Post 9/11 Gi Bill

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TedH

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Tedh
Has anybody here actually used the Post 9/11 GI Bill for Instrument and CPL?
I am retired and have the full 36 months. I already have a degree so I wanted to use my Post 9/11 GI Bill to upgrade to CPL and instrument.

From emailing with the Business manager at Skysafety located at Stinson Field and from what I gather the GI Bill will cover about $13,900 toward a combined Commercial and Instrument rating. I would have to cover the rest. They normally charge $30,000 for this package. So I would have to cover 16K give or take.

She did mention it may be less since I have most of the Cross country requirements.

I hold PPL with 280 hours and 42 hours of XC. I know that 16 K doesn't seem like much to get to commercial but like many retired Senior NCO's I have 2 x wives and that eats up just every penny of retirement pay I get. I'm not saying I wouldn't anti up but I want to NOT if I can help it.

Also I have not found a public university in the San Antonio, Austin Area that has a flight program. If you have worked out this puzzle let me know how it went.
Ted
 
I use the benefits enrolled in a public college professional pilot program, so it is almost all covered. For vocational flight training there are limits... see the Post 9-11 GI bill website and scour it for relevant information. You would be doing the training under Part 141 I believe which generally will require minimum hours regardless of your prior experience.
 
Had ASEL/ASES/Glider Private when I retired in '06. Used the Post 9/11 bill at a Part 141 school to finish my Instrument Airplane then continued by adding ASEL & AMEL Commercial and CFI/CFI-I. Do not recall what the cap was back then but it was obviously significantly more than $14k.
 
I used it for CFI last year and intend to use it for rotary this/next year. So the cap is per academic year ending in August. If you time it right....
 
smv said:
Had ASEL/ASES/Glider Private when I retired in '06. Used the Post 9/11 bill at a Part 141 school to finish my Instrument Airplane then continued by adding ASEL & AMEL Commercial and CFI/CFI-I. Do not recall what the cap was back then but it was obviously significantly more than $14k.
Click to expand...

Yeah they had to revise it a few years ago because of a couple of helicopter training outfits racking up $200k+ bills.
 
TedH said:
Has anybody here actually used the Post 9/11 GI Bill for Instrument and CPL?
I am retired and have the full 36 months. I already have a degree so I wanted to use my Post 9/11 GI Bill to upgrade to CPL and instrument.

From emailing with the Business manager at Skysafety located at Stinson Field and from what I gather the GI Bill will cover about $13,900 toward a combined Commercial and Instrument rating. I would have to cover the rest. They normally charge $30,000 for this package. So I would have to cover 16K give or take.

She did mention it may be less since I have most of the Cross country requirements.

I hold PPL with 280 hours and 42 hours of XC. I know that 16 K doesn't seem like much to get to commercial but like many retired Senior NCO's I have 2 x wives and that eats up just every penny of retirement pay I get. I'm not saying I wouldn't anti up but I want to NOT if I can help it.

Also I have not found a public university in the San Antonio, Austin Area that has a flight program. If you have worked out this puzzle let me know how it went.
Ted
Click to expand...

For vocational flight training, the GI Bill covers a maximum amount per year - if that's currently 13,900, then there you go. Doesn't matter what the course costs.

But the GI Bill requires a part 141 program. For you, an instrument course (NOT combination IR and CPL) would be fine. But for anybody who already has 280 hours, there is NO reason to enroll in a part 141 Commercial course. Part 141 requires something like 120 hours of training for a Commercial - for people starting with zero time, this doesn't much matter, they need the time anyway. For you, you already have the total hours needed for a Part 61 Commercial, you might just need some more time in complex airplane, or a TAA, and meet a few of the other Commercial experience and training requirements.

So, most economically for you would be to do JUST the Instrument course via GI Bill and Part 141, then do the Commercial paying out of pocket at whatever school you choose. Depending on your existing experience, you may be looking at only 20 hours of training for the Commercial, so it would obviously be less than the $16,000 you'd be out of pocket if you went the Part 141 school route.

It's my opinion that the path recommended by the school rep would be a mistake for you, both time-wise and financially.
 
According to the GI Bill website, Sky Safety does not have a VA-approved combination Instrument/Commercial course anyway, unless they're just calling it a package deal and running one after the other.

A note here - not all courses at a 141 school are necessarily approved for the GI Bill - some may be while others may not be. A school has to apply for, and get approved for, each one.

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TedH said:
Also I have not found a public university in the San Antonio, Austin Area that has a flight program. If you have worked out this puzzle let me know how it went.
Ted
Click to expand...

Either Palo Alto or St Phillips used to; check them out. Had flight, A&P, ATC curricula. 20212 was when I was looking.

if I had it to do over again I would go to Redbird in San Marcos, but not sure if they are still in business.
 
Sierra_Hotel said:
Yeah they had to revise it a few years ago because of a couple of helicopter training outfits racking up $200k+ bills.
Click to expand...

The other comments here reminded me that it was completed over the course of three academic years. Hence the ability to far exceed the $14k limit.

Also, I do not think it has been mentioned yet and the potential applicant needs to be aware: The process (as it was back then with that particular 141 school, at least.) is that you pay as you go for the training, the 141 school submits the paperwork to the VA, the VA sends the 141 school a check, the 141 school refunds you. Depending on how quickly the 141 school processes their end and how quickly the VA does their thing, you could be out of the $$ for several weeks to months. There were a couple times during ME training I had several thousand dollars tied up in the process waiting several weeks to be refunded.
 
RussR said:
For you, an instrument course (NOT combination IR and CPL) would be fine.
Click to expand...
I second this. I was going to use my GI Bill for my instrument rating, and probably would have if the timing worked out when I was still a 100 hour pilot and needed a lot more XC PIC time as well.

As it turns out, I was a 230 hour pilot with all the XC time when I finally had the time to do it and it just didn't make sense (mainly due to having a CFII who I rent my hangar from who is giving me a huge discount and is really flexible). I would recommend using the GI Bill for your IR, though, since you'll likely be spending 40 hours no matter how you slice it.

For the commercial, especially if you follow through with it shortly after IR, you won't have a ton left to make it happen. You'll need some complex/technical advanced aircraft time and some other XC and night requirements, but realistically these can more easily be streamlined if you're going part 61 rather than the part 141 required by the GI Bill. Even if you do 141 for IR, the cleanup for the part 61 commercial still isn't a ton.
 
Excellent points above about paying out of pocket for the commercial.


smv said:
The other comments here reminded me that it was completed over the course of three academic years. Hence the ability to far exceed the $14k limit.

Also, I do not think it has been mentioned yet and the potential applicant needs to be aware: The process (as it was back then with that particular 141 school, at least.) is that you pay as you go for the training, the 141 school submits the paperwork to the VA, the VA sends the 141 school a check, the 141 school refunds you. Depending on how quickly the 141 school processes their end and how quickly the VA does their thing, you could be out of the $$ for several weeks to months. There were a couple times during ME training I had several thousand dollars tied up in the process waiting several weeks to be refunded.
Click to expand...

Very good point as well. I ended up taking out a loan when I did my CFI to pay up front. I was very impressed with the timeliness of the VA for their part, never had to wait more than a few weeks.
 
Van Johnston said:
Either Palo Alto or St Phillips used to; check them out. Had flight, A&P, ATC curricula. 20212 was when I was looking.

if I had it to do over again I would go to Redbird in San Marcos, but not sure if they are still in business.
Click to expand...
Palo Alto no longer offers a professional pilot degree course of study since the VA changed their rules. St Phillips continues to offer A&P certification training.
 
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