Another Running Experience...This Time KDAB

jrwit

jrwit

Looking to Ride-Along
There has been a lot of positive feedback on Future Cpt Kirk 's running experience thread and I figured I'd start my own.

Without getting into all of the reasons why I chose ATP/whether it is good or not before I get there, I'm going to focus more on just the experience itself and then decide afterwards what my thoughts were.

So to start, some background:

Just graduated college in Canada with a Degree in Political Science and Communication. Both parents are with majors and I have loved flight since as long as I can remember. Mom was my flight instructor in high school, I soloed on my 16th and got my license when I was 17. Took 4 years of college to realize that I wanted to be a professional pilot.

I was born and raised in Pennsylvania (KTHV) and am going to be attending the KDAB location, starting next Monday. I will be driving down Friday, crashing in a hotel (unless some JC'er in Georgia or North FL wants to put me up ;) ) and moving in on Saturday.

I currently have 140 Hours TT, 31 X-Country PIC, and 9 High Performance PIC. I don't entirely know why I chose Daytona, mostly just because it'd be less of a move to Jacksonville or Ft. Lauderdale for CFI school.


Experience so far:
Everyone at ATP has been nice, but I'm hoping that isn't attributed to what some have called drinking the ATP Kool-Aid. It's been relatively easy (almost too easy...) to sign up and get registered, minus looking at the bills. All of the required training materials were mailed very expeditiously, and that part has been painless.

Based on other threads, I've realized the harder I work up front, the easier my time will be. As such, I've completed my Instrument and Commercial writtens, memorized pretty much the entire Seminole supplement, and test-passed most questions from the ASA multi book with my mother. I feel really well prepared, and have even had "this is what you need before you start" woman from ATP saying I sounded prepared. So far this is helping with keeping my confidence high, but not too-high; although I'm still worried about trying to drink through the firehose of information I'm about to be hit with.

My first complaint (and only so far) is that it would have been nice, a-la-college, to know which condo I will be in and who my room mates will be. Other than that it's been smooth and I'm looking forward to getting there.



Any questions, comments, or words of advice are really appreciated, and I will keep updating this as often as possible!!
 
Best of luck!

I'm looking forward to hearing about the progress. I've considered ATP for training as I already have my PPL.
 
I'm new and will be happy to follow your progress and experience. Giving up on the Army after 12 years and looking into flying.
 
Ok, first official update at ATP.

Drove down Friday and Saturday (14 hour total drive), with a car full of my stuff. I arrived at the ATP training center at 10:30ish to receive my key. Receiving my key was about as easy as possible "Hi, I'm Jrwit" "Cool, here's your key". Went to the apartment they have for us.

The apartment is nice, fully furnished and clean, despite having 4 guys living here. I'm living with 2 instructors (one is my instructor) and another student, but apparently these three may be moving out and I may be getting new roomates. I'm really lucky because the other student is just starting multi, as am I so we've already been studying even though I don't start until Monday. Even luckier is he already has sim access.....

So, unoffical day 1 in the sim: We did practice engine outs in all portions of flight, steep turns, Vmc demo, and a couple other basic maneuvers. It was a ton of fun to get to be able to practice flows and just flying the sim before I officially started. I do have to note that the sims are pretty much not at all like flying a real airplane, and according to my buddy, definitely not like flying a real seminole. What they are good for is practicing checklist flows and emergency procedures, as well as working on IFR work (which I haven't started yet). Overall, it was a fun and productive 3 hours.

Today we are going to be studying. All day. Hopefully by the pool, b/c why not?

I'll check back in on Monday when I'm actually signed in and flying!
 
Good luck bro! I look forward to reading about your experiences. I took and passed my Multi-Engine Commercial Initial onm Sunday... I'll post a blog about it soon. That Sim will be your best friend throughout multi add on and especially instrument training. Get in it as much as you can. Again, good luck man!
 
Congrats on starting! I remember the new(er) DAB facility was very nice compared to the old. Definitely one of the top locations in my eyes. I got most of the writtens out of the way before starting like you did when I went to ATP, it definitely helps rather than trying to get it done along with everything else.
Good luck!
 
Ok, so here's the first training update:

WOW. "Accelerated" is not just a buzzword to sell the program, let me tell you. The past two days have been sim days, and I never thought a computer program could make me feel so much like I didn't know how to fly. I have to say though, having the Seminole supplement pre-memorized meant most of my study time has been devoted to working on checklist flows, emerg procedures, and other in-cockpit related issues that I've been having a hard time with. I'm really lucky however, in that my instructor is not only a great teacher, but really does know what he's doing. There hasn't been one time I felt as if I couldn't ask him something, from a reg to a checklist, that he couldn't succinctly and helpfully answer. I definitely lucked out on that front.

Today (3 days in) was my first flight, and first time flying a twin. Fun doesn't even describe it. I had a smile on my face from takeoff to touch down. Here's the rundown of the flight: Charlie Airspace briefing, Normal takeoff, Steep Turns, Slow Flight, Power off Stalls, Power on Stalls, Vmc demo, and in flight engine failure. All were demo'd by my instructor first, then attempted by myself. I was within PTS regs for all of the maneuvers, except the one I need to work on most, the Vmc demo. Also, for some reason, I freeze up every time the engine fails and can't get past "Maintain directional control, pitch attitude, airspeed". I literally just freeze. I practice for literally hours, and can recite the rest cold on the ground, but as soon as I'm in the sim or the plane, it all goes out the window. Obviously I'll have to work on that.


I have another sim tonight (after my post-flight nap) then another flight tomorrow morning at 7AM. So far, it's looking like I'm totally on track for next Wednesday as my check ride. Things are going really well, and I'm so far super happy with my program and my progress. And hey, living in Florida, playing tennis every night to unwind, isn't a bad life.

I'll check in again ASAP.
 
Congrats on starting! Study hard... I mean hard, and you'll do great. Make sure you take time every now and then to blow off some steam in the evenings... A couple of beers with the guys never hurt anyone (so long as you aren't flying first thing the next morning). It can get overwhelming at times if you don't take a breather here and there. Glad you're enjoying the first few flights in the Seminole... It's a lot of fun. I'll miss flying it when I'm finished up in two-or-so months. Good luck and let me know if you have any questions.

MIke
 
Dude congrats on starting, I can tell you my multi stuff I didn't really feel confident until the check ride. If you're in misty springs all I can say is you used to have better, but DAB is a great location with a great guy running it. Keep posting!
 
Did you get finished up? Are you going to instruct for ATP? Gone Through Stans yet? Hope the rest of the program went well.

Mike
 
It's been busy, I'm sure you understand, sorry for the delay. Just finished up CFI school, about to go for my ii on Friday, unfortunately I haven't been given a stans date. I was gonna write up a full report for JC when I'm all done and in my training center. I'll PM you though.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top