Re: US Aviation in Denton TX, hiring 19 new flight instructo
Things need to be put straight because there is both very true and very untrue information being shared relative to the company and the working environment.
I a am recent former flight instructor for this company and have experienced several of the issues listed above and would like to set things straight.
To start: the company is based out of kdto which is now the busiest single runway airport in the nation. To some this would seem prestige but in fact it is the exact opposite. the airport is the busiest airport for a single runway due to the extensive amount of flights out of us flight academy mainly with chinese students and a few and i mean a few domestic students. being that the airport is so busy brings high risk in your everyday flights. i can back everything mentioned above about close calls and the tower controllers freaking out on a day to day basis because of stress and lack of radar in the airspace. the radar service equipment has been set up but the radar is not certified at all yet and there is no telling when it will be. Close calls are a part of the job every single day when flying in and out of the airport especially due to the lack of clear english being used across the radios. yes, the communication problems are to do with chinese students not providing accurate position reports, read backs, and basic traffic pattern call-outs. no one is perfect but communications are a must in the aviation industry and especially important in vulnerable environments such as a huge chinese flight training facility. one would ask, well why is the area so dangerous? the answer is summarized as such, one runway, no radar, students with poor radio communication, and madness in the tower when 20 c-152's are coming in for full stop landings at 2 pm and 2 c-172's requesting ils or gps approaches, and several other aircraft coming in from various locations both prop and jet.
now about the training side of things - first, one of my biggest issues were due to the self examination authority. Yes, it makes things easy but i will never and i mean never agree that these students are leaving the school or the country with the proper flight experience they deserve. This has nothing to do with the instructors because all of the instructors do the best they can to follow the guidelines that are given to them by the poor management. The management and contracts are the problem not the instructors and the students being literally pushed through like shift work. all of the chinese students are on contract for the cheapest dollar possible which results in the cheapest results. For example, the management is constantly breathing down your neck to have a barely english speaking student complete his or her private pilot license in the same amount of time that it would take a domestic student. Well, i hate to break it to you but it just quit does not happen that way. But, dont dare speak up because if you do, you flight instructor skills will be up for questioning with management. Oh, and by the way the max amount of ground time available to bill the student is 30 hours for the private certificate, that includes pre flight brief, post flight brief, and any 1 on 1 ground time you would like to conduct with your student. Again, it just does not happen like that, shoot the student barely speaks english. So, how does management respond to this issue? The answer- you will do ground with one of your student on the bill and have your other 2 or 3 students sit in on the same ground lesson (aka for free). The instrument training is a whole different story as again focusing on the english side of things and curriculums that most domestic pilots can not keep up with that are able to understand everything in the books. it all comes down to the management pushing the students through like shift work in the least amount of time and at the absolute bottom dollar. As far as the commercial training goes, the student time builds until they hit 200 hours (this even used to include your student time building at night and even solo. Just awesome! students that do not speak english very well in a 1982 c-152 time building solo at night!!! wow. after they time build to the 200 hour total time mark then they start the multi engine training in one of the 3 or 4 seneccas for 25 offers. but take this with a grain of salt because there is usually a total of 1 or 2 seneccas up from maint. at one time. After the student complete the multi comm. then they build 20 hours in one of the (2) king air c-90's. The king air instruction is done by the "cfi lifer's" with 2,000 plus hours and any hope of flying them is out of the window unless you do plan on working for the company for several years to build seniority. the fleet consist of around 16-20 c-152's, 8-10 c-172's, 3 0r 4 seneccas, 3 da-20's, 3 da-40's. 1 da-42 (a maint. pig) , and two king air's. the c-152's are all in the 1980-1984 range and 172's vary from the late 78 models up to a few 95- 97' r models. maintenance is always a issue just like anything else. the pay starts at $15 an hour (hobbs and brief time) until 200 hours dual given, $17 after until multi training and 500 dual given i believe it goes to 21 and hour. the turn over of cfi's is incredible and the stress is monumental. but, if you enjoy your boss breathing down your neck every single day about getting students done sooner and cheaper then this is the job for you!
can you build time rather fast? yes depending on your shedule
how many hours per pay check? around 50-70 (per 2 weeks)
engines dying during run-up? never happened
dangerous at time? yes
getting paid for the amount of hours spent at work and working? absolutely not
cheers!
