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Couple questions:
1. How many students does the school take on at once
2. Hows scheduling work
3. # hours CFIs are getting monthly
4. $$ CFI make
5. Aircraft up to date w/ avionics (know ATP have nicer aircraft)
6. Professional atmosphere
7. Hanger and living accomodation up to snuff
8. Are students being sucessfully hired
9. How long does Mike let you stay and instruct
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1. Dont know, maybe somewhere between 65-90 (MAYBE, it all depends how many students we have here)
2. Between you and your Instructor. The instructor schedules it.
3. I currently am averaging between 120-130/month (around 100 of it is multi)
4. This all depends on how motivated the instructor is and how many students they currently have (anywhere between $300 - $1200)
5. We have 3 of our multi-engine aircraft with GPS. Rumer has it, we should be getting GPS in all the aircraft soon. Some Autopilot works, some have radar in it.
6. Yes
7. The owner just aquired the PanAm living quaters, so, you will have your own bedroom (HUGE), and own bathroom (all fully-furnished). Theres a pool and tenis courts there too. And its on the airport, so, if you dont have a car, or dont want to spend gas money, your pretty much set.
8. Each student who goes through the Pro-Course is initially hired (if you want) as an instructor. You will get one or two students to start, so Mike (the owner) can see how you do. In the next few weeks, the most senior instructor here will have less than 700hrs Total time. All the instructors here are getting hired after only working for 8-12 months as an instructor.
9. As long as you like. Its not bad working here. You get alot of hours, as long as your willing to actually be at the airport and work (ground and flight). He's pretty desperate for instructors (and 99% of the time, hires ONLY students who went through his Pro-Course).
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Ivan, How can you possibly say that the Aviator has a professional atmosphere with a straight face?
That place is the most un-professional operation that I have EVER seen. Scheduling is f-d up, maintenance is f-d up, things are
finally starting to get computerized, files and paperwork are constantly lost... people constantly stealing planes from others, erasing names/flights, not coming back when their supposed to. You have to make sure
certain people have had their 20 smoke breaks before you can risk talking to them or you might get your head chewed off! Flights get cancelled/bumped/mx issues, do you get a simple phone call so you don't waste your time driving all the way to the airport...of course not, that would be way to difficult.
In my time at the aviator I would say I probably lost at least 30-35 flights, maybe more due to M/X, people erasing names off the schedule and other BS!
and don't even get me started on squawking airplanes for M/X reasons....Mike tells you to write stuff up when it breaks, like you SHOULD for the safety of others. Then when you do, you get called in and get yelled at for downing planes! Its absolutely rediculous. Sure I understand certain little things shouldn't down an airplane but when your flaps don't work properly, tires are severly cupped and showing chords, radios not working, oil pouring out of the prop hubs, control columns sticking, seats busted so bad your ass falls through to the floor on final....the •ers need to be downed before someone gets killed!
I had a flight in an aircraft to an area up North that only had NDB and LOC/DME approaches in the area. Ceilings had rapidly come down below minimums all across the area. If we had known the ADF, DME, HSI and Radios were having problems and had been written up multiple times and been completely disregarded we would have NEVER taken that airplane into an area with IFR conditions. It turned into a bad situation coming in on our first NDB approach to mins. when the ADF quit working, next approach attempt was a LOC, that wasn't working of course, then to another alternate with a VOR/DME...we'll great, the DME just quit working when we need it to use the lower minimums we need to break out, the CDI is sticking and reading erratically and now our radios are intermittant and starting to cut out....oh and did I mention that our POS transponder wasn't working anymore either. What a fun day that was...we did what we
had to do to get on the ground and luckily without incident... but it could have been a BAD situation that would have been easily avoided if the Aviator would FIX sh*t the first time when they KNOW DAMN WELL ITS BROKE! At least placard the junk inop and make the damn plane VFR only.
One good thing at the Aviator is you get good training in real emergency situations and equipment/instrument failures a lot.
I learned a lot at the aviator...not really from instructors but more from the timebuilding phase and having to deal with problems and crap equipment constantly in the IFR environment.
I got what I paid for, cheap multi-time....there still is no better deal out there unfortunately, I would probably still recommend the place to get some cheap multi then get the hell out. ATP has a better program though, it costs more but its run MUCH better, you WILL finish on time, and the planes are maintained MUCH better.
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Yes, its really true. As long as you go through the Pro Course you will get a job.
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Yeah sure, unless you are lied to by Mike like I was! I went through the pro-course then made special arrangements with Mike to go elsewhere for the CFI ratings, since the CFI program at the Aviator is a total cluster• and takes months....people were taking 4-8 months just to get through their 3 CFI ratings (not including all the other ratings) and I did NOT have the time or patience for that crap!
Anyway, I went in and talked with Mike to see if he had a problem with me going somewhere else to get my CFI ratings, I told him my timeframe concerns I had with his screwed up CFI program and he said that he had NO problem with me going elsewhere and I would still have a CFI job when I got back. I would NOT have done it otherwise...the CFI job was one of the main reasons I chose Aviator. When I got back he freaked out, yelled for a few days and pretty much denied the conversation we had before I left and he completely wasted my time for a freakin month....what an [censored]!
I guess he would rather hire people who fail their CFI check- rides MULTIPLE times...what a joke! I feel sorry for the new students who get those guys.
Luckily things worked out and I got a MUCH better flying gig back home at a place that has turbine aircraft! Screw you Mike, I don't need your stinkin death-trap duchess job!
peace out fellow aviatorians....see ya at the airports around the country! and watch out those of you in my fantasy football league, I be kicking your asses this season!
I'll leave you with a quote from the owner Mike Cohen. This was from the last Aviator meeting I was at, A student asked Mike if he ever takes a duchess up for fun. Mike said- "are you crazy, I won't fly that junk!" The funny thing is he was serious!