Prospective Student for Aviator

[PilotChip]

Hey guys and gals. Been reading these post for a couple days and there's so much back-and-forth-ing, i guess business competition as usual.

I do think I will be favoring Ari-Ben mostly for the smaller-sized company (over fsa, atp etc.) and for having Part 141 benefits.

If somebody has time I would like a suggestion of what books to start getting my hands on before I head down there.

I'm thinking about July or August or maybe even June if i'm on terminal leave at that time.

And is it a good idea to study and take the writtens for each cert before I head down too? The fbo here at Jacksonville Flying Service, OAJ, has lasergrade testing so I could take the writtens here after doing some groundschool.

Whatever ideas you all have would be great to hear.
I don't need opinions about the directors or quality of aircraft as I have read about a hundred posts on the subject already

Thanks for your help
jason

 

[Catherine]

If you can get the test question books (or take the freebies online for practice) and can do all of that inexpensively, maybe you do want to do that, but I don't know if I'd buy a lot of books as you'll be getting a couple of armloads of them as part of the cost of the program here plus groundschool for the program as well. I don't think I'd spend a lot of money there before coming here just to have the writtens out of the way...just MHO from a Multi-PPL student here with 3 whole flights in the Duchess and getting started on the pro-program

Catherine

 

[BrianNC]

I don't train there, but I have always gotten my writtens out of the way before I started flight training. I wanted to be able to concentrate on the training and the oral without having to worry about the written.

Personally, if I was going to do it I would get them out of the way. Thery are good for 2 years and obviously you will get your ratings before then. But that is how I prefer to do it. Then I can concentrate on the task at hand.

 

[jg1585]

yeah dont buy any books cause your gonna get everything you need when you get down here(If your doin pro course).
Gettin the writtens done before hand is a good idea so there out of the way but just remember the longer it is between writtens and checkride the more prone you are to forgetting things so refresh your brain every so often.

P.s. make sure they do in fact give you ALL the books you are supposed to get in the course, be picky about it.

Good luck

 

[PilotChip]

Thanks for the good information everybody.

How comfortable is switching flight instructors? Do they give you the opportunity and make it hassle-free if you decide to switch to somebody else?

And...is it a better idea to rent a place out in town rather than renting with aviator?

Looking forward to meeting some of you down the road.
jay

 

[jg1585]

If you do decide to switch instructors cause you dont like the one your with thats your choice, and you may do so if you want. No problems with that.

as for renting a place on your own, i would suggest not doing that unless you have the money or can find someone else to move in with. The Aviator has pretty nice housing as it is and its pretty hard to beat 500 a month with EVERYTHING included (elec,water,phone,cable,etc). The housing located on the field is the old Pan am housing, and its pretty nice. You live with 3 other people and you all have your own room with an bathroom as well. That is were you will most likely be put. There is other housing in vero beach. They are actual houses, 3bd 2bth and a garage. You might be placed in those but im not to sure, we did just have someone move in next to us earlier this week. You may want to ask if you can live in the houses if thats what you prefer but talk to MC about all that. hope this helps
:nana2:

 

[Catherine]

I've been asked a couple of times if I want to switch instructors by Mike (once with my instructor sitting beside me!) and was told at any time I could request someone else or they could request I go to another instructor as well if they feel that they are having a hard time teaching you. I've had a bunch of instructors over my 14 years getting my PPL (yes, a LONG time!) and I'm very happy with the one I have now and I look forward to flying with him as long as he's instructing here and I'm a student.

I live in the Pam-Am housing here at the airport and am quite happy here...the only big problem is that cell reception away from the windows and from near the doors is awful. The walls of these buildings block signals so they had to put a wireless router in this apartment so I could use the internet. But you're only a few hundred yards from the Aviator building and so there isn't a lot of time spent driving to and from and spending extra gas money and it makes it easy to go over there and hang out or talk to someone or whatever. They did ask if I liked it here or if I wanted to go up to Vero, but I'm happy enough here and enjoy not having to drive if I don't want to and the weather is nice.

Don't know how these links will work as this is a quick reply, but here's a shot of the apartments from the outside (well sorta...trees in the way!)
http://pages.prodigy.net/need4speed/Ari_Ben_Photos/ariapartments.jpg

And here's one of St Lucie Blvd....the first entrance into the airport at the left leads to the housing/apartments you can see there and the next one almost on the right side of the picture is where you turn into the Aviator. You can just barely see the building there...I was trying to get a picture of the housing area more clearly so my family could see where I live.
http://pages.prodigy.net/need4speed/Ari_Ben_Photos/KFPR-StLucieBlvd.jpg

Catherine

 

[PilotChip]

How far are the vero beach houses and do they cost more?

What seems to be the best cell phone company/reception down there?

Thanks
jason

 

[jg1585]

the houses in vero are only a 10min drive from the airport and they do not cost any more than the housing at pan am. I prefer living off airport because you get your peace and quiet and plus its nice to be away from the airport when you just spent the whole day training.

I have verizon wireless and have no problems any where in vero, ft.pierce.

 

[SmitteyB]

same with Cingular...never been without service down here.

 

[ZWflyer]

The housing is good, both in Vero and at the airport in the old Pan Am buildings. If you can find a couple of people to room with you can find something for cheaper than $500 a month though. I chose to go with the housing through the school because it is just easier to pay one fee a month for everything.

As for the cell service I have Nextel and haven't had any problems. Like it was mentioned earlier, signal strength isn't the greatest at times in the Pan Am buildings though.

 

[hattrick]

i moved out of mikes housing after about three months and from my experience id stay in his housing if i did it over. you really have to get alot lower rent for it too be cheaper once you factor in electric and all. especially during the summer months. with mikes housing you can have that ac running as much as you want and never have to worry about the next bill. also if theres another bad hurricane season that were to destroy houses mike has to worry about where to put you up at rather than you trying to find a place on your own if you had your own place. its not easy finding an affordable place to live after a hurricane. trust me i had to do it and mike had no room for me.

 

[PilotChip]

Cool. thanks for all the info. guess i'll just give it a go.

 

[maverick2]

I lived at Mikes housing for three months too. Now I live in a three bedroom apartment with two other people in Vero. I've paid no more than $330 a month and thats including everything ( cable, electric, water, internet, and rent). There's nothing wrong with Mike's housing, I just wanted to save a few bucks to pay for the bills and gas and it all adds up to $500. I also use Verizon and have no probs. Good luck!

 

[TripleSticks]

Mikes housing in Vero is really nice. He didn't have the pan am housing when I was there. If you have a choice between housing and you have a car. I would choose the Vero housing. I'm sure the housing on the airport is nice but the city of Vero is a lot nicer than Ft Pierce. The Vero housing is also very close to shopping (grocery) and a few restaurants. I really enjoyed it there.

j