Backdated.
I have decided to stick with HAI for a number of reasons. As usual with a big decision I make pro / con lists. (This is the actual list I made, I found the post-it note in my 2009 FAR/AIM)
Pro
- They are very close to my home. 15 minute drive.
- I'm familiar with the airspace, the airport and the school itself.
- I have invested lots of $$$ in the school so far.
- The school is very well known in the industry.
Con
- They treat their CFIs pretty poorly.
- Their program is longer and more expensive than some others.
- This will be a group training setup, not 1 on 1.
Pro's won. I signed up and have been working the Fundamentals of Instruction for a few weeks.
We are in a semi-convenient group classroom setting. It is not ideal, but it is what it is.
My concern about being CFI trained by a new CFI has pretty much been removed. We have been working with the Chief Flight Instructor for this portion of our training.
This is both good and bad. We have the expertise at the ready, but are not his first priority. There have been quite a few instances where he has either forgotten to tell us class is canceled due to a conflict, and we find out when we walk into the room. Or, he just has to cancel class because of prior commitments. Not ideal.
Quality of the course is spot on, so it is hard to complain about that.
Note: I'm backdating a number of these entries because, for a number of reasons, I was unable to do them at the time. Based on my logbook and classroom notes I'm re-creating these entries as best as I can.
Done with my Commercial, and I've decided to kick right off into my CFI Training. Honestly, I'm not sure if I'm going to stick with Hillsboro.
Look, HAI gave me a great education. They taught me to fly. I got my Private here and just now got my Commercial license. I've paid them many thousands of dollars and have put some real time on their birds. So, I owe them a debt of gratitude, no question. Good school. Buuuuuut....
...isn't there always a "but". Here it is... and this is probably one of the big reasons I did not blog about this in real time and waited till months later.
I think HAI is a shitty place to work. I'm not at all impressed how they treat their CFIs.
Ok, so here is all the back story. I started this journey in 2008 with my instructor. She was fresh off the CFI boat and had 20x hours in the sky. Compared to me, she was infinitely more qualified. I had 0, she had 20x. No question, she was qualified.
As the hobbs time ticked by, I gradually picked up skill, and so did she. Obviously at a much highter rate that me since she had multiple students. Throughout the entire process I would fly with other, high time, CFIs for Stage Checks and pre-Check Ride checks, etc. All good.
Well, just before I got my Commercial w/ about 180hrs of my own, Hillsboro decided they needed to make changes with their hiring policies. They decided that in order to maintain a predictable and constant flow of CFIs in the school, they needed to set a cap on the hours that a CFI could have and still work in the school. The cap would be at 1000hrs. My instructor had 1400, the others I regularly worked with had 1500, 1100 and 1200.
Now, don't get me wrong, I understand the school's position. However, in the current business market jobs are scarce all over, and to eject someone from their job for too much experience so that you can replace them with less experienced people seems pretty unfair. Obviously to the CFI, but also to the students they have.
Hell, l was down right pissed off at this for very selfish reasons. I have paid thousands of dollars to get the best education I can and to be told that I am going to be given a CGI with 20% more hours than me is offensive. I'm pretty sure they had something to teach me, but certainly not as much as someone with 4x, 5x more air time.
I literally finished up my Commercial with someone that had 25 more hours than me. I was pissed.
It was at this point that I started investigating other schools.
