Gucci Pilot
Pattern Altitude
- Joined
- Aug 1, 2014
- Messages
- 2,066
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Gucci Pilot
Just finished up the commercial seaplane course at Jack Browns and thought I would do a write-up on it. Wanted to go down to do the commercial glider add-on and realized Winter Haven was not too far out of the way to do the commercial sea and at $1,400 for the whole course, not that bad of a price (I think Traverse Air is $100 cheaper). All started March 1st when I called down to see if they had any availability for March 15th timeframe. Their website says to call about 2-3 weeks in advance. Didn’t have any availability till the 21st of April! That was fine with me since I wanted to just take a week off of work to go do something fun on my own and figured the seaplane and glider add-ons would be a nice vacation, especially in Florida. When I called to schedule they took down my email and credit card to take a $300 deposit for the course. The next day I got a whole bunch of attachments in my email. The attachments included:
- Course Guide: This is probably the biggest and most valuable attachment they send you. This basically contains all of the general knowledge you will need to know. From all the seaplane maneuvers and power settings(with all of them geared to the Cub specifically), general seaplane knowledge and rules, tips for flying the cub, and checklist.
-List of hotels in the area: The Best Western in Auburndale and the Holiday Inn in Winter Haven offer discounts if you tell them you are going to be training at Jack Browns. I went with the Best Western just because it is about 8 minutes from the base and I get the military per diem rate which pretty much puts all the local hotels on the same rate. Definitely stayed in better low end hotels than this but it was fine. Pretty much all the local hotels are about 10-15 minutes from the seaplane base. The Hampton Inn & Holiday Inn in Winter Haven are a tad further from the base but closer to food.
- Course Schedule which basically said: Plan on two full days to do the course weather permitting. Pretty much show up at 7:30 AM sharp the first day to do paperwork, ground school starts at 8. Then two flying sessions that day with a break for lunch. Fly about 3-3.5 hours the first day. Instructor tells you when to show up day 2.
- Driving directions
- Confirmation. This had my dates listed on it and full list of things to bring. Basically your pilots license, current medical (I used my Air Force flying medical), passport (or driver’s license and original birth certificate), your IACRA information, logbook if you keep one, and the course guide.
Since I am a visual learner I decided to get the Sporty’s So You Want to Fly Seaplanes app for my iPad ($30). Not bad since most of the filming was done at Jack Browns using their Cubs. I feel it was definitely worth it since most of the filming was done in the cub and you got to see everything in real time as opposed to drawings in a packet.
While my vacation had to be postponed, it wasn’t for a bad reason. Due to another KC-10 pilot switching airplanes, I got moved up to be an Aircraft Commander (military version of a Captain/PIC)! Pat at the base had no problem rescheduling me.
Finally got to go down September 1. Thanks to Hurricane Hermine I didn’t get to fly day 1. I called the base at 7:00 AM to see if they still wanted me to come in and Pat said yes, they will still do paperwork and ground school. Paperwork involved Pat making copies of the passport, medical, and pilot cert. The form they have you fill out is basically so they can do all the legwork in IACRA for you! Some times to have ready when you get there are your: Total, PIC, Dual, and Instrument. They are requested on the form. They also take down your IACRA FTN, username, and password so they can fill out the 8710 application for you. If you aren’t comfortable giving them that, they will just have you log in sometime during your stay. I just gave it to them and changed it after I finished.
After the paperwork I started ground school with another student and our ground school instructor Eric. Eric is a younger guy about the same age as me. He could tell I was military right off the bat and him being a former Guard C-130 crew chief we had something in common. He is also going through the process of being a DPE in Tampa. Best of luck to him and hope he gets it. During the ground school he basically hit the high points of the info packet (make sure you bring this to the ground school) geared towards what Jon will ask on the checkride and cleared up any questions we had. Thankfully he didn’t spoon feed the information. It is expected that you read the info packet thoroughly before you arrive. Then we went out to the hangar and took a look at the cub and went over all the various components. Pretty basic stuff and if you used the Sporty’s video nothing should come as a surprise. Then went back inside to confirm with Pat about the schedule for the next day since we got weather delayed. Told me to come back the next morning at 8 and hopefully do the checkride on the 4th. Since Jon Brown can only do 2 checkrides a day, they can usually call in his younger brother to do checkrides.
The next day I arrived about 15 minutes early and met Jon’s wife Frances who works the desk on weekends. She was just as friendly as everyone else I met at the base. Found out I was flying with Eric that day and when he got in, we went right out to the plane and got to it. We flew just under two hours the first flight going through all the maneuvers in a demo/do style which worked well for me. We would do a few patterns at one lake, changing it up from the normal, rough, glassy, and crosswind T/Os & landings. Then we would fly to another lake so as not to bother those living on the lake too much. After about two hours we flew back to the base, took a 10-minute break, then got in the plane to rehack everything we just did with less instruction from Eric. After that flight we took a lunch break and waited for some weather to pass through (which happened rather quick). Then we flew another half-hour polishing up the maneuvers and adding plow turns, docking, and mooring. Then we came back, took another 10-minute break, then did another hour flight as a mock checkride. Since the weather was somewhat unpredicatable the past couple days. Eric wanted to just do all 5 hours of the flying the first day. Which could be pretty demanding for some. I am use to 10 hour flights so I told him I didn’t mind flying a lot. When we finished, Eric gave me some last minute pointers and wrote down some common oral exam questions Jon likes to ask for me to study that night. Eric took some nice GoPro videos of the flight. If you have a GoPro and a mount, feel free to bring it and ask your instructor if you can mount it. Eric had no problem with it however I don’t have a GoPro.
Checkride day: Showed up the next morning for the checkride with beautiful weather. Jon was still up doing a checkride from earlier in the morning so I chatted with Frances for a while, while I waited on Jon. I think if Jon had not come back her and I would still be sitting there talking. One of the sweetest woman I’ve met in aviation. Jon came in and we got right to the oral in his office. All the questions were scenario based to kind of get you thinking and actually apply the knowledge. Every question could easily be answered by reading the course packet they send you and Eric provided me with a list of the questions in written form the night before so nothing was a surprise. He then had me do a quick and simple weight and balance, went over the standard checkride stuff (outcomes, plan of action, etc.). Jon is very professional but the oral was also very laid back and worry free. Went out to the airplane, did the pre-flight and off we went. Jon pretty much navigated me to all the lakes we used so I could just focus on doing the required maneuvers. Did all the maneuvers then headed back to the base. Jon sat down and gave me a nice debrief that I am use to from military flying. Told me what I did well and somethings that were good, but techniques to make them even better. Shook my hand, said congratulations and then Frances finished up my paperwork. A few of his kids and their spouses came in to have lunch with Jon and Frances. She made a point to introduce me to each one and all of them congratulated me. The quote on their website really is true. “As much as this is a business, it is also a place where you will come as a stranger, leave as a friend, and know you are always welcome to return.” For the price, location, and hospitality…I highly recommend taking a few days and going down to get the seaplane rating. I thought my flying was fun, until I did this. What a blast!
- Course Guide: This is probably the biggest and most valuable attachment they send you. This basically contains all of the general knowledge you will need to know. From all the seaplane maneuvers and power settings(with all of them geared to the Cub specifically), general seaplane knowledge and rules, tips for flying the cub, and checklist.
-List of hotels in the area: The Best Western in Auburndale and the Holiday Inn in Winter Haven offer discounts if you tell them you are going to be training at Jack Browns. I went with the Best Western just because it is about 8 minutes from the base and I get the military per diem rate which pretty much puts all the local hotels on the same rate. Definitely stayed in better low end hotels than this but it was fine. Pretty much all the local hotels are about 10-15 minutes from the seaplane base. The Hampton Inn & Holiday Inn in Winter Haven are a tad further from the base but closer to food.
- Course Schedule which basically said: Plan on two full days to do the course weather permitting. Pretty much show up at 7:30 AM sharp the first day to do paperwork, ground school starts at 8. Then two flying sessions that day with a break for lunch. Fly about 3-3.5 hours the first day. Instructor tells you when to show up day 2.
- Driving directions
- Confirmation. This had my dates listed on it and full list of things to bring. Basically your pilots license, current medical (I used my Air Force flying medical), passport (or driver’s license and original birth certificate), your IACRA information, logbook if you keep one, and the course guide.
Since I am a visual learner I decided to get the Sporty’s So You Want to Fly Seaplanes app for my iPad ($30). Not bad since most of the filming was done at Jack Browns using their Cubs. I feel it was definitely worth it since most of the filming was done in the cub and you got to see everything in real time as opposed to drawings in a packet.
While my vacation had to be postponed, it wasn’t for a bad reason. Due to another KC-10 pilot switching airplanes, I got moved up to be an Aircraft Commander (military version of a Captain/PIC)! Pat at the base had no problem rescheduling me.
Finally got to go down September 1. Thanks to Hurricane Hermine I didn’t get to fly day 1. I called the base at 7:00 AM to see if they still wanted me to come in and Pat said yes, they will still do paperwork and ground school. Paperwork involved Pat making copies of the passport, medical, and pilot cert. The form they have you fill out is basically so they can do all the legwork in IACRA for you! Some times to have ready when you get there are your: Total, PIC, Dual, and Instrument. They are requested on the form. They also take down your IACRA FTN, username, and password so they can fill out the 8710 application for you. If you aren’t comfortable giving them that, they will just have you log in sometime during your stay. I just gave it to them and changed it after I finished.
After the paperwork I started ground school with another student and our ground school instructor Eric. Eric is a younger guy about the same age as me. He could tell I was military right off the bat and him being a former Guard C-130 crew chief we had something in common. He is also going through the process of being a DPE in Tampa. Best of luck to him and hope he gets it. During the ground school he basically hit the high points of the info packet (make sure you bring this to the ground school) geared towards what Jon will ask on the checkride and cleared up any questions we had. Thankfully he didn’t spoon feed the information. It is expected that you read the info packet thoroughly before you arrive. Then we went out to the hangar and took a look at the cub and went over all the various components. Pretty basic stuff and if you used the Sporty’s video nothing should come as a surprise. Then went back inside to confirm with Pat about the schedule for the next day since we got weather delayed. Told me to come back the next morning at 8 and hopefully do the checkride on the 4th. Since Jon Brown can only do 2 checkrides a day, they can usually call in his younger brother to do checkrides.
The next day I arrived about 15 minutes early and met Jon’s wife Frances who works the desk on weekends. She was just as friendly as everyone else I met at the base. Found out I was flying with Eric that day and when he got in, we went right out to the plane and got to it. We flew just under two hours the first flight going through all the maneuvers in a demo/do style which worked well for me. We would do a few patterns at one lake, changing it up from the normal, rough, glassy, and crosswind T/Os & landings. Then we would fly to another lake so as not to bother those living on the lake too much. After about two hours we flew back to the base, took a 10-minute break, then got in the plane to rehack everything we just did with less instruction from Eric. After that flight we took a lunch break and waited for some weather to pass through (which happened rather quick). Then we flew another half-hour polishing up the maneuvers and adding plow turns, docking, and mooring. Then we came back, took another 10-minute break, then did another hour flight as a mock checkride. Since the weather was somewhat unpredicatable the past couple days. Eric wanted to just do all 5 hours of the flying the first day. Which could be pretty demanding for some. I am use to 10 hour flights so I told him I didn’t mind flying a lot. When we finished, Eric gave me some last minute pointers and wrote down some common oral exam questions Jon likes to ask for me to study that night. Eric took some nice GoPro videos of the flight. If you have a GoPro and a mount, feel free to bring it and ask your instructor if you can mount it. Eric had no problem with it however I don’t have a GoPro.
Checkride day: Showed up the next morning for the checkride with beautiful weather. Jon was still up doing a checkride from earlier in the morning so I chatted with Frances for a while, while I waited on Jon. I think if Jon had not come back her and I would still be sitting there talking. One of the sweetest woman I’ve met in aviation. Jon came in and we got right to the oral in his office. All the questions were scenario based to kind of get you thinking and actually apply the knowledge. Every question could easily be answered by reading the course packet they send you and Eric provided me with a list of the questions in written form the night before so nothing was a surprise. He then had me do a quick and simple weight and balance, went over the standard checkride stuff (outcomes, plan of action, etc.). Jon is very professional but the oral was also very laid back and worry free. Went out to the airplane, did the pre-flight and off we went. Jon pretty much navigated me to all the lakes we used so I could just focus on doing the required maneuvers. Did all the maneuvers then headed back to the base. Jon sat down and gave me a nice debrief that I am use to from military flying. Told me what I did well and somethings that were good, but techniques to make them even better. Shook my hand, said congratulations and then Frances finished up my paperwork. A few of his kids and their spouses came in to have lunch with Jon and Frances. She made a point to introduce me to each one and all of them congratulated me. The quote on their website really is true. “As much as this is a business, it is also a place where you will come as a stranger, leave as a friend, and know you are always welcome to return.” For the price, location, and hospitality…I highly recommend taking a few days and going down to get the seaplane rating. I thought my flying was fun, until I did this. What a blast!
