Ameriflight

There's plenty still. Training can't keep up with attrition at the moment. The pass rate isn't great either


Training hasn't kept up with attrition for a few years now, and the pass rate hasn't been great since the dawn of time. AMF wants very skilled, very capable pilots that require very little training. This horse has been beaten but there are more productive ways to train guy that might not be the top gun of their CFI class. I would bet the deficit is only going to get worse as there are capable pilots coming from the top flight schools in the country, and they went from the latest glass cockpit setups to the oldest equipment being operated in the lower 48. AMF is probably the only 135 operator with the wash out rate as high as it is. It will be interesting to see how they handle bridging the gap in the future.
 
Let's be honest with whose fault that is though.
They've adjusted the Metro program for direct hires. From what I understand, it's indoc, 2 weeks at flight safety first to get the type rating, and then they come over for the normal AMF training and the 135 initial checkride). I don't know what the success rate is now with that, but the direct hire pass rate on the Metro was 10% prior to this. I actually thought the Metro training was good though. The 99 wasn't bad either, except for a bad case of chronic fatigue/stress for me. I do remember a lot of yelling coming from the Chieftain sim when I was in the 99 sim though. :)

In general, I think it's too fast. Considering what @Inverted mentioned too about the disparity to what people train in now compared to what AMF operates, 2-3 weeks from arrival to checkride, eesh! What's indoc/initial at a regional/135 charter/normal type rating? 6-8 weeks with no delays?
 
They've adjusted the Metro program for direct hires. From what I understand, it's indoc, 2 weeks at flight safety first to get the type rating, and then they come over for the normal AMF training and the 135 initial checkride). I don't know what the success rate is now with that, but the direct hire pass rate on the Metro was 10% prior to this. I actually thought the Metro training was good though. The 99 wasn't bad either, except for a bad case of chronic fatigue/stress for me. I do remember a lot of yelling coming from the Chieftain sim when I was in the 99 sim though. :)

In general, I think it's too fast. Considering what @Inverted mentioned too about the disparity to what people train in now compared to what AMF operates, 2-3 weeks from arrival to checkride, eesh! What's indoc/initial at a regional/135 charter/normal type rating? 6-8 weeks with no delays?
Ameriflight should stop doing all training and leave it to professionals. I promise if FSI did the training they'd have very close to a 100% pass rate. And certainly not because FSI training is easy because you're paying for it. They actually know how to train people to proficiency. It's all they do.
Also I don't understand the checkride and amf training after FSI. You can do the 293/7 in the sim.
 
I do remember a lot of yelling coming from the Chieftain sim when I was in the 99 sim though. :)

Heard from the other sim:

Student: "How come we stopped flying"
Instructor: "Because you hit a mountain
Student: "I didn't know there were mountains out here" (sim was set to fly in SoCal, landing in Burbank)
Instructor: (Walking out of the room with his hands up) This is an F-ing Greek Tragedy!!!

That still makes me laugh.
 
Got this in the mail yesterday...

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IMG_20150416_103449_856 (2).jpg
 
Heard from the other sim:

Student: "How come we stopped flying"
Instructor: "Because you hit a mountain
Student: "I didn't know there were mountains out here" (sim was set to fly in SoCal, landing in Burbank)
Instructor: (Walking out of the room with his hands up) This is an F-ing Greek Tragedy!!!

That still makes me laugh.

One more to the ameri-graveyard at the end of runway 8.
 
Heard from the other sim:

Student: "How come we stopped flying"
Instructor: "Because you hit a mountain
Student: "I didn't know there were mountains out here" (sim was set to fly in SoCal, landing in Burbank)
Instructor: (Walking out of the room with his hands up) This is an F-ing Greek Tragedy!!!

That still makes me laugh.
See, that's the horse crap that needs to go if it hasn't already. Yelling, swearing, and child-like behavior in general does NOTHING for learning...

If it were in a joking manner and both parties were in on it. It was fine getting it in the Brasilia because I just dished it right back out. haha

I really don't have anything nice to say about the Chieftain program I observed. Maybe it's changed. No further comment. :)
 
Learning? Are they suppose to teach a day of geography to new hires now too?

Knowing where the mountains are (especially when...you know...near mountains) is basic flying. If you can't figure that out on your own i'm not sure how much more the instructors at AMF can help.
 
Learning? Are they suppose to teach a day of geography to new hires now too?

Knowing where the mountains are (especially when...you know...near mountains) is basic flying. If you can't figure that out on your own i'm not sure how much more the instructors at AMF can help.
Expressing frustration in a 4 year old temper tantrum like manner is unprofessional at the very least. Unmotivating for most.
 
Learning? Are they suppose to teach a day of geography to new hires now too?

Knowing where the mountains are (especially when...you know...near mountains) is basic flying. If you can't figure that out on your own i'm not sure how much more the instructors at AMF can help.

While I agree with what you are saying, I will tell you that I hit that same mountain in training. Why? Because the stupid instructor put me in some random position in the SoCal area, very close to the VOR, facing some random direction. With no sectional, just some poorly photocopied approach plate. He unfroze the sim and told me to find where I was, and to intercept a radial, then shoot the approach into BUR. This all happened in the course of 3 minutes. My SA was zero because I wasnt familiar with the area, I was so overloaded on purpose by the instructor, and I failed the objective because of it. I didn't fail the sim session but I was yelled at. THIS IS WHY AMF DOESNT HAVE A TRAINING DEPARTMENT, THEY HAVE A CHECKING DEPARTMENT.

That is the most unrealistic, poorly written and executed sim profile I have EVER seen. A professional training department would never in a million years paint you into that kind of scenario. Why? Because it's ridiculous. Nobody has the failure rate that AMF has, and AMF Doesn't have a fatality free record to show for it either.

I fully agree that they should let a professional organization do their training.
 
While I agree with what you are saying, I will tell you that I hit that same mountain in training. Why? Because the stupid instructor put me in some random position in the SoCal area, very close to the VOR, facing some random direction. With no sectional, just some poorly photocopied approach plate. He unfroze the sim and told me to find where I was, and to intercept a radial, then shoot the approach into BUR. This all happened in the course of 3 minutes.

Ahhhh. Well that changes things then. Sounds like bullcrap to me.

Airplanes don't just magically end up in places.

Seriously? I cant say BS on here?
 
My favorite is when they would turn the speed up and would not tell you. You were 50 miles from a VOR, looked down to brief the approach, and then blew through the VOR 20 seconds later. This was often accompanied with a lecture about making sure to always have good situational awareness and being made to feel like I was an idiot. I have yet to encounter random 300kt tailwinds that randomly appear and disappear in flight, but when I do find them, I will be prepared. Thanks AMF!
 
Ya know, I'd love to do the type of flying that AMF does. However, every time I read all these stories about how bad the training, cough cough.... ahem, Checking is, It makes me just want to go to Skywest. The last thing I want is a, ahem, checking failure on my clean training record. sigh...
 
The flying was fun, and the multi day legs were challenging. Make no mistake, you can fail a check ride at Skywest too, but the training you receive prior to the check ride at a placement Skywest will be night and day different.
 
The flying was fun, and the multi day legs were challenging. Make no mistake, you can fail a check ride at Skywest too, but the training you receive prior to the check ride at a placement Skywest will be night and day different.

Yeah that's what I keep hearing, Skywest has a great training program, which would be perfect for me since I'm a total newbie with no 121 time and a little over 1500.
 
The flying was fun, and the multi day legs were challenging. Make no mistake, you can fail a check ride at Skywest too, but the training you receive prior to the check ride at a placement Skywest will be night and day different.

I would agree with this. I did some of the most fun flying I've ever done at Ameriflight. There was no training, just evaluation from day 1. I was shocked at how a 121 training program was ran versus how it was done at Ameriflight.
 
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