The pushing of contract students through the system and pressuring of CFI's to sign off/pass contract students at lower standards than held for domestic students, because contract students = dollars.
This corporate culture has been reported to me directly by CFI's who where pressured to pass/sign off contract students who they didnt not feel were ready.
i already spoke up. i have had some students who were very far behind, and i have been told i need to have them done by xxxx date, but never just drop your standards. the last one i had went over by 15 or 16 hours in 325, and i was in constant contact with the people in charge and it was approved. anything to get him done was OK, but dropping standards was NOT.As for the CFI pressuring, I'll let the firsthand sources speak up if they want, but if you REALLY, REALLY think the contract students are on the same level as the domestic students, you are only deluding yourself.
Not the first or last time our Aviator from Texas was blowing something out his.....nevermind. I am gonna believe BuickCFI on this one. By the way what are the ARAMCO guys you are referring too?Do you have a copy of a memo, policy or email saying to pass contract students at lower standards?
Otherwise you are just blowing smoke and speculating.
++++++1. Excellent post my friend. Do not leave, you are the only credible source on here for what is happening at UND in flight ops.i already spoke up. i have had some students who were very far behind, and i have been told i need to have them done by xxxx date, but never just drop your standards. the last one i had went over by 15 or 16 hours in 325, and i was in constant contact with the people in charge and it was approved. anything to get him done was OK, but dropping standards was NOT.
your not a CFI, you pansied out; dont speculate. if you have a chip on your shoulder about YOUR choice to attend UND, keep it to yourself. overall it is a good school (notice i didn't say great). Does UND have it's fair share of problems, yes! Are they more pronounced than other schools, YES; due to the fact there is more flying than the 3 or 4 other schools in the top 5 schools in the nation! but guess what, they all have problems. drop it already
the main problem with UND right now is the WHINY ASS STUDENTS who want everything handed to them on a f'ing silver platter. it is the current generation, Y or whatever, the ME generation. All they care about is themselves, and it should be handed to them, they shouldn't have to put in the effort. they should put in 4yrs and then have a job that pays 100K waiting for them when they are done. The school is fine, it is the students (not all of them, but a good majority of them are ruining it for everyone else)
//end rant. i am done with this forum
the main problem with UND right now is the WHINY ASS STUDENTS who want everything handed to them on a f'ing silver platter. it is the current generation, Y or whatever, the ME generation. All they care about is themselves, and it should be handed to them, they shouldn't have to put in the effort. they should put in 4yrs and then have a job that pays 100K waiting for them when they are done. The school is fine, it is the students (not all of them, but a good majority of them are ruining it for everyone else)
//end rant. i am done with this forum
which is what i am afraid of. i am one of the "harder" stage pilots now because i hold standards. i don't understand how holding standards (i go by 100% PTS) is now "hard" the PTS is minimum standards. so now all these students will become instructors (and many have) and their students are worse than they were on the stage checks.....Now, without a doubt, there are some instructors who take the "pressure" of get these students done by such and such a date as permission to lower standards, that isn't a UND problem, that is a problem with the Professionalism and Integrity of the individual instructor. What is this person going to do when WX is below mins but it is the last leg of the day and they are off after that flight?
By the way what are the ARAMCO guys you are referring too?
The crash of a UND aircraft in Park Rapids, Minn., Saturday was an accident that university officials are stressing is relatively rare.
Over the past 10 years, the aerospace program has averaged 2.2 accidents per 100,000 hours of flight time, Flight Operations Director Al Palmer said.
The average for general aviation as a whole, he said, is about six or seven per 100,000 hours.
Accidents could involve crashes, he said, but they also encompass other accidents to aircraft structure such as a rough landing.
The National Transportation Safety Board is investigating the weekend crash of a Cessna 172S that took off near Park Rapids. Li Yang, an Air China employee studying at UND, was making a “routine cross-country solo flight,” according to the university. He was treated and released from a local hospital.
The Cessna 172S has a glass cockpit and, Palmer said, airplanes of this kind have a kind of black box that records some information. The NTSB would look at that, he said, as well as the engine to see if anything went wrong.
Initial reports show the plane took off and shortly after crashed 100 to 150 yards from the runway.
The Cessna 172S also sported an airbag system, similar to ones in cars, though it’s unclear if the airbag was deployed in the Saturday crash. UND spokesman Peter Johnson said he understood it had.
Palmer said UND’s newer aircraft all have airbags. The university, he said, fosters a “strong safety culture” that includes standardized checklists for aviation students to remember safety factors and maintenance that’s overseen by the Federal Aviation Administration.
When accidents do occur, UND has a response team that can go out and get the student or, in Saturday’s case, visit at the hospital and transport him home, Palmer said. UND also reviews its safety procedures, he said.
After the NTSB suggested that migrating geese probably caused the October 2007 crash that killed two UND aviation students, he said, the university alerted other students to be wary of migration routes in flight planning.
Palmer said he’s not sure how UND will replace the crashed Cessna 172S. Insurance adjusters would have a lot to say about whether the plane is totaled or repaired, he said. A replacement would cost about $250,000, he said.
In the short term, he said, UND may lease.
Reach Tran at (701) 780-1248; (800) 477-6572, ext. 248; or send e-mail to ttran@gfherald.com
...the main problem with UND right now is the WHINY ASS STUDENTS who want everything handed to them on a f'ing silver platter. it is the current generation, Y or whatever, the ME generation. All they care about is themselves, and it should be handed to them, they shouldn't have to put in the effort. they should put in 4yrs and then have a job that pays 100K waiting for them when they are done...
Also, I think UND is shooting themselves in the foot with the whole "everything handed to them/spoon feeding" thing. How many professors simply make a powerpoint, read it to the class, then test over it line by line? How many professors say, "this will be on the test, that stuff won't but you should know it," or "here are the test questions lets go over them BEFORE the test" ?You don't really have to learn squat to get good grades in many classes from a good number of professors these days. Is this simply due to the switch to all powerpoint style classes? I don't know, but I doubt that's how they used to do it!
You flew for the airlines? Cool.:crazy:Hate to break it to you, but the powerpoint method is exactly how my airline ground school was. The instructor employed the old, "Stomp" method to tell us what to know, as well as some portions of the presentations being highlighted. It still involved a LOT of studying for the systems test, but with the prep we had, we were well prepared.
well in the last yr i have had at least 5 students like those i have just describedI believe that every UND Aerospace tour comes with a discussion that there is no money at the end of the program for several years, and that aviation has severe ups and downs. I don't think any Commercial Avit student expects to make $100,000 after graduation. If they do, they need a reality check.
Also, I think UND is shooting themselves in the foot with the whole "everything handed to them/spoon feeding" thing. How many professors simply make a powerpoint, read it to the class, then test over it line by line? How many professors say, "this will be on the test, that stuff won't but you should know it," or "here are the test questions lets go over them BEFORE the test" ?You don't really have to learn squat to get good grades in many classes from a good number of professors these days. Is this simply due to the switch to all powerpoint style classes? I don't know, but I doubt that's how they used to do it!
Flying, you have to know everything and remember it, and you must do some of the work on your own on your own time. Sort of a new concept when you've never done that before, be it in high school or college.
Hate to break it to you, but the powerpoint method is exactly how my airline ground school was. The instructor employed the old, "Stomp" method to tell us what to know, as well as some portions of the presentations being highlighted. It still involved a LOT of studying for the systems test, but with the prep we had, we were well prepared.
This was exactly how my airline was too during initial training. They let us know what to know for the tests and what not to.
Those that say that contract students are a detriment are really racist. The reason I say that, they are judging the cultural differences and not the pilots.