chestercfi
Well-Known Member
I went to the Aviator in Fall 2006. I had three instructors while I was there. One got hired at Colgan (MPL), one's VISA expired (IFR, CMEL, CSEL, MEI, CFI), and the last one got hired at expressjet the day I was leaving after my CFII checkride.
What everyone is saying about the instructors not being paid for ground time is true. My instructors weren't bad in that they didn't volunteer, but if you went to their house (on the next street over, in your backyard) they would be willing to chat, have a beer, and talk about whatever you needed.
The planes are old, but so are most flight schools these days. The planes fly A LOT. If you think that a plane that flies at least twelve hours a day isnt going to have some minor issues here and there, you're crazy. In the event that 5 or 6 planes hit 100 hour mx checks on a Saturday or Sunday, whille the shop was mostly closed, the Monday thereafter all planes would be grounded except for checkrides that were already scheduled. This happened 2 times in the 3.5 months I was there. Things may have changed since I was there but, this is all I know.
If I remeber correctly, when I left, 5 planes had 430's, although that may have changed by now too. You'll learn the quirks of every plane, and some will become favorites. But in the end, multi time is multi time whether it has a 430 or not. Although flying through towering cumulus while trying to hold level and trying to intercept a localizer(that is not coming in) at PBI while approach is asking you why you are only going 95kts in a light twin in 6630K, is not something that I want to do everyday, I did get 200 hours of multi, of which has built to 300 hours since. My cfi counterparts at my flight school both who went to aviation colleges have 100 multi and 9 multi, so I feel aviator worked well for me, especially for the price compared to the other large schools.
What everyone is saying about the instructors not being paid for ground time is true. My instructors weren't bad in that they didn't volunteer, but if you went to their house (on the next street over, in your backyard) they would be willing to chat, have a beer, and talk about whatever you needed.
The planes are old, but so are most flight schools these days. The planes fly A LOT. If you think that a plane that flies at least twelve hours a day isnt going to have some minor issues here and there, you're crazy. In the event that 5 or 6 planes hit 100 hour mx checks on a Saturday or Sunday, whille the shop was mostly closed, the Monday thereafter all planes would be grounded except for checkrides that were already scheduled. This happened 2 times in the 3.5 months I was there. Things may have changed since I was there but, this is all I know.
If I remeber correctly, when I left, 5 planes had 430's, although that may have changed by now too. You'll learn the quirks of every plane, and some will become favorites. But in the end, multi time is multi time whether it has a 430 or not. Although flying through towering cumulus while trying to hold level and trying to intercept a localizer(that is not coming in) at PBI while approach is asking you why you are only going 95kts in a light twin in 6630K, is not something that I want to do everyday, I did get 200 hours of multi, of which has built to 300 hours since. My cfi counterparts at my flight school both who went to aviation colleges have 100 multi and 9 multi, so I feel aviator worked well for me, especially for the price compared to the other large schools.
anic: a little self reflection might be in order.
