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So if the program is going to be 141 soon, then its not quite completely a "learn on your own" situation, right? If its 141 it would have a structured syllabus including ground lessons.
 
I'll go ahead and throw my 2 cents out here too. Just because I was involved in some of the aformentioned situations.

First off. I wouldn't change my decision to go to Aviator either. But....

I finished my commercials in november 2004, finished the CFI ground school prior to leaving for Christmas break (2004) and.......Got my MEI on May 17th, 2005. 6 months AFTER I finished the CFI ground school.

Sounds pretty crappy, right. Well.... it was. I was stuck right in the middle of the situations that made getting the instructor rating done quickly a giant pain in the ass. There's no two ways about it..... it was a mess and didn't go smoothly at all. I ended up finishing up my training and getting a sign off from a DPE in the area.

It cost me at least 4 months in rent and some extra bucks to pay the DPE. I was ready for the oral LONG before I got any flying in because of the 2 year CFI mess.

Would I have gone to a different school.... looking back on it. No. But it still does chap my ass a bit.

Maintenance. You will miss flights. No doubt about it. Not because maintenance is bad or the people in maint don't know what they're doing. Just because the planes fly all day, every day. If one goes down you will never get another for your flight. It's scheduled already. Go home and study.

I squaked planes almost every time I flew and Mike would get a little pissy with me about it sometimes but I said the exact same thing to him every time. "Don't shoot the messenger"... and then I would walk away. Anyone can tell ya.... I'll squak the hell out of a plane. I once didn't fly one because it was missing a required placard that goes in between the fuel selectors and tells you that if the selector is in between notches it might not work. I stood there and waited till they made one with a lable maker and put it on. Think Mike was mad? Of course he was. Not because he wanted me to fly the plane illegally. Because he wanted the plane in the air. He's not making money if I'm on the ground bitching.

Anyway... He does get angry when planes go down. He wants them in the air. Wanna know why? Because he is a buisness man. Is there anything wrong with that? No. Of course not. He's not doing this because he loves to see people come in and trash his planes and houses all the time. He's doing this so he can retire fat and happy. Just like all the rest of us would if we were in his situation.

Regarding the flight that RPM is talking about where nothing would work. I was in the plane and that is the only time that I was completely furious with the squaking situation. I had squaked everything that went wrong in that plane many times before that day. Then when we get in to solid IFR with about 300-500 foot ceilings we had nothing working correctly.

For the record. We couldn't indentify the FAF or the MAP on a LOC approach because the ADF wouldn't work. We had to have center call our FAF and give us special missed instructions. Not cool. When we went missed we couldn't shoot the NDB approach.... obviously. We couldn't legally shoot the VOR/DME approach because the DME wouldn't work (and the missed was to the NDB) so we had center calling our stepdowns and FAF for that as well. It was a mess and when we got back I let quite a few people hear about it.

But..... the autopilot worked the whole trip and that was really nice.

Anyway. RPM has a beef (a legitimate one) so he's venting... and he has every right too. What he is saying is true. It's not a perfect place by any stretch. But I would not have made a different decision. You can't get the same kind of multi time and real life training anywhere else. Also... I don't think that Mike, or anyone else that works there, are bad people. In fact. I like them all... but they will also tell you that it's not the most professional place. That's just the way that it is.

For the prospective students going there. You will be dealing mostly with the instructors and the instructors definintely know what they're talking about. They are wonderfully qualified to teach you in those Duchesses. I would say that without a doubt in my mind. Every one of them has dealt with some kind of "emergency" situation in those planes. Maybe not a life or death emergency but one that required you to stay calm and use your training in a real life situation.

Wanna hear mine? The first hurricane last year came around and we had to evacuate. I got one of the planes that just came out of an annual. They flew it once and then I got in it and got it out of there. On that flight, every time I throttled back for landing I lost an engine ( can't remember which one). No big deal. You land single engine just like you have done 100 times before. Turned out a cable need to be adjusted. Not a biggy. But it's a real life thing and you get that training at the Aviator.

It's a good place. Just remember. Your not paying for the atmosphere of Flight Safety. You're paying for 200+ hours in a light twin..... and paying 50 grand less than you can get it at Flight Safety.

peace out,
j
 
[ QUOTE ]
So if the program is going to be 141 soon, then its not quite completely a "learn on your own" situation, right? If its 141 it would have a structured syllabus including ground lessons.

[/ QUOTE ]

Yes, you will have to do the ground lessons with your instructor.

I personally can not learn by anyone teaching me over and over and over again. I cant learn that way. I learn best by studying on my own. But, everyones different.

Personally, I think 141 courses should be used as a guideline for instructors, not a requirement to do EVERYTHING on that lesson, and REVIEW everything from before. Thats just too much in such little time. For instance, our course has the student going for a Private Multi in 10hrs. Thats kinda fast. I have a student now that is ready for his checkride, but needs to finish one lesson and complete his stage check with our cheif flight instructor, then hes ready for the checkride. By the time thats gonna happen he'll have only 15 hrs in the Duchess (which is average I think). But, 10 is too short. Its more structured to the perfect student.
 
Thank you for painting a realistic picture, imperfections and all. Everyone benefits from knowing the Cons as well as the Pros; it makes for happier students because they know what they are getting into, and have made an informed decision.

The only part of your post I disagree with was where you mentioned there is no other place to get the multiengine time and experience as Aviator. There are several places, each with its own different set of Pros and Cons. Each school fits a certain set of needs that particular pilots have in working toward their unique goals. Keep in mind, I have not visited these schools, save for the ATP Riverside location, so these opinions are just from asking questions, listening, and researching.
 
Thank you all for your posts. It is truely educational. I guess what i got out of all of this is there will always be some complaints. No school is perfect.
Yes both programs (atp & aviator) do have ups and downs. Money is of coarse always a big one. I feel at this point with time being unfortunately wasted at the aviator is for many students a huge disappointment. I know I would not be so pleased knowing this going in. The money saved at the aviator seems as though it would be spend wasting time that could have been avoided in a more structured school.
I believe my decision has been made! Also being an a&p my safety will not be comprimised with shady equiptment. I will post further threads as soon as I visit ATP in Jax.
thx adam
 
[ QUOTE ]
Thank you all for your posts. It is truely educational. I guess what i got out of all of this is there will always be some complaints. No school is perfect.
Yes both programs (atp & aviator) do have ups and downs. Money is of coarse always a big one. I feel at this point with time being unfortunately wasted at the aviator is for many students a huge disappointment. I know I would not be so pleased knowing this going in. The money saved at the aviator seems as though it would be spend wasting time that could have been avoided in a more structured school.
I believe my decision has been made! Also being an a&p my safety will not be comprimised with shady equiptment. I will post further threads as soon as I visit ATP in Jax.
thx adam

[/ QUOTE ]

Did you look at other schools too, such as Skymates and Falcon, or do you need to stay more local to Florida?
 
I'll admit it. I go to Aviator. These airplanes are horrible, but the Duchess is a blast to fly, it really is. You're preflight has to be thourough, you never know when an acuator could be leaking....it happens more times than none.

Welcome to Aviator.
 
Well all im saying is i would rather spend a few extra bucks for a more structured prog., newer aircraft with better avionics.
Being I am an a&p there is alot of shady stuff that goes on out there. I have heard plenty of horror stories esp. from my past instructors.
If its being questioned or looks mismanaged it probably is.
Leaking actuators are not that challenging of a thing to repair and in my view probably should be taken care of right away. Why should a student be concerned about it more times than not??
 
I want to make sure people don't think that I was inferring that the maint practices are shotty at the aviator. they're not. but things break quite often because of how much the planes fly.

think about it this way. lets assume a plane needs some kind of maint every 25 hours. that's probably a safe assumption. at 99.9% of the other schools in the country that would be once a week or so. maybe even longer. At the aviator that's every other day. the planes there fly that much.

and... one other thing. about my story of broken avionics. we obviously didn't leave knowing that nothing worked. and... when i got back and complained to the head of maint he said they had that plane at the avionics shop regularly trying to get everything fixed. i don't doubt it was true.

it's not like they don't fix things there. the planes just break more often because they fly more often.

j
 
JHC!!!!!

Man I can't believe no one else has gotten on here to tell this kid to get a grip.

Lets shed some light on this situation here for a moment. First of all RPM knows what a NASA form is. That should tell you a little about him right there. See most people dont know about these forms and if he was smart he would have used it when he did his circus stunt fly-by over the student housing with his buddy Kyle, if he did he would know that he cant use it again for I think a year.

The truth is this guy is dangerous and he is pissed off because Mike Cohen would not hire his ignorant a$$ for his stupidity. What you all don't know is that Mike did not want to hire him and I can tell you that I went to Mike along with many other people at this school to let Mike know that this guy should never be an instructor for the Aviator.

As far as his story about him talking with Mike and making arangements for going to another school to get some of his CFI rating done, well that too is not correct. .What this kid is not telling you is the total truth about what happened and Mike did remember the conversation with him. The problem is he went and did more than just one rating and the last rating he did finish he did behind Mike's back with an instructor who was not an Aviator instructor.

If in fact he was so concerned about safety I am curious why he would allow himself to be put into jepordy by doing low level passes over the student housing at night bringing attention to himself and the Aviator by having the FAA called into investigate his stupididty?

As far as the CFI program goes to the extent of the time frame to get it done, well that is all up to the individual. Everyone has there own circumstances as to why it may take them a month or several months for that matter.

Mike has no control over some of the people that take forever. For those reading this thread and are concerned about the timing of getting your instructor rating finished I would not be alarmed by this thread. See once again your not getting the whole truth about why most of these people take forever.

A couple of these guys that have posted are not telling you that they took forever time building because they were too busy drinking and chasing women around. Then once they were done time buidling they go to do there commercials and when the [censored] hits the fan to get the instructor ratings done they realize they know absolutly zilch of what they should know. This is not their instructors fault or the Aviators it is their own fault for being lazy and not studying. I feel no remorse for them whatsoever.

I took longer than I wanted too and it is because I chose to help Mike out and take on the instrument ground training for him. I dont blame the Aviator for that at all, it was my choice and I have no regrets at all. I met some wonderful people and have to say some of them were very very good students.

Again what the readers here don't get to see are how these people act when there not on this BBS posting BS. These guys like Tinsley and RPM were busy chasing women getting drunk and wonder why it takes them so long to get anything done. Tinsley could have been done months and months earlier had he just studied while he was time building and doing the things necassary to pass the CFI rides. Hell he had no lesson plans finished when he started the CFI course. That could have been done months earlier when he was partying or time building.

Oh well I guess next these guys are going to jump on here and say I am just trying to kiss Mikes a$$. The fact is I considered Mike my boss when I am at the Aviator and when I am not I consider him more a friend than anything else. So when idiots come on here and try to damage my friends school and reputation about maintanance, timing on the CFI course, or whether or not they are worthy enough to be hired I will get on here and try to set the record straight.

So as I said earlier the truth is this kid is just pi$$ed off because he is dangerous and has no business whatsoever being in a plane. He can come on here acting all concerned about how dangerous this is or that but in the end it is just some childish way to damage Mike for not hiring him. If he was truly worried about safety he would have never done his circus stunt flyby to impress his buddies on the ground. And again for the record I can't count how many people that talked to me and Mike about this kid and how they think there should be no way he be hired on as an instructor. Mike was more than fair with him and if it were my school I would have kept his money and thrown him and his buddy out on his a$$, as Mike had every right to do that according to the contracts that are signed.

And I also second everything Ivan said as I too am in the same boat as him and have had the same experience as him. Lost a plane for MX a few times and have never ever been repremanded for squaking a plane. Oh well sorry Ryan but man how could you come on here and talk about safety issues? What a moron!

Oh yah I almost forgot, No one in there right mind would shoot an NDB approach in actual down to minimums, I guess if you knew what kind of errors are related to NDBs you might have gone to an alternate if in fact one was filed or maybe you already cut into your fuel reserves once again? LAF

Damn one more thing, I have flown with ATP instructors. Well lets just say this it is painfully obvious that they get the CFI course done so quick I had one of there instructors try to take us off right into wake trubulence at Ft. lauderdale and he tried to argue with me that I was wrong. GG ATP!
 
I'll not comment on most of this because it's not relevant. Anyone can tell you that I have a huge CFI library that I spent a lot of time and money putting together. In fact. If you go to Chris Chad's web site you'll see that most of the info came from the things I put together. Lots of it links other sources on the net and really good lesson plans that I found throughout the time I was there. I suggest that anyone at the Aviator go to that web site for study material. Chris Chadd has worked really hard putting it together and I spent quite a bit of time getting things to him to put on the site.

Anyway......

one question.

If you don't shoot an approach down to the minimums then what do you shoot it too?

Minimums are minimums. That's what you shoot an approach too. That's why they call them the minimums.

Another thing. If ya look back to my email. We didn't shoot the NDB approaches because the ADF was inop. What we couldn't do was go to the published missed (at the NDB). But that's neither here nor there.

and... yes there was an alternate filed. yes it was a legal alternate. yes we had more than the required amount of fuel.

j
 
John I guess in all reality I am in no doubt that you were within your fuel minimums I forgot that was a flight you an Ryan did.

I was just making a comment about the safety practices that Ryan has. I have been made aware of two occasions where he went into his fuel reserves and was told he almost ran out of fuel.

Your CFI book you purchased I am aware of, however those were assemble after you started the CFI ground school, I know that for a fact.

The information on the above mentioned website I have not seen. I will tell you this though, I have been asked by several knowledgable people, who gathered or wrote some of that information. The concern they had was alot of that information is just dead wrong.

Anyway John, you and I both know you could have gotten the cfi ratings done alot quicker it was not Mike Cohens fault at all. I could have as well but I made different choices and have to be ok with them.
 
I have 8 CFI binders and didn't purchase any of them. I spent months putting them together from a ton of different sources. Some of the plans I made, some I pulled from the net. Each section has a lesson plan and all the supporting information from the FAA including the relevant FAR's, AIM sections, FAA books and any other pertinant info I could dig up.

In fact, a few of the current CFI's came and copied some of my folders before I left the school a couple months ago. The most popular to be copied was the Multi-Engine and Systems folder.

I even have a special book filled with lesson plans and info on teaching the FOI's. Actually.... that one is overkill but I had the info and didn't want to get rid of it all so I made a folder for it.

I'm actually quite proud of my CFI binders.
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But I'm kind of a geek.

I'll definitely agree that quite a bit of the stuff that I linked to is wrong. Those are links to other peoples web pages and information. In particular I know that there's an instrument study giude and then the answers to that study guide that a student pilot did. Quite a bit of those answers are wrong but the questions are what's useful. I think someone should go fix those answers but I don't have the time to do it. But... there's a ton of useful information on there. To anyone using it. If you find something wrong just let Chris know. He'll update it.

And last but not least. I was in the middle of a huge mess with the flight instructor ratings. You probably don't have a good grasp of what it was because you were teaching ground courses and not preparing for the flight portion of your practical test at that time. But.... I waited several months to fly after I was prepared for the oral. I ended up getting permission from Mike to finish up the flight portion and get the initial sign off from one of the examiners that we use at the school because there was no one there who could do it. At that time the current 2yr CFI was unable due to FAA trouble, the new 2yr CFI was not there yet, the Chief Pilot was unable because there was no Assistant Chief so he was booked for weeks in advance.

When I left that issue had been resolved. There was a new 2yr CFI taking care of the training and an assistant chief pilot to take a lot of burden from the chief pilot. Things were running smoothly.

I don't blame anything on Mike or anyone from the school. It was a bad situation at that time and that's all there is too it. It cost me some extra money because of the time but I got it all done and that's all that matters. And.... I never failed a check ride or a stage check. whooohooooo.

j
 
Sonny what the • are you talking about?
[ QUOTE ]
I have been made aware of two occasions where he went into his fuel reserves and was told he almost ran out of fuel.

[/ QUOTE ]


I don't even have a clue what your talking about with the fuel reserve thing, you must have me mixed up with someone else 2 houses down because I sure as hell never did it! I would LOVE to hear who made you "aware" of this. I have NEVER been past Tallahassee on a roundtrip in a duchess except for the one trip with Tinsley and we bought fuel there so uhhhhh.....I don't see how I could have possibly ever come anywhere near running out of fuel. POST YOUR SURCES.....I'd LOVE to see who made this one up. ANYONE can feel free to look through my logbook, I don't have ANY trips where that could have possibly happened.

the flyby thing.....yeah I was in the plane.....I WASN'T FLYING, and he was at a safe altitude you dumbass....the ONLY reason the FAA ever looked into it was because you lied about the altitude. 50 feet??? are you freakin crazy or are you really as dumb as you look? There was over 15 signed letters saying we were NOT even close to being as low as you said....and 2 saying otherwise, you and your buddy who didn't even see it. FAA took no action....nuff said.
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You have no idea about the stuff between me and Mike so keep making stuff up if it makes you feel better. Everyone at the Aviator knows your full of it and nobody likes you. Pretending to be a CFI with your epaulets on all the time.... what a loser.

Nobody shoots an NDB in actual..... I guess youv'e never been to the the northeast or out west because thats all there is in some areas....what the hell else are you suppose to do when the weather gets bad?

Why don't you make up some more lies....maybe I like to fly the duchess inverted through the clouds VFR with low fuel while making drug runs to Cuba .
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Have fun Sonny, I'll wave to you from the King Air.
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Sorry bout all the bickering. It's just hard not to defend yourself when being attacked.

I'll do my best to refrain.

John
 
ok,

Let me give you guys my honest opinion about expericenece here.

The Plane: I've have many problem like many students here does. I had the flaps that won't retract, prop feathered in the pattern, intermittent VOR,DME,ADF,COM,transponder(not all at once), and etc.

What I am mad about is prop being feathered happens too often and the only explanation from maint. was "oil too hot". I'm sorry but it happens almost every other day, on a particular plane, and on a particular engine.Something wrong with this picture? For those of you "here" knows what I'm talking about.

The Management: Well....I can't say it much since I don't really talk to the the owner nor the financial lady. I'm not trying to judge anyone here, but it's normal to see M comes in and start yelling because the planes were not flying(squaked, etc.)

that's all i have to say for my experience here. People that I know here makes my experience here far more enjoyable.

that's all i have to say,
thaina09123
 
"Sorry bout all the bickering. It's just hard not to defend yourself when being attacked"

Here's the problem with it. It makes your school look bad when the bickering gets out of control, as it did at the DCA forums. Sometimes a person will come on and say negative things about your favorite school. The best thing you can do is refute it in a postive manner and try to get some others to do the same. The personal shouting matches are best kept in PM's.

If you care about what newbies coming to this site and reading this stuff think about your school, you need to watch what you say and how you say it. Defending yourself is fine, and getting all personal and nasty is fine too, but it's best done via PM's, if you ask me.
 
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