calereeves
Filing Flight Plan
- Joined
- Feb 1, 2015
- Messages
- 4
***Just finished typing this book. When I set out, I didn't intend to type this much, but I felt it was necessary to give the full background on my last few days with this new flight school. Bottom line is, I feel my new flight school is milking me, rather than training me. Who else has been in that situation, and what did you do?***
I finished my fixed wing PPL in March, working toward my goal of 100 hrs total flight time by October, for application to USAF pilot training. My fixed wing time was all through a part 141 operation on base at the Aero Club. I enjoyed the program, which follows the jeppesen syllabus, and completed a self-study ground school concurrently with the flight time. Total time in training was 4.5 months, which was fairly quick, considering winter weather in Alaska.
I feel like I'm a reasonably competent student. I do what I can to prepare for flight lessons ahead of time. I read my ground school studies, and look at how to apply them in the lessons. I'm motivated to move through training and continue flying, and I'm anxious to build time.
To broaden my experiences--and just because I've always wanted to learn how--I started my helicopter add-on at a part 141 flight school. Unfortunately the Aero Clubs don't do any rotary operations. I completed my first four lessons in four consecutive days, the fourth lesson was today.
During my initial discussion with the instructor, he made it abundantly clear (I think he said it four times) that nobody is ready for their check ride in the FAA minimum time. I realize that average flight times are much higher than minimum requirements, but let's see how I progress before we start throwing out numbers, eh? First flights have all gone well, though they're much shorter than what I'd like. Today's flight (fourth one) went very well... the hover is under control, nowhere near perfect, but passable; pattern work was just fine; made a couple of landings with no instructor inputs; forward, lateral, and aft hovering was accomplished; pedal turns were fine. I clearly have a long way to go, and much more to learn, but according to the school's syllabus, and the lesson objectives, I'm ahead by a full lesson or more.
After the flight, we went into the office for the debrief, and covered a ground lesson on basic aerodynamics of helicopter flight. Verrrrryyyyy basic. I realize he has to accommodate a WIDE range of background knowledge for his students, and will assume that he needs to start from the beginning. I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, or be "that" student, so I politely listened, indicated my understanding, and continued through the lesson. At the end, I asked if we'd be able to accelerate some if the ground school, as I did in my last Part 141 venture with the fixed-wing training, so we could focus more on the flight time. He was noncommittal.
What really frosted me at the end of the lesson, and most likely is the largest driver of my unhappiness with this school, is the end of lesson bill. The school's policy is to bill for the time you've reserved. I had 0900-1200 blocked out, hoping we could do some extra flying (the previous three lessons were all two-hour blocks.) We pre-flighted, flew for 0.8, then spent 1.7 doing the aerodynamics review. We finished the lesson at 1130, when the instructor said, OK, we're done, lets look at the schedule for when you want to fly again. I was billed for the full 3 hours. When I questioned it, the receptionist who does the billing referred me to the policy of billing for the reserved block of time. I responded that the instructor ended the lesson, not me. She said that they would credit that amount on my next lesson if I'd bring receipt and remind them (I noticed the billing when I got home, and called her.)
I called up on Monday to start my training on Tuesday. I had no trouble getting a 2-hour block to start my training, and each day, I blocked time for the next day, no more than 24 hours in advance. Initially, I was happy that it was so easy to schedule time with them, as I'm time constrained and want to fly as much as possible. Now I'm starting to think it's so easy to book time with them because they're light on clientele, and I'm being used as a filler/bill-payer.
If there was another Part 141 operation available in the area, I'd check them out, but this place is the ONLY one in the state. There are two other schools, both Part 61 outfits. I'm going to talk to one of them tomorrow and discuss my goals and timelines, and see what they're willing to do to accommodate. My next lesson with my current instructor is not yet scheduled, but I'm going to sit down with him and voice my unease with the current situation. If nothing changes, i think it's time for me to move on.
If you've made it this far, who else has fired their flight school and moved on? Why did you?
I finished my fixed wing PPL in March, working toward my goal of 100 hrs total flight time by October, for application to USAF pilot training. My fixed wing time was all through a part 141 operation on base at the Aero Club. I enjoyed the program, which follows the jeppesen syllabus, and completed a self-study ground school concurrently with the flight time. Total time in training was 4.5 months, which was fairly quick, considering winter weather in Alaska.
I feel like I'm a reasonably competent student. I do what I can to prepare for flight lessons ahead of time. I read my ground school studies, and look at how to apply them in the lessons. I'm motivated to move through training and continue flying, and I'm anxious to build time.
To broaden my experiences--and just because I've always wanted to learn how--I started my helicopter add-on at a part 141 flight school. Unfortunately the Aero Clubs don't do any rotary operations. I completed my first four lessons in four consecutive days, the fourth lesson was today.
During my initial discussion with the instructor, he made it abundantly clear (I think he said it four times) that nobody is ready for their check ride in the FAA minimum time. I realize that average flight times are much higher than minimum requirements, but let's see how I progress before we start throwing out numbers, eh? First flights have all gone well, though they're much shorter than what I'd like. Today's flight (fourth one) went very well... the hover is under control, nowhere near perfect, but passable; pattern work was just fine; made a couple of landings with no instructor inputs; forward, lateral, and aft hovering was accomplished; pedal turns were fine. I clearly have a long way to go, and much more to learn, but according to the school's syllabus, and the lesson objectives, I'm ahead by a full lesson or more.
After the flight, we went into the office for the debrief, and covered a ground lesson on basic aerodynamics of helicopter flight. Verrrrryyyyy basic. I realize he has to accommodate a WIDE range of background knowledge for his students, and will assume that he needs to start from the beginning. I don't want to sound like a know-it-all, or be "that" student, so I politely listened, indicated my understanding, and continued through the lesson. At the end, I asked if we'd be able to accelerate some if the ground school, as I did in my last Part 141 venture with the fixed-wing training, so we could focus more on the flight time. He was noncommittal.
What really frosted me at the end of the lesson, and most likely is the largest driver of my unhappiness with this school, is the end of lesson bill. The school's policy is to bill for the time you've reserved. I had 0900-1200 blocked out, hoping we could do some extra flying (the previous three lessons were all two-hour blocks.) We pre-flighted, flew for 0.8, then spent 1.7 doing the aerodynamics review. We finished the lesson at 1130, when the instructor said, OK, we're done, lets look at the schedule for when you want to fly again. I was billed for the full 3 hours. When I questioned it, the receptionist who does the billing referred me to the policy of billing for the reserved block of time. I responded that the instructor ended the lesson, not me. She said that they would credit that amount on my next lesson if I'd bring receipt and remind them (I noticed the billing when I got home, and called her.)
I called up on Monday to start my training on Tuesday. I had no trouble getting a 2-hour block to start my training, and each day, I blocked time for the next day, no more than 24 hours in advance. Initially, I was happy that it was so easy to schedule time with them, as I'm time constrained and want to fly as much as possible. Now I'm starting to think it's so easy to book time with them because they're light on clientele, and I'm being used as a filler/bill-payer.
If there was another Part 141 operation available in the area, I'd check them out, but this place is the ONLY one in the state. There are two other schools, both Part 61 outfits. I'm going to talk to one of them tomorrow and discuss my goals and timelines, and see what they're willing to do to accommodate. My next lesson with my current instructor is not yet scheduled, but I'm going to sit down with him and voice my unease with the current situation. If nothing changes, i think it's time for me to move on.
If you've made it this far, who else has fired their flight school and moved on? Why did you?
