Returning to FlightSafety?

Veronaut

New Member
"I had my final flight at FlightSafety Academy yesterday, as I aced my CFI checkride! (I will pause momentarily as those of you who do not know me check yesterday’s schedule to figure out who I am). It is very “bittersweet” as they say, because while I’m happy to be moving on, I have enjoyed my time here and will miss many of the people I have met along the way. Certainly I will keep in touch with many of the people who had a big impact on my training, but it’s the support staff that made little differences in my daily routine that I will miss. Now, I’m reluctant to use people’s names without their permission on the internet, & in some cases I guess I never really did get to know some of these people by a first name basis anyway, but for a little recognition, here goes:

- The entire administrative staff, thank you. It is said that it is money that makes airplanes fly, & from the financial aid office where the money comes in, to the accounting office where the money goes out, these were superbly professional dedicated people. The ladies in the ACO office are always a joy to visit with, & I owe them a lot of chocolate!
- The café employees. A lot of people, myself included, gripe about the high cost of flight training. But the best bargain on the FlightSafety campus is the café, good food at a cheap price served by extremely friendly & courteous people.
- The ladies in the pilot shop, sure they’re taking your money, but they are extremely helpful & sincere. It almost makes the FlightSafety ‘markup’ seem like a bargain!
- The dispatchers. Now by the nature of our regular interaction, I do know all of these people on a first name basis. I believe there is a phrase that goes something like “he who controls the riches rules the kingdom.” Well, they control the riches (airplanes) & therefore are the de facto “rulers” of FlightSafety. You don’t believe me? Try to get an Arrow this week. While they can be an ornery & cantankerous lot, (especially when the fleet is booked solid, you’re late picking up your plane, & you’re pleading for an extension) if you treat them nicely they will bend over backwards to accommodate your needs. To all of them thank you, & to one in particular, have a ‘good’ day.

Alright, this has gone on long enough, it’s starting to sound like an acceptance speech at an awards show (& I hate award shows). So I’ll wrap this up. To all of you JetCareers regulars (which I know includes some of the honchos at FSA who read this board), it’s been fun & if you need a CFI I know a pretty good one.

‘naut
...taking the active for a Southwest departure..."

That was the 'naut's last post, made way back in November of 2002. Now, four years later I'm giving serious consideration to returning to FlightSafety as an Instructor. I sent in my resume just the other day, & am waiting to hear back from them.

A lot has transpired since that last post. The "Southwest departure" that I referred to was to attend A&P school in Naples, Fl. I didn't interview with FlightSafety then, as there was a very long waiting list, student enrollments were way down, and instructors that were woking had a light student load. All of this was due to the effect of 09/11. My motivation for attending A&P school was to get my foot in the door of the airtanker (aerial firefighting) industry.

After A&P school, I instructed in a 141 program teaching Naval Academy midshipmen how to fly through the Navy's IFS program. It was a great experience, a steady stream of highly motivated students. The only drawback was that it was all Single-Engine, Day VFR flying.

I ended up getting hired by an airtanker company as a mechanic, and flying the support plane, a Cessna 182. Recently, I returned from serving as a Crew Chief on one of our companies airtankers. I've trained as a co-pilot, flown some ferry flights, and even have an SIC type in the Lockheed P2V. However, my lack of multi-engine PIC time has prevented me from flying as a co-pilot "on contract."

This, and a few other reasons, have led me to the conclusion that I need to "reboot" my flying career. My aviation career began in earnest at FlightSafety, and my positive experience there makes it my first choice to get it restarted again. Obviously, my familiarity with the program, and the excellent instructing opportunities (especially that all important multi time) factors greatly in my interest in returning there. Plus, my family and I loved Vero Beach. A lot of single guys bemoan the lack of nightlife there, but I owned a home there and it was a great place for a family.

Alright, this post is getting very long! I'd like to hear from some current instructors or students about the student load right now at the Academy. Has anyone recently gone through the interview process? Has anyone recently done their internship at a FSI Center? I am very interested in corporate aviation. What is going on there in general? I've been browsing the posts, but this forum seems much less active than it did years ago!

Looking forward to hearing from those of you who are currently at FlightSafety, and even from those of you who were there back when I was from November 2001-November 2002.

'naut
 
If you are interested in corporate aviation, you should probably go back to Vero and instruct. Then, when you have more hours you can go to one of their learing centers and make some connections and get a corporate job.
 
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking. Anyone make it to that other Berkshire Hathaway Company, NetJets?

PM Snow. He has had tremendous success with the sim center program. He landed a Lear 60 job...

I had a chance to sit in the aircraft when he flew it out here to Scottsdale. Sweet airplane...

I am Jealous...

ILS
 
FS has quite a few instructors right now, but the student numbers are up which balances things.

Ive been here since August and its picked up since then for sure.
 
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