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Frequently Asked Questions You are encouraged to call our office with questions. Our staff welcomes the opportunity to acquaint you with our programs that offer you a unique opportunity to fly for Mesa. Call 1-800-232-6327. Program Information
Program Costs
Application Help
Transfers — Course and Flight Time
Employment — During and After Graduation
The Farmington Area
I have no desire to earn another degree. Can I just take the aviation courses? Yes. We now offer a Certificate in Aviation Technology which essentially includes only aviation core classes. I have never attended college. How will this effect my being considered for entry into the program? Previous college credit is not required for acceptance into the program. However: the flight program is a highly intense program that requires a great deal of focus, maturity, and excellent study skills. Our staff can address your concerns on an individual basis and help you to decide what your options might be. San Juan College is success oriented and encourages prospective students to be so as well. What is the class schedule like for the aviation classes? Ground schools are generally scheduled twice a week, two hours a session and last twelve weeks. The exception is Commercial Ground the first semester in the Primary program - that class is scheduled three times a week. Students taking general education requirements can expect most lecture courses to run the full length of the semester - 15 weeks. Aviation ground schools end earlier so that pilots can use the rest of the semester to complete their flight requirements. How much should I expect to study for ground schools? This varies with the individual - some students learn and retain information better than others. Most of our students however are driven to succeed and tend to be high achievers. As a pilot, there is a tremendous amount of technical knowledge that you will be responsible for. This is going to require you to study. I need information on housing. Does the program or San Juan College offer student housing? No. San Juan College is a community college and does not have student housing. However, the College maintains a bulletin board for students to post and inquire about local vacancies. Students may also receive information on housing options from a bulletin board at the flight school or through local realtors. Most apartments in Farmington rent in the $550-600 a month range, with single-family homes renting in the $700-900 a month range. Aztec and Bloomfield are a short drive from Farmington. You may want to consider checking these communities - rentals are typically less expensive. I'm interested in visiting Farmington and meeting students in the program. When is the best time for me to visit? Your visit is welcomed at any time. To assure that a member of our staff will be available for you, we recommend that you call our toll free number at 800-232-6327 so that we can coordinate our schedules. The offices are open Monday through Friday at San Juan College from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. Space available travel can be requested to get here if you give us two weeks notice. The courtesy does not include family members. If you are selected for an interview, you will be required to travel to Farmington and will be scheduled for a full day, which includes an orientation program, psychological testing, and a personal interview. We highly recommend that you spend some additional time to visit the flight school at the airport to visit with students and get their perspective on training. Mesa Air Group offers scheduled applicants complimentary space-available transportation to Durango from cities that its US Airways serves. If selected for an interview, the Aviation Department at San Juan College will contact you regarding these travel arrangements. If you live in a city outside of the Mesa network, you might consider buying a ticket to a city that Mesa serves and flying space-available from that point. A common transfer point is Phoenix. Are there any currently enrolled students available for me to contact? Definitely — please call (800) 232-6327 from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. Mountain Standard time, Monday through Friday. If a student is not working in the office at the time, we’ll make arrangements to have a student call you. Can I speak to a graduate of the program? As you can imagine, graduates are difficult to keep up with but we normally have a list of grads who are willing to receive phone calls. Call us and we'll do our best to get you connected. We do have a list of emails on our homepage of graduates. Feel free to email them also. Are you going to any fairs or conferences? Yes. We will be at the following fairs and conferences: Women in Aviation International Conference 2009 Albuquerque Open House Sun N Fun Fly In RMACAC Denver College Fair Where do your flight instructors come from? Many of our instructors come from the professional flight schools and have considerable dual given time (instructor time). They come from throughout the U.S. and go through a similar interview process, just as our students do. We do not have any vacancies at the present time. However, we do want to have resumes on file in the event that an opening occurs. Please send current resumes to Chief Flight Instructor Donley Watkins at donley.watkins@mesa-air.com. Is training difficult? For our Primary students, particularly those with NO flight time, training can be CHALLENGING — from the standpoint of time-management and study skills. You're going to be packing a lot of information into your brain. Certainly, most of our students will tell you that instrument training is stressful. Every semester has its challenges — during the fourth semester, it will be CRJ systems. What is the cost of the Primary Program? The flight cost (instructors, sims and airplanes) for the Primary program is approximately $65,000 but you have to factor the cost of living for the year and a half that you will be here in Farmington. Our Financial Aid office on campus can help you with the budget and how to plan. Generally speaking, the financial aid office adds about $6,600 per semester for living expenses to an aviation student's need. That would bring the total budget to approximately $85-90,000 because Primary students are in a 4 semester program. Download a Cost Sheet for the Primary Program What is the cost of the PACE program? If I am awarded transfer credit, will that shorten the length of the program? Will it reduce the cost of the program? San Juan College's out-of-state tuition is $70 per credit hour with a maximum of $840 a semester. Because PRIMARY students follow a set curriculum, PRIMARY will pay tuition for 4 semesters. PACE students are enrolled for one semester. San Juan College tuition is $32 per credit hour for in-state, with a maximum of $384 per semester for a full-time load of 12 credits or more. Receiving transfer credit may produce a slight saving in tuition for some students, but does not reduce or eliminate the bulk of the program's cost which is for flying. How do I get my FCC Radiotelephone Operators License? Please click below to download a word document that will instruct you on how to obtain you FCC Radiotelephone license. The FCC can regularly change it's procedures. These instructions are to be considered a guideline to help you through the process. FCC Radiotelephone License Instructions How to I obtain the FAA Accident Incident Report? Write a letter to the FAA requesting your FAA Accident Incident Report from the Oklahoma City office. Include the following items in this request: Full Name The fastest way is to fax it to (405) 954-4655. You can then call 405-954-4173 to confirm that they received the fax. It should take about 2-4 weeks to receive a response. Even if you have never had an accident or incident, the FAA will generate a report on your behalf. They will not be able to send this report to our office. If you have already sent in your application, you can fax the Accident/Incident Report to us at I have a few speeding tickets, can I apply for the program? This is subject that always generates a lot of questions when people are considering professional pilot careers. In the flight program at San Juan College, we list an “acceptable driving record” as part of the requirements to qualify for an interview. So what’s acceptable? We’ve all made mistakes. In our effort to recruit potential first officers for Mesa Air Group, we’re not looking for perfect people. We ARE looking for people who have a healthy respect for rules and regulations however. Consider an airline’s position. They have the responsibility to see that passengers are safely delivered to their destinations. Your driving record is an indicator of how well you follow rules. In an industry like aviation that is highly regulated, there will be a lot of rules and regulations as a pilot that you have to abide by. If you can’t follow the rules on the ground, how will you follow them in the air? Again, so what’s acceptable? It varies. There’s a huge difference in how an airline would look at someone who had a DUI less than a year ago and someone who is 36 years old today and had a DUI their senior year when they were 18 years old. GENERALLY speaking, a DUI on your record is a red flag. It won’t necessarily preclude your ability to be hired by an airline but it could. A DUI within the last ten years will almost certainly be a disqualifier. What about speeding tickets? Again it varies. There’s a difference in how the airline (and many other industries) look at an individual who had a multitude of tickets 10 years ago and hasn’t had any violations since and someone who typically averages a speeding ticket a year. There’s a problem there. We often hear that “I paid the ticket; I took care of it”. Not necessarily. Paying the fine or doing public service doesn’t mean that the behavior didn’t occur – it just means you got caught. It can happen to the best. It doesn’t mean your dreams and goals are over but it may mean that you have an obstacle to overcome and behavior to modify. Our best advise is: 1. DILIGENTLY protect your driving record and follow the law! 2. CALL our Program Coordinator to have a private discussion about your situation. I’ll respect your privacy and offer my best opinion. In some cases,the pilot recruiter at Mesa will be contacted on your behalf (no names mentioned) to get a company perspective. If you have a driving record that we know is going to be a problem, we will advise you that there is risk in whether you will be hired. In some cases, you will not be accepted into training. I have a private pilot license. Do I have to repeat the private pilot semester at your school if I start the Primary Program? Not necessarily. We recently developed an option where a Private Pilot coming into the program can potentially start at the instrument level, thereby reducing time in training to three semesters, rather than four semesters. Private pilots must be current, having flown recently. If you have a PPL that you earned years ago and have not flown since, it is recommended that you begin at the private level. If you want to come into the Primary program to begin instrument training, you will be required to report two weeks prior to the start of the semester to go through ground and system training for the A36 Bonanza and fly 6 – 10 hours in the Bonanza to get to the point where you can demonstrate proficiency and be signed off to begin cross-country training. If the pilot is unsuccessful, it is recommended that the pilot start at the private level. Every pilot is different. Give us a call to discuss your own situation. Getting current may be all that you need to qualify for this option. If I do not have a degree and started the Primary program at the instrument level, would I need to take general education classes? Yes. If you do not have an associate or bachelor degree coming into the Primary program, you will take general education classes. If you have previous college credit, some of your credit may transfer to San Juan College and meet our requirements for the Associate of Applied Science degree in Aviation Technology. Another option that would be available to you, before you begin training, is to take classes online with San Juan College. Again, give us a call to discuss your situation and possible options. I already have a college degree (MA, BA, AA, etc.) or have completed some college-level classes. Will I need to take the general education classes at San Juan College for the Primary Program? Possibly: Students who are accepted into the program and admitted to San Juan College will need to send in official transcripts from previously attended schools to the Office of Admissionsfor a formal evaluation. If the student has completed comparable course work at another institution and passed the course with a “C” or better, San Juan College may grant transfer credit. PACE students do not have any general education course requirements. Students are required to complete all general education course requirements in addition to the core requirements regardless of previous college experience. For example: As a marketing major, you probably were not required to take Physics. This program requires Physics. I come from a college or university that was under a quarter system. How will that effect my course transferability? When students transfer from a quarter system to a semester system, generally only two-thirds (2/3) of the credit will be taken. For example: you had 3 quarter hours in Public Speaking at your previous college. If this course were to transfer, you would receive 1.98 semester hours. However, if the Public Speaking course was 5 quarter hours, this course would probably transfer in as a 3 credit hour course and therefore meet the requirements of this program. Occasionally, we can combine similar courses to make up the deficit. Will San Juan College accept partial credit for transferability? No. You must meet the credit hour requirements for each course as specified in the degree plan. As a student in the aviation program, will I have time to hold a part-time job? Many of our pilots have part-time jobs. Full-time jobs are highly impractical. Your ability to work part-time may depend on what kind of student you are. If you have good study and time management skills, working part-time is manageable and probably healthy for you as well because it gets you out in the community and gives you a break from studying. However, if this will be your first college and flight training experience, you may find that you want to get accustomed to your student responsibilities before you take on employee responsibilities as well. What types of jobs are available in Farmington? Our students are employed in all walks of life in Farmington. Again, this might depend on what your background is and what you're willing to do. Our staff can send a Chamber's packet to you. You may want to also go online to www.farmingtiondailytimes.com and look at the classified ads. Will I have to get my instructor certificate to build time to meet the company minimums once I complete training? No! This is the beauty of the program - once you complete your training (in either the Primary or PACE program), you will go through the application process for the guaranteed interview with Mesa Air Group. For the PRIMARY graduates, this could be with as little as 220 hours total flight time. Everyone knows the airlines are generally not hiring. Why are you recruiting students to become airline pilots? The short answer to this question is: The Situation Will Change! How soon? We don’t know BUT if it changes tomorrow, are you going to be ready? The U. S. economy, the credit crisis, and the general employment picture is indeed discouraging. However, does it mean that you stop planning for your future? Absolutely not! The Primary program covers four semesters of training or a year and a half. The picture could be very different. Mesa is not hiring now BUT they continue to interview our graduates so that our graduates are first to be called into company ground school when the hiring resumes! What if the airlines stopped planning for their future? If you wait to start training when hiring resumes, you’re going to be at least a year and a half away from an airline job. If you can’t start flight training, start general education classes. With all the online options now, you can take college classes that will meet our requirements for the degree in Aviation Technology at San Juan College, help you develop some solid study habits, and put you in a position to be ready. You have to be proactive about your own future. What are the minimum requirements for employment with Mesa Air Group for a first officer position? Mesa requires a minimum of 500 hours in total time and a minimum of 100 hours in multi-engine time. However, with our PRIMARY or PACE programs, you have an opportunity to fly for Mesa Air Group with as little as 220 hours in flight time. What are some reasons to why graduates of the Primary or PACE programs don't get hired? We occasionally do get feedback from the company on applicants who are not hired but not always. Anyone participating in an airline interview must know that the hiring board (typically line pilots and a representative from HR serve as the interviewers) have to satisfy themselves, in a short amount of time, that the pilot is 1) someone who will work with others in the flight deck and 2) someone who is technically strong (instrument knowledge, weather, systems, etc). Some of the reasons for No Hire that we’ve had in the past range from 1) applicant was unprepared for the interview (had not continued to study and was not prepared for instrument questions, etc.), 2) applicant exhibited a cocky attitude, acted like the interview was just a formality and the job was theirs, 3) applicant was so nervous, hyperventilated, couldn’t answer questions, couldn’t brief an approach, choked, or 4) the background check (that all airlines conduct) revealed driving history problems, criminal misdemeanors, applicant had previously been fired from a job and was not eligible for rehire (particularly with another airline as a flight attendant, etc.). We make every effort in our selection process to determine each applicant’s potential for success at Mesa. Driving records are critical. Sometimes people don’t understand the message that comes across on a driving record with numerous violations – it’s a history of not following rules. For an industry that is driven by rules and regulations, driving records are an excellent indicator of a person’s habits and critical to the decision process. I already have all of Mesa's minimums, where can I send my application? Click on www.Mesa-Air.com from more information. Can you tell me more about Farmington? The City of Farmington is located in San Juan County, New Mexico and was incorporated in 1901. Since then it has grown to a population of approximately 40,000. Farmington is considered the "Hub" of San Juan County and, with a trade radius of 150 miles, often swells to approximately 150,000 on the weekends. The city covers 27 square miles of high desert terrain. Blessed with a nearly ideal climate, Farmington is an outdoor paradise, with weather that is highly suited to flight. The Farmington Convention and Visitor's Bureau web site contains a wealth of information about our city. Other useful links are listed below, as well. Located only 25 miles from the Colorado border, just an hour from Purgatory Ski Area, the Farmington area offers hunting, camping and world class fishing on the famous San Juan River's Quality Waters. Beautiful Navajo Lake is less than an hour away and provides a variety of aquatic recreational activities. Golfers enjoy several area golf courses, including nationally ranked Pinon Hills Golf Course. Farmington also hosts the Connie Mack Baseball World Series and several other annual celebrations during the year. Good schools, a local junior college, and a progressive parks and recreation program make Farmington an ideal place to raise a family and train to become an airline pilot. You may also like to check these links for more information: Farmington Convention & Visitors Bureau
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