MEI Training

BA202

BA202

New Member
Has anyone done MEI Training at UND at the Instructor rate or done it outside and "transferred" it in? What do you guys recomend? I am a full time Instructor now and am debating going home and doing it then comming back or doing it here? Particularly for cost and want to avoid the stage check here.
 
Ive heard at instructor rates your looking 4500 avg cost,,2 stages and De ride. Im doing it at ATP over the Christmas break for (15 ME PIC)3995 +400 for examiner fee. Almost the same cost but no stage checks and I really want to experience a DE and get some more flying outside of UND's bubble. Im just going to take the MEI ground school in the spring and im not 100 percent sure on the standardization ride or what else you have to do to teach it. Regardless, ATP seemed a lot less stressful and more of a friendly environment. Your paying for a package fee and Instructors are available to you when ever you need them which was nice factor. I would not do it here.
 
Are you currently an instructor at UND or just looking to do your MEI here?

I wouldnt do it at UND unless you plan on sticking around and flight instructing at UND for 2-4 years. The 2 stage checks plus the DE ride is a little too much I think. I would rather just get it done somewhere else. I dont know of any instructor here at UND that has done it somewhere else and then taught multi students, but who knows. UND is very set in their "inbreed instructing" if you know what i mean.

As far as the check ride goes, you are probably gonna get Dana Siewert or Paul Snyder. Although I havent taken an MEI checkride with them, I hear they are very challenging and a lot of people fail the first time around.
 
According to the CFI employment manual to teach multi here at UND you need to take the MEI ground school and do a standardization flight.
 
You can get the MEI somewhere else but you are still required to take the ground school and pass a standardization ride. I took MEI at UND but I didn't have fifteen PIC to start out with or I think I may have just done the two day option at ATP. Many people make the course a lot harder than it has to be. If you are currently an instructor I highly recommend taking full advantage of the sim. I think I had about 10 - 12 sim hours before my first lesson. I had all my lesson plans completed before starting the course and I did all the ground briefings first, followed by all the flights/sims. I think I finished it in about 5 weeks. I believe that cost was a shade over 4 thousand. The key is to be very selective on who you pick as your instructor. Most of the people who teach it are very good but there are a few that are not worth the money. The bigger issue is availability. I talked to about three or four instructors before I picked one who I felt would work well with me and would commit to 4-6 activities a week.

Overall I felt I was prepared well for the stage checks and I had arguably two of the hardest stage check pilots at UND and it really wasn't a problem. I put in a lot of time to prepare and that's really all it takes.

I defiantly would weight all your options before deciding where you want to do your training, four thousand isn't exactly pocket change.
 
Stage check with Jim King:
323 stage 70: .7 hour oral 1.2 flight. Post brief (you fly the airplane well)
414 stage 31: 1.1 oral 1.3 flight. Post brief (you fly the airplane well)

Don't get me wrong I learned a lot from him.
 
av8or91 said:
Stage check with Jim King:
323 stage 70: .7 hour oral 1.2 flight. Post brief (you fly the airplane well)
414 stage 31: 1.1 oral 1.3 flight. Post brief (you fly the airplane well)

Don't get me wrong I learned a lot from him.
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Although I have never had a checkride with Jim King, I have done a spin flight with him. Hes a really sharp guy and def knows his stuff. Once you get to be that old and have that much knowledge im sure you can tell if the applicant is capable of flying the aircraft or not within a few minutes. Trust me there are DPE's out there that have orals and flights go less than that.
 
The UND cost and just the thought alone of failing the checkride here is the biggest issue. Anywhere else I know that I can pass, but after a few bad experiences with the DE's here I don't want to take that chance. Where else would you recomend. I have over a hundred SIC hours in a twin and have no worries about the flying itself, just the crap that is considered UNSAT here such as completing two successfull MEL's followed by a trick third and then unsat, or by throwing checklists in the aircraft and UNSATing for not using a checklist and things of that nature.
 
ATP is the cheapest I have found using a Seminole since you need the whole 5 hours PIC to instruct in it I think.
 
have they removed the requirement to take the entire 2nd block of the course? that is what it was 2 yrs when we were hurting huge for MEI's.
 
Blip16 said:
have they removed the requirement to take the entire 2nd block of the course? that is what it was 2 yrs when we were hurting huge for MEI's.
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I dont think so. I think there is something like 15 lessons, 2 stages checks and a DE ride, or something like that. I know a year ago they offered to pay for your entire MEI training if you signed a 1 year contract, but they dont off that anymore since they have over 250 CFI's now.
 
Blip16 said:
have they removed the requirement to take the entire 2nd block of the course? that is what it was 2 yrs when we were hurting huge for MEI's.
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I don't believe they make you take anything but the ground school and a stan ride now. Im sure your stan ride is a bit more extensive if you train somewhere else.
 
ml_wd said:
I don't believe they make you take anything but the ground school and a stan ride now. Im sure your stan ride is a bit more extensive if you train somewhere else.
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when i did it, it was complete lessons 11-19 in block 2, stage check counted as stan ride IIRC
 
It says in the employment manual all you have to do is take the ground school and do standardization check. Nothing about 11-19.
 
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