Current Star-Bright student

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dwe213

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Hi-

I'm a 200-hour Private Pilot living at Star-Bright. I'm training to become a professional pilot--wherever this goal may take me. Rather than eating when I need a break from studying, I blog about my life at Star-Bright. Here it is: http://pilotdude.blogspot.com/

I realize its hard to find a flight school that's a good fit: one that does required mainteinance, has career flight instructors, will provide reference contacts of current students and one that isn't going evaporate with your money half-way through your training.

Questions? Call me at 607-351-2191

Sincerely,

David
 
Yes, its been pretty good so far--still in the disorganized growing pains stage, but honest folks wanting to do it right, excellent instruction, and planes that you can fly anywhere/anytime (try renting a Twin for night X-C to an undetermined airport!)

Took a day off from flying and spent most of today reading Dogan's "Instrument Flight Training Manual, and the Jepp. Comm/Inst. book. Learned that Star-Bright is selling their Bellanca and will buy another PA-30b, along with an Arrow & probably a C-150 soon.

I'm starting to think about doing a X-C night flight with a visiting CFI in the Twin all night this Saturday. Where should we go??
 
Thanks David!
Yes, we are experiencing a few growing pains... but we are moving forward. I would like to thank everyone for their patience and support, it will only get better from here.
The construction on our hanger is near completion and the office should be done by October. And we are planning to add more planes and instructors in the coming months.
 
After two and a half weeks of self-study, I passed the instrument ground instructor, instrument flight instructor, and instrument airplane written tests today :) Although test centers will give you a print out of the questions you missed, don't expect to be able to find the actual questions you missed online (the FAA has a cleverly confused numbering system that even the most patient researcher would be hard-pressed to navigate successfully.) Nice to have these tests out of the way. Now, time to start instrument flying (at night) :rolleyes:
 
Over the weekend took a 36 hour trip to WY, CO and back to Star-Bright (K88). Flew 16.5 hours, mostly at night, with lots of hood time and several hours of actual IFR too. Learned lots about weather, routing departures in Class Bravo, and where to get the cheapest AVgas (hint: its not at the airports you can get to during IMC :(

Today flew three hours in IMC, made three approaches at three different airports, two of which were down to minimums. Glad to be making solid progress! :)
 
The last two weeks have been a whirlwind, preparing for my Istrument Rating: run, eat, fly, study, nap, eat, fly at night, then try to get to bed by 2:30am. On the weekends I've been studying, since my instructor usually takes that time off (thank goodness, so I can catch-up on sleep). My instrument approaches are coming along nicely, and I feel comfortable with most of the Oral Exan Guide questions. My Instrument Flight Test is next Tuesday. I'm nervous--wanting to fly it perfectly and to not miss any oral questions. Any advice for the Instrument Flight Test? :)
 
David,

Good luck on your check ride. I was suppose to have mine on the 26th of this month but due to my being lazy and not studying, I'm nowhere near ready for the written let alone the check ride. Still have a few more lessons to go, but I'm going to space them out a bit to give me more time to study. I've just been extremely lazy and haven't flown or studied as much as I should have since I've been off work the past couple of weeks.

Just trying to enjoy my off time, as it's going to be the last little bit of relaxing for a long time to come. I've got 2 months left until I have to transition out of the Army, relocate from Hawaii to Houston and move again to whatever flight school I go to (if I relocate for training).

Good luck and I'm sure you'll do fine. Seems like you get a lot of studying done out there! :)

Chris
 
Hey Chris,

Yea, its midnight now and I'm finally getting back online to post after a couple of weeks stuck in the books.

Did you get remotivated yet? Its tough to keep going when life's usual distrations abound. Most days I manage to get in some studying, but nights when we fly until 3am I'm usually worthless the next day and then end up getting distracted by the fridge or Walmart (that's pretty much all that's here for distractions--unless you count the Kincaid Fair but thats over now until next year.)

Yesterday Rob, Keefe & I flew to Wichita where Rob had a meeting with the FAA. Part 141 is officially rolling now! Star-Bright needs to do a bunch of paperwork and then the FAA will be out here for an inspection sometime in November. My guess is that Star-Bright will be Part 141 Certified well before Christmas, and possibly by Thanksgiving.

Hang in there--less than 2 months to go!
 
What kind of difference will there be in the training programs that you have once you're approved for 141?
 
For example:instead of needing 40 hours of flight time,141 students only need 35 hours for their private license,and there will be stage checks stuff like that.
 
As Keefe mentioned, the minimum flight time required for ratings drops when traiing under Part 141 rather than Part 61. For example, the Commercial total time requirement drops from 250 hours to 190 hours.

Part 141 also sets rules on operations (primarily to assure safety), requires that a training syllabus be used (Star-Bright will use Jeppesen), and sets higher minimum standards for Flight Instructors than Part 61.

Aside from lower flight time requirements, more standardized training, and regular FAA inspections Part 141 makes possible VISA assistance for foreign students and the use of V.A. Benefits to help pay for flght training.

If you have questions about the cost/training requirements for the specific training that you are considering, let me know and I'll get you an answer within 24 hours, straight from the top (with enough cookies, everything is possible :)

Its safe to say that you will find the cost cheaper, the housing (brand new) closer to the airplanes (a 1 minute walk), and the instructors more available for both flight and ground instruction (24/7, they live here full time) than any other Part 61/141 flight school.
 
Remotivated? LOL not quite yet. Have been doing a little studying but nowhere near as much as I should.

Good to hear that the 141 stuff is finally coming together. That is great news actually. Hopefully they get the VA approval by time I leave here in December. That would work out great. I'll keep my fingers crossed.

Nice new pics on your blog.
 
I hope we can get that 141,I would like to see this place get organized,im doing all that i can to accomplish that in the hanger,i have the planes spotless,(besides dust due to construction on the ramp),and the rest of the hanger is coming along,im still trying to get everything in its place,but its going slowly, due to the fact that im the only one in the hanger that is trying to accomplish this,PLUS i have to keep the planes clean,fueled,and i still have to find time to study (and thats not that much time!)I guess if i stay busy though i wont have time to think about all that!AT least i fly alot!!!!that makes it all worth it!
 
Me and David went to KTOP today to ferry parts(our first cargo flight!!)anyways we could have just used the garmin 530 but we decided to use VOR navigation instead,David flew of coarse because im still a student,and i navigated and planned the flight so i could be ready for my cross country flying,we departed at 5:30 am:buck:and it was a really nice flight,but i could have been better organized with my preperation,we tracked topeka VOR and crossed radials at certain points along our route.Coming back we divided crew management resourses BEFORE we departed(VERY HELPFUL!!)and i navigated again,we were right on coarse the entire time,crossing check points right on the asigned radials and we looked outside more:Dit was VERY PRO!!!and next time will be even better!!!!:nana2:
 
I finish cleaning and organizing the hanger today!!!!:rawk::panic::nana2::Di still need to make a comprehensize inventory list but i got the big stuff done and i can concentrate on studying more now that the hanger is cleaned up!ill have this place running like a well oiled summo wrestler soon!LOL just kidding!it sounded good though:D:D
 
Not only is the hanger amazingly clean, but Keefe keeps the three planes cleaner than a Sumo-Wrestler in a babybath! Not only are the leading edges spotless, but the underside of the wings, empanage and even the wheel pants and gear doors are bug-less before every flight. We're lucky that Keefe's here :nana2:
 
Thanks David,my thought is that if your plane looks great and your not embarrassed to fly it, then students or pilots will have a little more confidence,and confidence is a GREAT BIG friend to pilots!:D(look good ,fly good)!:D
 
True to form, Keefe (the maintanance guy who loves airplanes and who is working on his Private) was up at 5am to prepare the twin for my checkride. Rob, and a visiting instructor, were also up early and had the plane ready for our 6:45 am departure. After a .7 flight to KTOP I spent the rest of the morning, and part of the early afternoon at my initial Commercial Multi. checkride. Two Pepsis and three peanut-M&M packages later I passed :)

After three months as a student pilot at Star-Bright I can say that I would not want to be learning to fly anywhere else. Where else could I go and get 24/7 ground school (the instructors live here), brand new housing at the airport (1 minute walk to the hanger!), immersion in an aviation environment, the ability to fly whenever--at night, in actual instrument conditions, and any where in the country, to have regualr 100-hour inspections done and minor repairs fixed promptly, and to have (2) instructors that live here and aren't going anywhere (this is their dream job--they are not time building for something else).

Now there are 6 of us living in here: 2 instructors, a visiting instructor, a private pilot student, me (MEI student), and an instrument/Comm. Multi student. Several other students are scheduled to be here over the next couple of months.

Okay, enough about this place. Time for another beer :D
 
For any regular readers out there, my appologies for not posting more frequently here on on my blog lately (busy getting divorced--wife met a new guy several weeks ago!)

Scored 100% :D on the F.O.I written exam (its a silly test, but also one where just a couple of solid days of studying will produce good results, and it sure feels good to get a 100 on a test).

Now starting MEI (i.e., learning to fly the plane from the right seat). Will be flying to FL soon to drop off a student.

Two new students are here now, bringing the house total to 8 people (pics will be posted on my blog soon, I hope). Nice little aviation community developing--we go out together occasionally, hang out in the livingroom studying with a ground instructor, and fly at all hours (last night at midnight, on the backside of a substantial Low.)

Hit 400 hours this week :)

More later....
 
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