Veronaut
New Member
The \"real\" FSI
I just got back from SAV, & while I was there I took the time to visit the FSI center there that does the Gulfstream training. I had heard that they sometimes give us academy students a ride in one of the sims, but if they ever did it, they don't anymore.
Several days before going up, I called to arrange a tour (& hopefully a sim ride). I went to Signature Aviation & used their crew car to go across to FSI. When I arrived, my instructor & I were greeted by the Center Manager. He gave us the complete (minus sim ride) tour, which was pretty cool. I expected a bunch of sims, which they obviously have & they are pretty neat. But, they also have a dunk tank to practice water egress, two cabin smoke/fire sims, & a G-5 cabin mockup to teach flight attendants how to serve meals. They actually teach the FA's how to make four meals look like seven in the event of unexpected guests on board the A/C. I would have never thought of that...They also have a mx training center on site, but we didn't go look at that.
My impression? Very impressive. It is readily apparent that this is where the company earns it's big money as well as it's big reputation. Don't get me wrong, I know the Vero Beach FSI Academy has a good rep, but it is small potatoes compared to the other centers. EVERYTHING is first class. They really kiss the @$$ of their customer/students. They have teams of people constantly updating the curriculums, the latest & greatest debriefing software developed by the company, incredible audio/visuals in the classrooms. In short, it's kind of what I expected at the FSI Academy.
I don't want or intend to bash the academy, but seeing what is in a "big" FSI Center, makes me see what could be in Vero Beach. Am I stretching it a little, you ask? To be typed in a G-5 will cost you about $50k, or about what a student pays to get his CIME at the academy. While they are constantly updating their courses, we still have slides from the early 90's. I don't know how many times a ground school instructor has said in class, "Well, this no longer applies", or "now, this is changed." The technology of our audio/visuals is Windows 95 era Power Point, while the a/v's in SAV are absolutely incredible (& developed in house). One more thing, supposedly FlightSafety is the number one manufacturer of flight sims, so why are we still using the crappy old Frasca 142's?!?! Maybe because it's late at night, & I've just spent seven hours in a Seminole (two lessons back to back), but I just seem to think that FlightSafety can invest a little more resources into the Academy to bring it up a little closer to the standards of the rest of the company. Before I hear it from everyone, I know we are better than any other flight school out there, but it COULD be better. Just go take a look at FSI SAV.
'naut
Oh, & by the way, they don't have a Key Loan program for the $50k G-5 type rating!
I just got back from SAV, & while I was there I took the time to visit the FSI center there that does the Gulfstream training. I had heard that they sometimes give us academy students a ride in one of the sims, but if they ever did it, they don't anymore.
Several days before going up, I called to arrange a tour (& hopefully a sim ride). I went to Signature Aviation & used their crew car to go across to FSI. When I arrived, my instructor & I were greeted by the Center Manager. He gave us the complete (minus sim ride) tour, which was pretty cool. I expected a bunch of sims, which they obviously have & they are pretty neat. But, they also have a dunk tank to practice water egress, two cabin smoke/fire sims, & a G-5 cabin mockup to teach flight attendants how to serve meals. They actually teach the FA's how to make four meals look like seven in the event of unexpected guests on board the A/C. I would have never thought of that...They also have a mx training center on site, but we didn't go look at that.
My impression? Very impressive. It is readily apparent that this is where the company earns it's big money as well as it's big reputation. Don't get me wrong, I know the Vero Beach FSI Academy has a good rep, but it is small potatoes compared to the other centers. EVERYTHING is first class. They really kiss the @$$ of their customer/students. They have teams of people constantly updating the curriculums, the latest & greatest debriefing software developed by the company, incredible audio/visuals in the classrooms. In short, it's kind of what I expected at the FSI Academy.
I don't want or intend to bash the academy, but seeing what is in a "big" FSI Center, makes me see what could be in Vero Beach. Am I stretching it a little, you ask? To be typed in a G-5 will cost you about $50k, or about what a student pays to get his CIME at the academy. While they are constantly updating their courses, we still have slides from the early 90's. I don't know how many times a ground school instructor has said in class, "Well, this no longer applies", or "now, this is changed." The technology of our audio/visuals is Windows 95 era Power Point, while the a/v's in SAV are absolutely incredible (& developed in house). One more thing, supposedly FlightSafety is the number one manufacturer of flight sims, so why are we still using the crappy old Frasca 142's?!?! Maybe because it's late at night, & I've just spent seven hours in a Seminole (two lessons back to back), but I just seem to think that FlightSafety can invest a little more resources into the Academy to bring it up a little closer to the standards of the rest of the company. Before I hear it from everyone, I know we are better than any other flight school out there, but it COULD be better. Just go take a look at FSI SAV.
'naut
Oh, & by the way, they don't have a Key Loan program for the $50k G-5 type rating!
