Me: 500+ hour owner/pilot, PPL. Flown across the country a couple times and a decent amount of real world flying experience.
It's time to get my IR. I'm ready and I've put it off for far too long. I've taken TWO ground schools but haven't taken the written yet since I wasn't sure when I could start the flight training. I have a good handle on the academics, though of course, I need to polish that knowledge.
Here's the situation:
In starting with the local ma & pa flight school, I told them I had four basic requirements for my training:
1) Train in my own aircraft
2) lessons twice a week after work to keep the schedule short and fast
3) That they have and follow a syllabus and
4) stick with the same instructor for my training.
They said no problem to all of my requests though training in my own plane carried with it a slight up-charge to which I said no problem.
Here's where it gets interesting:
Insurance requires that the CFII have 10 hours in type (Arrow). As it turns out, I was told that only two people at the school had this requirement met: the owner herself and a single CFII, "Joe."
So, she assigned "Joe" to be my IR instructor.
They have a BATD available and they use it throughout the syllabus. But I told them that there's no real reason to use the simulator since my operating costs for the plane is about the same for the simulator. They told me that they preferred to use the sim in the early lessons since it provides opportunity to hit 'pause' and explain concepts, etc. I said, "ok, fine." (They are the instructors after all...)
Lesson 1: Tracking VORs, straight and level, etc.
The BATD glitched at least 4 times causing the instructor to reboot it and killing I don't know how much time. Not only this, but because the sim is a sim and not a real plane, getting a 'feel' for how it performed was impossible and took even more time.
With no inputs at all it would spontaneously climb/descend 2,000 fpm and I spent an inordinate amount of time just trying to 'learn' how to fly the sim. This was not simulating anything but a severely damaged airplane!
I told "Joe" that I didn't want to waste time on a sim that constantly glitched and that I would get more out of just going and FLYING; with every minute wasted passes, I'm watching $$ fly out the window.
He said, 'well, we really want to use the sim since we can pause, etc.' All I could think was, "who needs a pause button when you can chat and discuss the lesson while it's constantly booting up over and over?"
Lesson 2: Tracking VORs, DME arcs, etc.
More glitch problems killing more time. More time wasted watching me wrestling the sim to behave.
Then this:
Earlier this week, "Joe" mentioned to me that the school typically schedules CFI's in a morning/evening regime: he is normally the 'day' instructor and "Milton," another CFII, was the afternoon instructor. "Joe" said that since my lessons are in the afternoon, and that the sim can be taught by anyone, he was going to schedule my sims with "Milton" instead of him and, "would that be ok?"
I told him no, that was NOT ok. My only REAL requirement before I began was that I stay with one single instructor; that it was 'company policy' that "Milton" teach the sim since he is the afternoon guy wasn't my issue. I don't want to be tossed from instructor to instructor.
"Joe" said, "ok, well, I'll talk to the owner to see what we can organize."
"Great, thanks Joe for understanding."
This morning, the owner calls me to say that they were going to switch me to "Milton" for the sim work since anyone can teach the sim part, "would that be ok?"
I reiterated to him that no, that was not ok. "Ok," he says, "let me call you back."
10 minutes later, he calls me back to say, "guess what? It turns out that "Milton" DOES have Arrow time!"
"Oh he does? Because last I heard only you and "Joe" had Arrow time."
"Yeah, turns out he does."
"Well, if he has Arrow time, then we can switch Milton to be my permanent instructor, right? Problem solved"
"Great!" he said. "I'll set it up."
Later today, I met "Milton" for the first time. Nice enough kid. I took him out to see the Arrow before we got started so he knew what we'd be flying in.
He hopped in and said, "wow, this is in great condition"
"Thanks, it's been quite the project"
"How fast does it usually go?"
?... Yeah, I thought so...?
So, I responded, "Oh, it's not the 200 hp model, so only about 135 mph."
Then I continued, "So, tell me, Milton, what kind of Arrow time do you have?"
"Oh, not arrows. My time is in Archers. PA28's. Cherokees, Archers, that kind of stuff..."
"Is that so?" I ask. "Well, you know, this might be a problem since the insurance company requires ARROW time"
Milton responds, "well, if it IS an issue, you and I can do the sim work and then, when we're done, you can go and fly with Joe."
Oh really? Isn't that the EXACT SITUATION I wanted to avoid and made clear on day 1???
I am pretty done with them now. The fact that they are ok with lying to me about the CFII's arrow time tells me everything I need to know, but then to insist on their day guy/afternoon guy scheduling system against what the customer specifically requested is just beyond the pale.
Then this:
Adding insult to injury, I said to "Milton,"
"So, if insurance says you are able to be my permanent instructor, I want to do lessons twice a week after work in the evening and I can be here as early as 3:30."
His response? "Oh, that's going to be difficult, my evenings are pretty tied up, but I can squeeze you in at 6 maybe once a week"
ARE YOU KIDDING ME????
Not only did the flight school lie to me about their instructor's experience,
Not only did the flight school not be able to meet to my single most important requirement,
But now I have to give up on my schedule too?
Talking it out with my CFI cousin, he told me his easiest money he ever made was the sim time since he didn't NEED the hours (Both milton and joe are 1000+ hr instructors, as young as they are), and he loved the ease of instructing on the sim.
I also slowly realized that a school was NOT what I was really looking for; I was really looking for a Yoda instructor; a one-on-one teacher who does it because he loves it, not because he's part of some school marking time waiting to go to the airlines after the WU-FLU is over with. I really think the experience I am looking for can't be found at a flight school.
Am I being too hard on them or am I justified in my frustration?
It's time to get my IR. I'm ready and I've put it off for far too long. I've taken TWO ground schools but haven't taken the written yet since I wasn't sure when I could start the flight training. I have a good handle on the academics, though of course, I need to polish that knowledge.
Here's the situation:
In starting with the local ma & pa flight school, I told them I had four basic requirements for my training:
1) Train in my own aircraft
2) lessons twice a week after work to keep the schedule short and fast
3) That they have and follow a syllabus and
4) stick with the same instructor for my training.
They said no problem to all of my requests though training in my own plane carried with it a slight up-charge to which I said no problem.
Here's where it gets interesting:
Insurance requires that the CFII have 10 hours in type (Arrow). As it turns out, I was told that only two people at the school had this requirement met: the owner herself and a single CFII, "Joe."
So, she assigned "Joe" to be my IR instructor.
They have a BATD available and they use it throughout the syllabus. But I told them that there's no real reason to use the simulator since my operating costs for the plane is about the same for the simulator. They told me that they preferred to use the sim in the early lessons since it provides opportunity to hit 'pause' and explain concepts, etc. I said, "ok, fine." (They are the instructors after all...)
Lesson 1: Tracking VORs, straight and level, etc.
The BATD glitched at least 4 times causing the instructor to reboot it and killing I don't know how much time. Not only this, but because the sim is a sim and not a real plane, getting a 'feel' for how it performed was impossible and took even more time.
With no inputs at all it would spontaneously climb/descend 2,000 fpm and I spent an inordinate amount of time just trying to 'learn' how to fly the sim. This was not simulating anything but a severely damaged airplane!
I told "Joe" that I didn't want to waste time on a sim that constantly glitched and that I would get more out of just going and FLYING; with every minute wasted passes, I'm watching $$ fly out the window.
He said, 'well, we really want to use the sim since we can pause, etc.' All I could think was, "who needs a pause button when you can chat and discuss the lesson while it's constantly booting up over and over?"
Lesson 2: Tracking VORs, DME arcs, etc.
More glitch problems killing more time. More time wasted watching me wrestling the sim to behave.
Then this:
Earlier this week, "Joe" mentioned to me that the school typically schedules CFI's in a morning/evening regime: he is normally the 'day' instructor and "Milton," another CFII, was the afternoon instructor. "Joe" said that since my lessons are in the afternoon, and that the sim can be taught by anyone, he was going to schedule my sims with "Milton" instead of him and, "would that be ok?"
I told him no, that was NOT ok. My only REAL requirement before I began was that I stay with one single instructor; that it was 'company policy' that "Milton" teach the sim since he is the afternoon guy wasn't my issue. I don't want to be tossed from instructor to instructor.
"Joe" said, "ok, well, I'll talk to the owner to see what we can organize."
"Great, thanks Joe for understanding."
This morning, the owner calls me to say that they were going to switch me to "Milton" for the sim work since anyone can teach the sim part, "would that be ok?"
I reiterated to him that no, that was not ok. "Ok," he says, "let me call you back."
10 minutes later, he calls me back to say, "guess what? It turns out that "Milton" DOES have Arrow time!"
"Oh he does? Because last I heard only you and "Joe" had Arrow time."
"Yeah, turns out he does."
"Well, if he has Arrow time, then we can switch Milton to be my permanent instructor, right? Problem solved"
"Great!" he said. "I'll set it up."
Later today, I met "Milton" for the first time. Nice enough kid. I took him out to see the Arrow before we got started so he knew what we'd be flying in.
He hopped in and said, "wow, this is in great condition"
"Thanks, it's been quite the project"
"How fast does it usually go?"
?... Yeah, I thought so...?
So, I responded, "Oh, it's not the 200 hp model, so only about 135 mph."
Then I continued, "So, tell me, Milton, what kind of Arrow time do you have?"
"Oh, not arrows. My time is in Archers. PA28's. Cherokees, Archers, that kind of stuff..."
"Is that so?" I ask. "Well, you know, this might be a problem since the insurance company requires ARROW time"
Milton responds, "well, if it IS an issue, you and I can do the sim work and then, when we're done, you can go and fly with Joe."
Oh really? Isn't that the EXACT SITUATION I wanted to avoid and made clear on day 1???
I am pretty done with them now. The fact that they are ok with lying to me about the CFII's arrow time tells me everything I need to know, but then to insist on their day guy/afternoon guy scheduling system against what the customer specifically requested is just beyond the pale.
Then this:
Adding insult to injury, I said to "Milton,"
"So, if insurance says you are able to be my permanent instructor, I want to do lessons twice a week after work in the evening and I can be here as early as 3:30."
His response? "Oh, that's going to be difficult, my evenings are pretty tied up, but I can squeeze you in at 6 maybe once a week"
ARE YOU KIDDING ME????
Not only did the flight school lie to me about their instructor's experience,
Not only did the flight school not be able to meet to my single most important requirement,
But now I have to give up on my schedule too?
Talking it out with my CFI cousin, he told me his easiest money he ever made was the sim time since he didn't NEED the hours (Both milton and joe are 1000+ hr instructors, as young as they are), and he loved the ease of instructing on the sim.
I also slowly realized that a school was NOT what I was really looking for; I was really looking for a Yoda instructor; a one-on-one teacher who does it because he loves it, not because he's part of some school marking time waiting to go to the airlines after the WU-FLU is over with. I really think the experience I am looking for can't be found at a flight school.
Am I being too hard on them or am I justified in my frustration?
