Completing flight training in Denver, CO

E

emaurice

Filing Flight Plan
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Nov 12, 2011
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West Chester, PA
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Display name:
eric
Hi y'all,

I am a student private pilot about to move to Denver CO, from PA. I will not live far from Centennial Airport. I have only a few hours left to complete my training (solo hours and cross country) and take my checkride. Until now, I was flying on 172Rs. Do you have any recommendation(s) on where to complete my training? Aspen Flying Club? Centennial Flyers? Others?
 
Aspen's my vote.

Centennial Flyers is cheaper with significantly less and older aircraft.

Aspen and Skyraider recently merged so there's both LSAs and "traditional" fleet together for the same club membership price. They also have a Redbird with motion.

Big changes going on there, but from all I've heard, good ones.

Flights, Inc also still exists over in Alpha North. I know zero about them.

If you're into high performance stuff, Independence Aviation is the local Cirrus rental farm, along with various other expensive toys. They also give great FAASTeam lectures on iPad use in the cockpit.

There's at least one club on the field with a CFI who was given a 709 ride a number of years ago. PM me for that.

Go with Aspen. If he's got any time on his schedule, ask for Ted Matthews. He's often busy teaching Beech 1900 candidates. Tell him Nate says Hi. I can also PM his e-mail address, but I think the desk will get ya in touch with him if ya call 'em.

Stay away from the coffee pot at Aspen. It's vile stuff. :)
 
Or, ask for Barbara Marx at Aspen.

Will you be here in time to join us for dinner this Friday? If not, you'll have to let us know when you arrive.

See? The Colorado POA is so much fun that people are moving here just so they can join the fun!
 
I'm not the local expert on this, but every time I've gone into Centennial, it's a zoo there, and not the place I'd want to be flying as a student pilot. I'm sure you'll be fine there, but you'll likely crank up additional rental hours waiting to get out and back in, and going far enough away to do airwork. I wonder if some of the Denver Metro folks might suggest one of the outlying airports as a better alternative. Longmont, Boulder, Erie, Front Range? A little drive might make sense.

And congratulations on getting out of PA from this former PA/NJ resident.
Jon
 
4CornerFlyer said:
I'm not the local expert on this, but every time I've gone into Centennial, it's a zoo there, and not the place I'd want to be flying as a student pilot. I'm sure you'll be fine there, but you'll likely crank up additional rental hours waiting to get out and back in, and going far enough away to do airwork. I wonder if some of the Denver Metro folks might suggest one of the outlying airports as a better alternative. Longmont, Boulder, Erie, Front Range? A little drive might make sense.

And congratulations on getting out of PA from this former PA/NJ resident.
Jon
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Being based at FTG, I'd agree that APA is busy. Altho I started at APA, I finished at FTG. As soon as you take off, you're in the practice area (at APA it's a time-consuming trip). FTG also has all the approach configurations. Low volume traffic and has a tower. Contact Tim or Brian at Alliance 303-261-4041.

Downside to FTG - no place close to live. Apartments near DIA are the closest, so you're a 20 min drive away. On the other hand, there's almost no auto traffic between the two!

The Erie/Longmont/BJC area can be incredibly busy with training aircraft, so much so that there's a meeting on April 14th of many of the stakeholders (schools, FAA, airport mgrs, airport tenants, etc) to come up with a plan to mitigate some of the confusion and traffic in the area.

On the other hand, if you'll be living near APA and it's not negotiable, the drive to FTG on E-470 (toll road) is about 25 min. again, almost no traffic.

Let us know when you get here, and many of us can take you around to the various airports and you can investigate.
 
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Thank you all. I will be moving there in June (right now living in the middle of boxes). I'll check these airports as soon as I am settled.
 
Eric,

I lived under the pattern of Centennial for three + years, in Lone Tree, and I am from Chester County, PA not far from you now. You will love it! I agree with the others on Aspen, at KAPA. You'll get a lot of high DA ops for sure. It will be great training, and take the Mountain Flying course with the CO Pilots Assoc, and consider joining them as well. Lot of great folks out there.

I was based at KFTG, Front Range, because I could get a hangar there. That is another option, although about a 40 - 45 minute drive from where you are going to be living. KFTG is not as busy as KAPA, but I never considered KAPA a "zoo" either.
 
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If you are going to live down south, I would dissuade you from making the drive to Erie/Jeffco/Boulder/Longmont et al ... the drive will soon take the fun out of it.

Not sure what you're used to, but I hate the driving out here in the metro area. I'm just a bit biased, however, having grown up in a place where the nearest pavement was 3 miles from home, and the nearest interstate was over an hour's drive.
 
4CornerFlyer said:
I'm not the local expert on this, but every time I've gone into Centennial, it's a zoo there, and not the place I'd want to be flying as a student pilot. I'm sure you'll be fine there, but you'll likely crank up additional rental hours waiting to get out and back in, and going far enough away to do airwork. I wonder if some of the Denver Metro folks might suggest one of the outlying airports as a better alternative. Longmont, Boulder, Erie, Front Range? A little drive might make sense.
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Centennial is busy but it's a great place to learn to fly. I've been flying out of KAPA for 20 years but did my private and instrument training at quiet non-towered airports. There's no reason to avoid KAPA other than a very bad case of mike fright.

In terms of what's available, there are a number of smaller operators but the 4 larger ones:

Aspen - good things all around. Very much a "club" atmosphere although a for-profit operation.

Flights - good instructors and airplanes. Their focus is more on their Part 141 operation and a few people who aren't heading that way have complained of policies that don't favor pure renters as much.

Centennial - older aircraft but, if expense is an issue, it's a good operation with good instructors.

Independence - excellent operation. Their trainers are Cirrus so we're talking about the "hi priced spread."

btw, most of the KAPA flight schools operate on an "independent contractor" model with respect to CFIs. One of the things that means is that some instructors, particularly the ones who are not heading for the airlines, will teach at more than one of the operations.
 
midlifeflyer said:
Centennial is busy but it's a great place to learn to fly. I've been flying out of KAPA for 20 years but did my private and instrument training at quiet non-towered airports. There's no reason to avoid KAPA other than a very bad case of mike fright.

Independence - excellent operation. Their trainers are Cirrus so we're talking about the "hi priced spread."

btw, most of the KAPA flight schools operate on an "independent contractor" model with respect to CFIs. One of the things that means is that some instructors, particularly the ones who are not heading for the airlines, will teach at more than one of the operations.
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Independence also has one, possibly two LSA for training.
 
I fly at Aspen Flying Club, and really enjoy it. Lots of airplanes and something is always available. You can still fly older planes if you are on a budget, but there are some very nice newer airplanes as well.
 
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