Has anyone ever had a bad experience with a flight school?

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Princesspilot

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Long story short, I have been involved with aviation since 2008. I loved it from the moment I found it. I began as the receptionist for a flight school, and worked my way up to school manager. Flash forward several years, and I find myself living states away from home. I look into working at a flight school again, and after several offers, I choose the one with the most growth potential for me. Boy was I wrong. In my 7 years of aviation career, I have never came across a school like that, where your nothing but a number because the human element is not important. Nevermind the fact the owners looked the other way when I brought up the fact that I had witnessed illegal activity amongst the staff. Sure enough I was fired for speaking up, and not playing the dirty slutty aviation receptionist they were looking for. It's sad to say this, but I feel as though my enthusiasm and love of flying is gone. Blasphemy? You can say that. I just have never been through so much stress and hell from an employer. Any advice on reclaiming my love for what we do?
 
No idea abut your question but Welcome to POA!!!
 
That's a hard one….

There are ***holes in any field. The best you can do is get far away from the ***holes and don't let them interfere with your vocation.

You probably have some legal protections, but that's unlikely to be workable. Aviation is a small community, and that would burn bridges.
 
I've never been asked to play a dirty slutty role but my reservation for this weekend just got cancelled on me due to "maintenance". Yeah right....."maintenance", sheeeit.
 
Welcome from another NJ resident.

Sounds like the school I got my intro flight from where you were just "another number"...
 
Turning something you love into a job often results in losing your passion for it. Doesn't sound like that's what happened in your case, though. Your school sounds like it's run by clowns and you should put it behind you and find a better bunch of people.
 
Welcome to POA!! There are a few female members hopefully one of them can chime in with advice.
 
Glad you unheld your standards and are seeking to better yourself in aviation. Advice? Don't let it worry you about the last employer, just find a better one.

Welcome to POA!
 
You mean like a flight instructor standing you up, or canceling a flight on you and not telling you, or calling you at exactly the time he was supposed to meet you to tell you he's at another airport, 40 miles away buying gas because it cheaper there? ....Nah, that never happens! ;-(
 
Welcome from just across the river in Philly! Think thats bad you should hear some people's experience with Sheble Avaition. I worked as a line guy/CSR at an airport in my high school/college days. I saw some shady, illegal, sexual harassment worthy stuff go down as well.
 
Princesspilot said:
Long story short, I have been involved with aviation since 2008. I loved it from the moment I found it. I began as the receptionist for a flight school, and worked my way up to school manager. Flash forward several years, and I find myself living states away from home. I look into working at a flight school again, and after several offers, I choose the one with the most growth potential for me. Boy was I wrong. In my 7 years of aviation career, I have never came across a school like that, where your nothing but a number because the human element is not important. Nevermind the fact the owners looked the other way when I brought up the fact that I had witnessed illegal activity amongst the staff. Sure enough I was fired for speaking up, and not playing the dirty slutty aviation receptionist they were looking for. It's sad to say this, but I feel as though my enthusiasm and love of flying is gone. Blasphemy? You can say that. I just have never been through so much stress and hell from an employer. Any advice on reclaiming my love for what we do?
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First..

Welcome to POA...

:cheers:

You display good morals and a good head on your shoulder... Your parents should be proud.....

Don't settle for anything less then decent people to work for...:no:
 
Advice on reclaiming your love of aviation? Remember back to 2008. Go flying. Realize that that the one bad school is a bad apple amongst an apple orchard of other schools, pilots, and our flying ancestors before us. Don't let 'em win by getting you down, reclaim what was yours to begin with. Go fly. Go visit your old school. Email or call old friends from there.
 
I applied for a dirty slutty receptionist job once but I forgot to shave my legs when I put on the mini skirt. :D

But to be honest, the real question is "Has anyone never ever had a bad experience with a flight school?" The answer would be no. If you spend any time in aviation at all, you will have bad experiences eventually. The best and worst people I have known in my life were in aviation.

So quit acting like a princess and just deal with it.
 
Heh. If I ever took a job as a slutty receptionist, the FBO would need to keep a puke bucket by the door….
 
MAKG1 said:
Heh. If I ever took a job as a slutty receptionist, the FBO would need to keep a puke bucket by the door….
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I wonder if the OP can give us the name of the flight school. We know they hired a slutty replacement. Just saying.... :dunno:

Did I really just post that? :mad2: :rolleyes2:
 
I have, I quit to take another job after a few months. I don't think the flight school lasted a year from start to finish.
 
wilkersk said:
You mean like a flight instructor standing you up, or canceling a flight on you and not telling you, or calling you at exactly the time he was supposed to meet you to tell you he's at another airport, 40 miles away buying gas because it cheaper there? ....Nah, that never happens! ;-(
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Or taking a cross-country (which wasn't needed) that turned out to be nothing more than him booking hours to meet his friends for lunch without asking or telling me what was going on.

Or when you try to schedule a lesson, he "forgets" his calendar and says he'll call that evening and never does.
 
Geico266 said:
I wonder if the OP can give us the name of the flight school. We know they hired a slutty replacement. Just saying.... :dunno:

Did I really just post that? :mad2: :rolleyes2:
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A real full service FBO!
 
Why do dirty sluts get such a bad rap? I actually think we should have National Dirty Slut Day and have a day off of work to celebrate it!
 
eman1200 said:
Why do dirty sluts get such a bad rap? I actually think we should have National Dirty Slut Day and have a day off of work to celebrate it!
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That's called Halloween.

To the OP: Flying is awesome if you love it. I'll say what others have and that is find another place to fly or work in aviation. If you want to go into a different field then my advice would be to continue in aviation as a hobby. Good luck and welcome.
 
Crappy work environments are not isolated to the field of aviation. Anyone who's had more than a couple of jobs has probably had some bad experiences.

You can't control everything in your environment, but sometimes you can control which environment you're in. Shake the dust from your feet, and use them to carry you to another place that might be more what you're looking for.

And if that place isn't a good fit, keep marching until you find the place for you.
 
Illegal activity at a flight school? Does it result in safety violation? The FSDO might want to know.
Or are we just feeding yet another troll here?
 
In ~40 years of GA flying I've NEVER seen a flight school that really had an understanding of customer service.

Just last week an 'academy' here in Austin treated me like they were doing me a favor by letting me wait over an hour for a scheduled FAA written test, because the owner's son (who gives the tests) showed up late, and even when he arrived nobody told me, I just had to wander around the facility until I found him.

Oh, and of course I got the standard 'invisible man' treatment from the staff, all of whom failed to notice my presence, even when they looked right at me. When I did ask about the test I go 'old Joe gives those, he's not here right now' as they scampered away.

Disorganization and lack of even the most rudimentary customer service skills are almost universal in the GA training environment.

If they are that rude to their paying customers, I have to wonder how they treat their actual employees.
 
BigBadLou said:
Illegal activity at a flight school? Does it result in safety violation? The FSDO might want to know.
Or are we just feeding yet another troll here?
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Let's give her /him another 30 minutes or so to get off work, get home and get online.......:rolleyes:;)
 
JimNtexas said:
Just last week an 'academy' here in Austin treated me like they were doing me a favor by letting me wait over an hour for a scheduled FAA written test
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Jim, PM me if you need to take another FAA written, I can let you in on a little secret, a very small testing center that is run by great gentlemen who actually treat pilots and soon-to-be pilots with respect and dignity. They are ol' school, have manners (they grew up when manners were still taught by parents) and a great to chat with about any kind of airplanes.
 
I am not going to let anything happen under my watch. I care about airplanes, it's like the greatest love I have ever known.
 
Ever had the clap?
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Or the drip?

Even worse having to explain it to a female doc...

But, ahem, I digress.

As others posted: find another job. There is good and bad in any field. I have lost count of the number of times I wanted to tell my current employer to "take this job and shove it."

Ohh...welcome to PoA
 
If this was their pilots lounge, you're gonna have a bad time.

25083dd2_113329d1395425451-salkkareitten-karismaattinen-peluri-ei-juonipaljastuksia-castingcouch.jpeg
 
eman1200 said:
Why do dirty sluts get such a bad rap? I actually think we should have National Dirty Slut Day and have a day off of work to celebrate it!
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I think that holiday deserves a month, and it becomes like Christmas, where the decorations start in July, and we have post-month celebration for a month or two. Then, 3 months of recovery.
 
N801BH said:
Let's give her /him another 30 minutes or so to get off work, get home and get online.......:rolleyes:;)
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I see her online. I think the conversation took a bad turn (and I didn't help with my post above).

However, I think the OP (post, not poster) had a lot of anger/angst/disappointment in it, and (I know I'm new here, but not new on the Internet) I think she deserves a break, and I don't think she's a troll. After all, she put her pic up on her profile, so it looks like she's serious and frustrated with the flight school situation.
 
Princesspilot said:
I am not going to let anything happen under my watch. I care about airplanes, it's like the greatest love I have ever known.
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Ok, but realize that there are people in aviation businesses who will take every advantage of this. There are many startups and even established companies which have big plans and a tendency to overpromise. And yes, there are guys who think they are God's gift to aviation, and women. Don't let what other's think change how you feel about yourself.

I don't believe something is going to happen until it does. I don't believe promises that I am going to fly some airplane until I am taking off in it.
 
JimNtexas said:
In ~40 years of GA flying I've NEVER seen a flight school that really had an understanding of customer service.

Just last week an 'academy' here in Austin treated me like they were doing me a favor by letting me wait over an hour for a scheduled FAA written test, because the owner's son (who gives the tests) showed up late, and even when he arrived nobody told me, I just had to wander around the facility until I found him.

Oh, and of course I got the standard 'invisible man' treatment from the staff, all of whom failed to notice my presence, even when they looked right at me. When I did ask about the test I go 'old Joe gives those, he's not here right now' as they scampered away.

Disorganization and lack of even the most rudimentary customer service skills are almost universal in the GA training environment.

If they are that rude to their paying customers, I have to wonder how they treat their actual employees.
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I had something similar happen at an "academy" in the DC area and wrote a Yelp review based on it:

http://www.yelp.com/biz/washington-international-flight-academy-gaithersburg
 
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Princesspilot said:
I am not going to let anything happen under my watch. I care about airplanes, it's like the greatest love I have ever known.
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You're in NJ? Go work the line or desk at Million Air at KTEB. It's crazy busy there, but the do manage to take care of everyone.
 
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