Experiences at UND?

Jeremy

Jeremy

New Member
Recently, after taking a college major aptitude test, I've been getting a lot of mail from the University of North Dakota Aerospace school. It seems like a nice enough place, but I want to be sure so I don't have to go from New Jersey to North Dakota to see its not for me.

I'm not really sure I'd even want to go to an aviation school, since if I wanted to do something outside of flying, ATC, airport management, etc., I wouldn't have too much experience (unlike if I had a degree in Business or something).

Thanks

-Also, not sure if this is in the right area :dunno:
 
Jeremy said:
Recently, after taking a college major aptitude test, I've been getting a lot of mail from the University of North Dakota Aerospace school. It seems like a nice enough place, but I want to be sure so I don't have to go from New Jersey to North Dakota to see its not for me.

I'm not really sure I'd even want to go to an aviation school, since if I wanted to do something outside of flying, ATC, airport management, etc., I wouldn't have too much experience (unlike if I had a degree in Business or something).

Thanks

-Also, not sure if this is in the right area :dunno:
Click to expand...
I assume this should be in the colleges forum (at the very bottom) but anywho...I'm a junior in HS and I went to their flying camp this past July.

Pros: Aviation part of UND (buildings, sims, classrooms, etc) are very nice
Cons:
ND...enough said
Cold and wind can cancel flights
I had never thrown up in 30+ hours of training until I went there because of the wind
The rest of the university (besides the aviation buildings) is flatout old and boring.

I have a lot of pictures I took of the campus if you want the link to my photobucket.
 
Jeremy said:
Yeah, if you could do that, that'd be great.
Click to expand...
I think most of my pictures are of the aviation buildings (Odegard, etc), but I have a couple of the campus.

http://s193.photobucket.com/albums/z156/slugger9207/UND/
And someone was using my camera when they took pictures of the bathroom sign....not me haha.
And you said you were from NJ...going to UND would be a HUGE culture shock for you in my opinion. I knew it would be for me (I live like 12 miles N of Boston).

and I know I have more pictures than that on my camera somewhere -- I'll get those uploaded and PM you again when I do(if you want).
 
Recently discussed:
http://forums.jetcareers.com/university-north-dakota/94758-und.html

Personally, I don't really care for aviation colleges. I have some friends in a college around here that help me reinforce that belief. They're always telling me that they aren't allowed to rent planes to take family/friends/girls up (at least no cross countries anyway) and if it isn't in the syllabus it has to be unanimously approved by all of the Chief Flight Instructors. If one says no, forget about it. There are no loopholes.

Flying at an FBO there is much more freedom. I don't have to have a reason to go flying. Nor do I have to follow a syllabus. If I want to go punch holes in the sky for three hours, that's up to me... not any of the Chiefs.

In summary: I think colleges are way too restrictive on what students do with their airplanes and keeps their students very limited on what real world experience they are exposed to. Sure, some of it is sort of a CYA for the University, but still. I believe that if you fly at an FBO you're more likely to expose yourself to real life situations and not have to rely on somebody that isn't even in the airplane to help you make your decisions.
 
N519AT said:
Recently discussed:
http://forums.jetcareers.com/university-north-dakota/94758-und.html

Personally, I don't really care for aviation colleges. I have some friends in a college around here that help me reinforce that belief. They're always telling me that they aren't allowed to rent planes to take family/friends/girls up (at least no cross countries anyway) and if it isn't in the syllabus it has to be unanimously approved by all of the Chief Flight Instructors. If one says no, forget about it. There are no loopholes.

Flying at an FBO there is much more freedom. I don't have to have a reason to go flying. Nor do I have to follow a syllabus. If I want to go punch holes in the sky for three hours, that's up to me... not any of the Chiefs.

In summary: I think colleges are way too restrictive on what students do with their airplanes and keeps their students very limited on what real world experience they are exposed to. Sure, some of it is sort of a CYA for the University, but still. I believe that if you fly at an FBO you're more likely to expose yourself to real life situations and not have to rely on somebody that isn't even in the airplane to help you make your decisions.
Click to expand...
I have to second that.
I didn't like a lot of the procedures they had. Especially that they had a special syllabus for the 3 flight flying camp....so stupid. Because of that syllabus, people who actually had experience/hours (like me and 2 others) were stuck doing really basic things, but I guess it helped me because the checkride will consist of a lot of those things.

Another thing I didn't like was having to say "clear left, clear right, going straight" when taxiing. I know to look when crossing another taxiway, but I don't feel the need to say it out loud.

I like the FBO I am at right now and I hope to continue my training for as long as I can pay for it :) and go to a non-aviation school.
 
I attend UND right now. UND is a really nice school to go to for Aviation. They have great aircraft and good aviation facilities. I came from a bigger city to Grand Forks. Yes it's a little bit different but Grand Forks is a nice little town, I like it. If you are coming here just for Commerical Aviation I reccomend that you also do Aviation Managment. In Aviation Managment you get a full business degree from the College of Business. A degree in Managment is a great backup to have in case you loose your medical or something. I HIGHLY recommend you live in the dorms for at least your freshman year if not also your sophmore year. West Hall is a pretty good dorm (and it is now co-ed!!!).
Cue the others. :pop:
 
Slugger said:
Another thing I didn't like was having to say "clear left, clear right, going straight" when taxiing. I know to look when crossing another taxiway, but I don't feel the need to say it out loud.
Click to expand...

I think it's a good thing to say this out loud.

It lets the CFI know what the student is thinking...lets say your supposed to be going STRAIGHT and the student calls out "clear left, clear right, going right" this gives the CFI a chance to correct the student and say no keeping going straight instead of letting the student get them into a bind and turning right and end up nose to nose with another aicraft (and really pissing off ground) or turning on to a runway.
 
oktex88 said:
I think it's a good thing to say this out loud.

It lets the CFI know what the student is thinking...lets say your supposed to be going STRAIGHT and the student calls out "clear left, clear right, going right" this gives the CFI a chance to correct the student and say no keeping going straight instead of letting the student get them into a bind and turning right and end up nose to nose with another aicraft (and really pissing off ground) or turning on to a runway.
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Well I thought the point of saying that was to have students say it even when they fly by themselves. I didn't think its sole purpose was for the instructor to know what the student is thinking. Saying that while solo seems fruitless, but I guess it can't hurt.
 
N519AT said:
Recently discussed:
http://forums.jetcareers.com/university-north-dakota/94758-und.html

In summary: I think colleges are way too restrictive on what students do with their airplanes and keeps their students very limited on what real world experience they are exposed to. Sure, some of it is sort of a CYA for the University, but still. I believe that if you fly at an FBO you're more likely to expose yourself to real life situations and not have to rely on somebody that isn't even in the airplane to help you make your decisions.
Click to expand...

Never checked out Eastern's program then. We can rent planes go wherever, whenever, with whoever. I think that puts us leagues over other comparable programs.
 
Syllabus just for the Aerospace camp says something about the aviation program in general; STRUCTURE. Its a structured program all together. Its funny to hear people gripe about it now but when I came here it was easy to adapt to the rigidness of the program. You probably wont hear an instructor say to his/her " well what should we do today?" Each lesson is clearly laid out. Standardization is the name of the game here. You will either like it or hate it with a passion as most people coming from a part 61 environment do.
 
av8or91 said:
Syllabus just for the Aerospace camp says something about the aviation program in general; STRUCTURE. Its a structured program all together. Its funny to hear people gripe about it now but when I came here it was easy to adapt to the rigidness of the program. You probably wont hear an instructor say to his/her " well what should we do today?" Each lesson is clearly laid out. Standardization is the name of the game here. You will either like it or hate it with a passion as most people coming from a part 61 environment do.
Click to expand...
Just curious, say the next scheduled lesson in the syllabus is short+soft field takeoffs and landings, but the winds are 10G19 and not right down the runway. Do they cancel the lesson altogether or do they do something else?
 
someone please put this in the right forum.

anyway, dont do it. youre insane if you want to take out loans now for an industry that frankly doesnt exist anymore. there are no jobs. THERE ARE NO JOBS.

that and youll want to commit suicide after moving to North Dakota.
 
Slugger said:
Just curious, say the next scheduled lesson in the syllabus is short+soft field takeoffs and landings, but the winds are 10G19 and not right down the runway. Do they cancel the lesson altogether or do they do something else?
Click to expand...

We have North/South and East/West runways. I don't really see that being much of a problem. Or you could just even fly over to another airport in one of the practice areas...so no they don't cancel. I've flown at UND at GFK with winds gusting to 35 knots...while yes you might think all these rules are dumb but they are pretty reasonable. If you've flown a warrior in surface winds gusting to 35knots you know what I mean.
 
Slugger said:
Well I thought the point of saying that was to have students say it even when they fly by themselves. I didn't think its sole purpose was for the instructor to know what the student is thinking. Saying that while solo seems fruitless, but I guess it can't hurt.
Click to expand...

Also, saying it out loud will help a new student remember to actually look when flying solo.. if they are in the habit of doing it with a CFI they will remember to do it one the CFI is out of that seat and they are solo. I've been to several airports where planes just blow right past eachother and almost hit...solo student and license pilots alike. Ya it sounds like a dumb thing to say out loud but there are airlines that also have pilots say this kind of stuff out loud to incease awarness and CRM.

During my commerical manuevers and doing eights on pylons it helped me to explain out loud what I was doing and what I thought the winds were doing as a I turned.
 
When I was building time for my commercial, I rented a 177, flew to va, picked up my buddy, flew to okracoke island, pitched a tent on the beach. Flew up the outer banks, rented kayaks, swam with dolphins, visited the first flight memorial, flew through a squall line, shot approaches to minimums, and had the time of mt life. That's one example. My instructors were from all kinds of backgrounds, I flew tailwheels, biplanes, aerobatic aircraft, etc. And I paid about a third what they charged at puppymills back then.

Your call.
 
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