Accepted... Starting Spring 2013

ProudPilot said:
Since you're starting spring 2013, a few things:

  1. Read all of:
    1. FAR Part 1, 61, 91 http://ecfr.gpoaccess.gov/cgi/t/tex...c=ecfr&tpl=/ecfrbrowse/Title14/14cfrv2_02.tpl
    2. AIM http://www.faa.gov/air_traffic/publications/atpubs/aim/
    3. PHAK http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aviation/pilot_handbook/
    4. AFH http://www.faa.gov/library/manuals/aircraft/airplane_handbook/
  2. Please pick up FS2004 or xplane and do a few hundred landings between now and then. No, you will not be perfect. Yes, it will still give you trouble in the real airplane. Yes it will help you learn to scan inside and outside and that will help tremendously to learn to fly faster.
  3. When you start, it will be spring. It will be cold, it will be windy, it will be miserable. Good news, sims and tons of briefings can be accomplished. Bad news, preflights in the cold. You should dress for flights intending to be outside in the cold for 45 minutes. The aircraft will be cold on the inside, dress in layers. I swear I will call your instructors and make you preflight alone if you dress to be outside for 5 minutes. You need good gloves, comfortable boots, long johns and a good coat. The instructor is not your nanny, and beyond the first 5-7 lessons, should not have to help with the preflight. Saves you money, and keeps me warm in paper thin black pants (dress code is a pain in the...).
  4. Get all the briefings knocked out right away. You read all the above, should be no problem. When it gets warm (not comfortable, 5 F is plenty warm), get your butt flying 5x a week. Finish by April.
  5. Everyone else will procrastinate. I swear you cannot book an airplane in May, August, or December. Be done before then and you will have no problem.
Good Luck, we're all counting on you. BTW, all the reading has a lot of pictures, and you have a year. I can read the FAR/AIM now in about a day (I've been through it about 10 times, expect to do the same over a decade, so get it done), and the PHAK/AFH in two. It has a lot of pictures, pilots aren't always the brightest bulbs. If you have questions, a good 50% of people on here are current or former CFI's, we will help you. While I encourage you to try the chicken and tip your instructor, we can be a free source of information. We don't always teach the same way, but we try to give the same information. If your instructor doesn't work for your PPL, maybe try them again for Commercial if you liked their personality, you'd be surprised. Also, ask on here for 3-4 different ways to teach it, it will open your eyes.


Oh, and Scorin' Noren, Walsh was a big party dorm, and co-ed dorms were always more fun.
Click to expand...

Invaluable post. I appreciate you taking the time to put this together. I want to be ahead of the game, so I'll certainly start reading these any chance I get. I have been reading up to this point, but it has mainly been out of the Jeppesen Private Pilot textbook. Yes... I noticed an abundance of pictures there too. :D

I wholeheartedly agree on the FS thing. I use FSX nearly every day and I'm sure it will help with my overall comfort level in the real aircraft. I just need to kick my recent habit of flying the CRJ around and get back to the 172 at GFK.

lol @ the dorm thing. Regrettably, I believe those days have come and gone for me. This will be my second college experience... though this time I'll be 27. I'll be in an apartment somewhere, (hopefully close to Odegard) rather than take on the role of "that creepy older dude" in the dorms.

I know I have many more questions, but it's late and I'm drawing a blank at the moment. I'll certainly be continuing to use the resources on this forum. Everyone here has been great. Thanks again for the help so far.
 
In that case, I recommend The Pines on 43rd St N, or Park Place Apartments on 42nd St N. Both are good for between campus and school and decently managed. Grand Forks has horrible property management companies so no place is really good. However, those two are decent with good rates and location.
 
gotWXdagain said:
In what context did he use this quote? ...
Click to expand...

Depends on the occasion, it is however hanging on his office wall.

The Seventy Maxims of Maximally Effective Mercenaries

1. Pillage, then burn. (7 February 2002)[20]2. A Sergeant in motion outranks a Lieutenant who doesn't know what's going on. (31 July 2009)[21]3. An ordnance technician at a dead run outranks everybody. (1 November 2009)[22]4. Close air support covereth a multitude of sins. (14 April 2008)[23]5. Close air support and friendly fire should be easier to tell apart. (21 April 2010)[24]6. If violence wasn’t your last resort, you failed to resort to enough of it. (13 March 2005)[25]7. If the food is good enough the grunts will stop complaining about the incoming fire. (20 April, 2011)[26]8. Mockery and derision have their place. Usually, it's on the far side of the airlock. (21 November 2002)[27]9. Never turn your back on an enemy. (8 March 2003)[28]10. Sometimes the only way out is through. . . through the hull. (17 January 2009)[29]11. Everything is air-droppable at least once. (15 April 2008)[30]
 
ProudPilot said:
In that case, I recommend The Pines on 43rd St N, or Park Place Apartments on 42nd St N. Both are good for between campus and school and decently managed. Grand Forks has horrible property management companies so no place is really good. However, those two are decent with good rates and location.
Click to expand...

Slightly unrelated, but here's a quick question:

Avit 323 Aerodynamics - Airplanes (3)
Avit 324 Aircraft Systems (3)
Avit 325 Multi Engine Systems & Procedures (2)

Is taking these 3 flight classes at the same time do-able or masochistic?

Thanks again.
 
You are not able to do AVIT 325 with AVIT 323/324. AVIT 325 is your multi engine course that will come after you finish your 323 flight course.
 
You could try doing 323/4/5 all in one summer if you wanted to. But doing the flight portion of 323 in six weeks might be a stretch....
 
Sooo...

I'll be flying up from Miami and taking the "grand tour" of the UND campus and its aviation department in a couple of days.

Any recommendations?
 
Also recommend Blue Moose in East Grand Forks. Also, I dont know the policies behind this but if you were to speak with the Odegard school, you may be able to secure a flight at no cost. Again, not sure how this works.
 
Blue Moose is really good. I suggest not going to Red Pepper, everyone talks it up but frankly it's a disappointment in my opinion. Rhombus guys is great for pizza, but a little pricey. Class start for aviation and the rest of the school monday (we just finished last week....) and it's starting to get really nice here now!
 
deadpixel said:
Blue Moose is really good. I suggest not going to Red Pepper, everyone talks it up but frankly it's a disappointment in my opinion. Rhombus guys is great for pizza, but a little pricey. Class start for aviation and the rest of the school monday (we just finished last week....) and it's starting to get really nice here now!
Click to expand...

I will refute the Red Pepper claim. Delicious and a Grand Forks institution. Best place to be on a friday/saturday nigh after a hockey game. Unfortunately, its summer, so the teenie boppers come out in force.

Also, I would recommend Little Bangkok. It's not fresh off the Tokyo market sushi, but it isn't truck stop sushi either.
 
Haha that's fine about you liking Red Pepper :P. Every time I've been there it's just been not good, but to each there own!
 
Well, I just took a tour. First impressions so far...
1. The aviation department seems excellent.
2. The dining hall is not.
3. Dry campus?! I didn't realize that until today.
 
Zidac said:
Well, I just took a tour. First impressions so far...
1. The aviation department seems excellent.
2. The dining hall is not.
3. Dry campus?! I didn't realize that until today.
Click to expand...

Surprisingly, you will get used to Wilkerson. At first I thought it was terrible, but their pasta (which I got almost daily) and several entrees (not all) are okay. Just look at the menu online before you go. If nothing appeals to you, you can always use dining dollars at the union or stomping grounds, which has good sandwiches. I have a feeling a lot of people will disagree with me on dining though!

As for the dry campus...um yeah, about that! ;)
 
flyeagle111 said:
Surprisingly, you will get used to Wilkerson. At first I thought it was terrible, but their pasta (which I got almost daily) and several entrees (not all) are okay. Just look at the menu online before you go. If nothing appeals to you, you can always use dining dollars at the union or stomping grounds, which has good sandwiches. I have a feeling a lot of people will disagree with me on dining though!

As for the dry campus...um yeah, about that! ;)
Click to expand...

Yikes, you got used to that? Haha, well... I had a bacon burger which was alright. The chicken/rice/mushroom casserole + mashed potatos they had tonight was fairly atrocious, but I'm sure things are hit or miss. I'm going to forego the dining plan, though.

As for the dry campus thing, are you saying that's not too strictly enforced? I hardly drink as it is... but being 26, I'd rather not be subject to silly rules. Sounds like if I rented out a campus apartment, I would be.
 
Zidac said:
As for the dry campus thing, are you saying that's not too strictly enforced? I hardly drink as it is... but being 26, I'd rather not be subject to silly rules. Sounds like if I rented out a campus apartment, I would be.
Click to expand...

Go for the off-campus apartment. I won't go into details but suffice it to say being of age doesn't matter.
 
Squires is closed during the summer, wilke is the only one open. I can attest to the fact I've had worse dorm food. Hopefully the renovation makes Wilke look cleaner at least...

Apartments aren't "dry" only the campus itself and all the buildings are (more of a focus on residence halls...)
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top