Re: Dallas location (Arlington)
I'd be happy to tell you everything I know!
I'm out of the X-country phase now, caught up on my sleep, and gettin' ready to start on the Commercial Multi and Single.
With any luck, I may be an instructor there not too long after you start
Well, the first few weeks are pretty busy, but only a taste of whats to come. If you can, get your writtens done early. It will give you MUCH less to have to worry about. When your books and supplies come, read the Seminole supplement cover to cover, twice. Good, good things in there. Also, try to memorize as much of the checklist as you can. It won't make too much sense before you get in the aircraft, but if you can follow along with the Seminole cockpit picture in the back of the supplement, it will put you ahead. You get between 5-8 hours in the Seminole for your Multi-Private transition (about a week), and then straight into the Instrument training. You'll sim for a week or so (about 50 hours) doing approach after approach after approach, and then into the Seminole do do the manuvers under the hood. If you can nail the manuvers in the sim, the actual flying will already be ingrained into muscle memory, and be a piece of cake. Your Instrument checkride will come sooner than you would like; don't worry, you will be ready. After the Instruent checkride you will do an insurance ride with a different instructor who will grade your progress and sign you off for the cross country phase. After that it's off to the east coast or west coast circuit, and more fun, experience, and airports than you can shake a stick at. Take a camera.
When you get back (this is where I am now...) you will start on your commercial Single and Multi manuvers, oral exam, etc., after which you will be off to Jacksonville FL for the CFI training (Spin training baby! Yeah!!) somewhere in between the Commercial and CFI training, or shortly thereafter, you will do the Citation ride. Study the videos and workbook carefully, and ask your instructor for a checklist to study. Know the callouts, V-speeds and procedures well, and you will have fun. After your CFI, CFII, and MEI, you may have a bit of cross country time left, but other than that, you are done. Write your resume and send it to Jax, and if the folks down there like what they see, you'll be wearing the ATP shirts and mumbling "...stay on that needle...don't overcorrect.." in your sleep
The instructors are awesome, every one. I don't have a bad thing to say about any of them. They are all from different parts with different personalities and backgrounds, but they are all damn good pilots and great instructors. Judging by what little I've seen and heard about Jacksonville, they are pretty picky about who they put in the offices, and it shows.
Right now there are about 10 ACPP students at GKY, with more on the way all the time. No one has washed out that I know of; after the face-to-face interview and written test, phone inerview and oral test, and shelling out 32 big ones pretty much all you have left over is people who are utterly committed to the program and work thier ass off.
Well, thats about it. If after wading through all my excessive parenthetical expression and misuse of semicolons you still have any questions, fire away- I'd be happy to answer.
--Jim