Well it has been a while since I have had the mind to post. The good news is - I AM A PILOT! It took me just over 7 month and just above 55 hours to get my private pilots license. I am so proud to have made it this far and am overwhelmed with joy for the support I have received from the one I love the most. Without her it would not have been possible to make it this far.
The bad part is that I am struggling through the financing void that exists for helicopter pilot training. This is extremely irritating because it causes more stress for those who have been so supportive of my endeavor, as well as myself. When I started, I began with a loan that would have been sufficient to assist me in the completion of my program. The part that I had to reapply for every term did not concern me, because the aggregate loan amount exceeded my anticipated needs. Since then I have had to learn more about lending and associated laws then I ever cared to learn. What I have learned is frustrating, because it requires me to make other people care about my situation, because they need to do their job to ensure I can get financing. The people I am referring to are the administrators of the school and the bankers who have returned to the cushy life of playing god, after we bailed them out. The banks decided to change the loans they would make available to my 2 year college and the administrators of the school, who are there to assist me, seem to know little about what they need to do to ensure financing is available for all the degrees and programs they offer. One would think that if you start a program with a certain loan, that this loan should be available for the duration of the program and should not be able to be yanked from you in the middle of your course of study. Kind of like signing up for a car loan, you agree to the terms and make your payments until the car is yours, nobody can change them unless you miss your payments. It has taken me over two month just to get the people in the financial aid department to understand and realize that their financing options have been changed by the banks and that they are the ones who need to correct this problem to be in compliance with Arizona State and Federal law. Now my semester has begun and due to all the delays I am still without financing, but things are looking good and I hope to have financing secured by the end of this week. Cross your fingers if you are one of the few to read my blog.
What this has taught me is, that instead of being bitter about this situation, I want to take on this issue and invest my time for those future aviators by raising awareness regarding the general void in helicopter pilot training financing. People may not consider how important this small part of the aviation community is, until there loved one is flown to a hospital in time to receive critical care, or is rescued in a remote area that could otherwise not be reached.
I have written letters to some of our elected officials, and hope to find other ways to make people aware of the need for financing to train future helicopter pilots.
