issue in Las Vegas that almost caused the school to be shut down 2 months ago and one of his instructors is under FAA investigation for a lack of fuel emergency a few months ago and is still trying to get his CFI cert reinstated. I ended up just leaving the program and getting my ceros under part 61 and it worked out great for me. There are so few flight schools here in Hawaii and the airplanes at these schools are not in the best of shape so if Aviation Academy ever gets their sh*t together and is able to get more instructors then I would definitely recommend them, but until they do I would stay clear for the time being. George’s or Barbers Point Aviation are better choices at the moment.

Nboomer

Appreciate that advice and you think just doing flight school would be worth it?

Dburg30

I really did enjoy my time at Aviation Academy because my flight instructor was great until the CP ran him and the other three flight instructors off after months of mistreatment and missing paychecks. Liberty University was great and I enjoyed being a student minus the extra coursework. Right now, I would not recommend Aviation Academy until they get their financial issues fixed and are able to hire quality instructors. You would probably be better off with one of the two schools I mentioned in the previous post as they have a better track records of getting students completed with minimal issues and they are both GI Bill part 61 and 141 certified. Just my two cents.

markNAC

Hey everyone. I am a FTA student here in Hawaii, enrolled beginning of last fall term, haven't done any of the flying stuff though. I'm finishing PPL with another on island school. So, just found out that George's is going to be the new FTA. They aren't approved yet for VA benefits, but the email I received from Liberty said they are working to get it done by the end of the spring term. Excited, given George's reputation.

markNAC

Looks like Aviation Academy is no longer an option. Just got the email today from Liberty notifying me I have to switch.