This morning I got up and out early to keep a doctor’s appointment. The plan was to discuss an MRI my doctor had requested the previous week. I donned my mask before entering the building, where a nurse took my temperature and directed me to the hand sanitizer all patients are required to use upon entry.
I made my co-pay, then waited. I waited some more. As the first patient of the day I assumed I would be whisked in quickly to discuss the findings of the MRI. I was wrong. The bulk of my visit involved waiting. Lots of waiting.
Eventually I was called, weighed, blood-pressured, pulsed, and all the normal preliminaries we humans do before having a conversation. Then I waited. I waited a bit longer. Then just a bit more. Finally, the doctor came in. He explained nobody had read my MRI yet, although the company responsible for doing that sort of thing was excellent. Really top notch. Quick as lightning. They just hadn’t read my MRI yet. No worries, they are a great crew. They’d have my results in minutes.
So, I was asked to wait in the main waiting room while a team of professionals examined my MRI, then transmitted the results to my doctor lickety-split, so we could discuss them. Great!
Half an hour later, my phone buzzed. It was my doctor’s nurse letting me know they couldn’t find me. With some annoyance she explained that if I wished to, I could reschedule my appointment.
The woman on the other end of the phone was no more than 20 feet away from me. We could hear each other without the benefit of technology. I could see her. She could see me. But somehow, she couldn’t find me. Hmmm.
I never did get the results of my MRI. I left knowing no more than I did when I woke up, except that I am now aware my doctor’s office staff is a little less impressive than I’d have liked to believe.
Disservice is rampant. It probably always has been. It’s pervasive in so many industries and individuals. The sad reality is, a staggering percentage of the population just doesn’t care if they perform at a mediocre level.
That is one of the harder lessons I’ve had to share with my children as they grew up. Tragic, but true.
It breaks my heart, but this is as true in aviation as it is in any other industry. Perhaps the most glaring example is in flight instruction, where the drop-out rate hovers around 80%. A shockingly high number that would kill most industries.
Aviation’s salvation is that people who want to fly really want to fly. Buying a motorcycle, going sailing, or taking a trip to the Bahamas for vacation just doesn’t scratch that itch. They want to fly, so they seek out training with very little understanding of what they’re getting in to.
Unfortunately, too many providers take advantage. They take all the customer has, offering little in return. The result is a disappointed former customer who is poorer for the experience, both financially and emotionally. Worse yet, they have been transitioned from being aspirational about aviation to feeling bitter about the industry.
That’s not exactly the best path to take if we’re ever going to grow aviation to the size and scope that would be most beneficial to society.
Just prior to the end of the last school year, a friend asked me to help him find a flight school. He was ready to take the plunge and learn to fly over the summer. He selected a school not far from his home. His excitement level was running high.
A few weeks later he called me to ask for insight. He was having trouble with landing and the challenge bothered him. I asked how much time he’d amassed and his answer made me laugh. Five hours.
You’re supposed to be confused and struggling with landings at five hours. At that point students have the four fundamentals down, slow flight, power-off stalls, and maybe a bit of experience with steep turns. But landings, they’re still several hours away.
We got together a few weeks later and he expressed continuing frustration. He was at 15 hours at that point, so our discussion got a bit more specific. He still wasn’t able to land. His instructor, who critiqued his landing technique and corrected each attempt, had never actually demonstrated how to land the aircraft. The CFI spent much of each lesson texting. He rarely spoke to his student in flight.
Based on my friend’s description, it seemed clear that little instruction was being offered for the investment being made. He switched schools. Within three lessons he was ready to solo.
That quick progress suggests the problem wasn’t the student, but rather the CFI. Also, that blasé attitude in the cockpit reflects poorly on the flight school that employs the CFI. Not just in terms of responsibility, but also in terms of marketing.
When my friend tells the story of learning to fly, how do you suppose he’ll describe his early attempts? Will he name the CFI specifically or will he name the school? How many students with stories of woe can a single flight school absorb before the local population begins avoiding them to seek other, better options?
Being bad at what we do is often a choice. It’s the lazy option, the myopic preference. Fortunately, this mistake is relatively easy to correct, but it does take effort. Which is preceded by caring about how you, or your business, is perceived by the public at large.
Certainly, we can do that much, can’t we?
So sad, in a aviation “forum”, to see people that the only thing that matters to them is politics, specially to beat the person that have winned the past elections. Better not to read the comments.
So sad people don’t realize it’s politics that’s ruining our country. Staying silent and doing nothing is lazy, and Un-American. I’m from Chicago. Want to know what doing nothing and voting the same way for decades has done to my home? The same thing that has happened to San Francisco. Pilots are normally a grade up in intelligence. Throwing our hands up and giving up is not the norm.
1. Where is a Moderator when you need one?
2. Airplane availability and scheduling are problems at many FBOs. This markedly increases the time to train increasing frustration and dropouts.
You mean a censor?
The device in the illustration is a SPECT/CT used in Nuclear Medicine. It is not an MRI.
Not really the point of the article but thanks that makes a big difference now!
As a former CFI (Gold Seal) with more than 6,000 hours as a CFI and more than 20,000 hours total flying time, it breaks my heart to hear of all these disappointing stories. I love to fly and tried to transfer that love to my students. Every student is different and as an instructor you have to modify how you teach to meet each individual student. True, many CFI’s use that as a time builder to get a job that pays more; and I am guilty of that also, but I loved teaching and tried to make my students a clone of me. I wanted them not to focus on the minimum standards but to exceed them and be the best they can. Who wants to be a minimum standards pilot? Of all the commercial flying I have done, I have found instructing to be the most challenging, and the hardest as you are working every minute to see what you can do to motivate and communicate to the student so he can get the greatest value for his money. Every second wasted Is dollars out of his pocket. I think every student can get a sense of the quality of his instructor. Does he care? Is he interested in them and not he? Does he place them first and is he constantly working to help the student learn? If not, get a different instructor. You might also try an approved Flight School (FAR 141). There the training is more organized with stage checks from other instructors and overseen by the Chief Instructor.
I would not necessarily say that flight training itself is a “disservice”, but I would offer
that it is a terribly uncoordinated effort all across the board in many aspects for both the PPL and the IFR training. The FAA reported some time back that the failure rate on the PPL written exam was about 56% with only half of the failed students ever comimg back to retake the written exam. Sport pilot was a bit better with a washout rate of about 40%.
No two flight schools do things the same way, especially the small, private schools
(not talking about military or university level flight training here). I have been to some that
have no syllabalus at all, no stage checks, no evaluation flights, yet push people to take
both the written and later on, the check ride when the students are ill prepared for either.
On the other hand, I have seen some students who have worked hard on their studies
and often times, know much more aviation knowledge than their instructors.
The biggest problem that I have noted is the lack of proper, fully-featured Ground School
training and documentation (or lack thereof) by private flight schools. Most CFIs, especially the younger ones who have had their PPL for maybe a 2 years and have been
a CFI for year (or less) are often not remotely interested in teaching Ground School.Many of these folks are simply building flight hours, so they can get to that magic 1500 flight time requirement and then run off to the airlines (by then, they already have earned their
IFR and Commercial tickets). Many CFIs do multiple flights in a day, and this can be
very exhausting, especially in the summer when we have 90 degree or greater heat and humidity. Most training airplanes are not air conditioned. Training someone is hard work
for a CFI, especially if the student is new. Learning, for a student is equally hard. At the
end of the day, most CFIs are tired, hot, sweaty, and just want to go home, take a shower,
rest and have a cold beer. Can’t blame them. Next day, they do it all over again. For some,
this happens every day, and sometimes, on weekends, and then there are the night flight
requirements after flying all day too.
The result, is that after a hard, hot day flying, no CFI wants to sit down for 2 hours with a
student and do Ground School. So, it doesn’t happen. The result is that many students
aren’t getting the knowledge they need to pass the required exams.
We have one flight school where students are told to go to Sporty’s, give them $200 and
take their online Ground School. Others have told students to watch a lot of youtube videos to learn Ground School. Point is, Ground School needs to be taught one on one,
not via youtube or an online course (or by reading books and flight manuals). Four issues come to light with youtube, online and book reading, and the home environment:
a. After two sessions of youtube watching, it becomes boring. People need to get up and
move around. But then, they never return to youtube.
b. Books are great sleeping aids! No doubt, books, while informative, can put one to
sleep very quickly.
c. Online courses are good to a point, but again, as with youtube, people get “antsy”
and almost never finish the online course work. People also get “eye strain” from looking
at the PC/laptop screen for too long a period of time.
4. “Home” is a terrible (the worst) place to try and study. Too many distractions. (Wives,
kids, TV, phones, time constraints, interuptions, etc).
The FAA tells us that CFIs are the official instructors for Ground School, since the FAA
feels that it is part and parcel to flight training. While there are provisions by the FAA,
Gleim, ASA, Rod Machado and some other vendors to offer Basic Ground Instructor
qualiifcation courses, most flight schools do not accept, nor do they hire people who
have a BGI certificate. In other words, if you are not a CFI, they are not interested in you.
So, the problem persists: poor Ground School instruction which results in a high failure
rate in exam taking. This is discouraging to students, since the cost of an exam is
not cheap (about $150.00).
My sentiments after nearly 6 years of being in the flying buisness.
“Positive” comments and feedback are welcome. This is NOT a gripe sheet. I am just
trying to point out some “flaws” in the current system of flight instruction that I believe
are worth your consideration, and perhaps identify some areas where improvement is
needed.
Regards to all….
well stated and I agree!
Dave, you have identified the problem. The solution is to require ground school and the knowledge test be completed before any flying beyond an intro/demo flight.
This would greatly reduce the drop out rate. And save the student a lot of money and frustration. Students get a lot more out of training flights when the knowledge of the activity is already there. Students who have full time jobs do not have the time for flying and ground school at the same time.
I would add to your comments, being a die-hard fan of simulations, both
basic flying and scenario-based flying with a new student: I believe that any
new student should first be introduced to the simulator for the type of aircraft
he/she is going to train on.
When I lived in Florida, there was a university-level flight school which required
all new students to receive 8 hours “flying” time in their simulators before they
set foot in an airplane. This proved highly beneficial, since they were with a
CFI and everything they learned in the sim was then easily tranferable to the
real airplane. “Familiarization” and “muscle memory” had already been
effectively accomplished before the first flight. The transition from sim to
airplane was much easier, the student already knew the layout of the airplane,
and where the controls were, as well as how to read the instruments and
he/she had learned all of the basic maneuvers in the simulator.
Simulators are much less expensive than real airplanes. There are a plethora
of simulators around today, both in many flight schools and the home-type
that you can acquire for very little money these days I have two of them. My
flight school has 3 of them, including one being a Redbird simulator (and
soon, we hope, to acquire a Redbird full-motion simulator).
In any event, the use of simulators, supplemented by a good training syllabalus
and a willing and knowledgeable CFI would go a long way toward “fixing” some
some of the Ground School issues mentioned earlier. Simulators would also
help students gain self confidence once they begin to fly the real airplane. This
is especially true for landing practice and cross-country solo flying. It would
also get students experienced and knowledgeable regarding the different
airports and their layouts and possibly helping them learn the lingo of ATC,
the use of GPS and other in-airplane functions. One must remember that while
flying is learning experience, the airplane itself is often a very poor classroom.
The use of simulators would also (I am sure) take a lot of pressure off of the
CFI and make his/her job much easier, since much of what today’s CFIs
actually teach take place IN the airplane. What I am saying is that using a
simulator “greases the way”…..and by the time the student gets to the real
airplane, he/she already has both an in-depth and working knowledge of
the airplane, it’s characteristics, and he/she generally knows it’s limits and
capabilties, and what he/she can and cannot do with the airplane.
The simulator, of course, should be a model of the type of airplane the student
will train on (or be close to it). This is important.
The other thing one should consider, especially the home simulator users,
is to stick with the airplane type or model that you are going to train on.
Too many times, I have seen student pilots who are training on a Cessna 172M
be at home trying to “fly” an F-15 or a B-747. This is a waste of time and effort.
Both the F-15 and B747 are pipe dreams and the B747 is on it’s way out anyway. They can’t do it: The F-15 flames out on a sim and the B747 sounds
an overspeed alarm, and they don’t know how to correct for it.
In short, a simulator, either at a flight school or at home, is a wonderful tool
for learning. It will never take the place of the real airplane, but it is a stepping
stone toward actually “learning” to fly that is too often overlooked or not
paid enough attention to, particularly by CFIs and many flight schools.
Flight simulators are treated the same way that sit-down Ground School is
treated by most CFIs. This needs to change. Many students would likely
pass and remain interested in flying and passing their exams (and check rides) if they had more “stick time” in a simulator to begin, and then most
importantly, to supplement their real airplane flying. “Supplement” means
to repeat on a simulator, what they did in the actual airplane, or to “rehearse”
what they will do in the real airplane on their next flying day. It works….
My sentiments.
Back to the original article and avoiding dropping into the political blackhole…I’m one of those with a horrible learning experience, both at the private and instrument level. Went thru 3 private instructors – first was fantastic and left (spouse got transferred) after 2nd lesson. Next CFI was merely killing time, burning hours on my checkbook. There weren’t a lot of online groups nor did I know about any local aviation groups, so I trusted that CFI and the school – as long as the check cleared, that’s all anyone cared about. Family emergency stopped training, so when I returned, it was with a different CFI, a different school and a different airport. Things were slightly better but still – the checkbook ruled. Finally got to solo and checkride. Neither were reasons for rejoicing, when I reviewed how much time and money I spent.
I have close friends who own a flight school and they keep asking me to move east and run the school. We have the same philosophy on customer service and delivering a quality product. Sorry, not interested in moving east of the Mississippi River, like it where I live.
I’ve walked into flight schools and asked the person at the desk who was around I could talk to about instrument training – he didn’t know. His sole purpose is to check out the airplane and….of course…. take the check or credit card. An instructor walked by and we started chatting. I asked how many current students he had. He didn’t know. Another school that does not get business from me. Another school that does not get a reference from me when someone asks where to learn to fly.
I still haven’t finished the instrument.
Every GA flight school should learn Joe Girard’s rule of 250 https://www.joegirard.com/posts/girards-law-250/ You have all done this – had a bad experience at any service outfit – car, medical, food, home repair etc. you will eventually tell 250 people about it. With the internet now maybe 10X !!
If you have a great experience – you will tell 10. That is all !! So GA Flight Schools have to work extra hard at their public presence.
Curious if any student has had a feedback form sent to them from the GA Flight School owner – I have not see one. But for nearly any other $$ transaction I make, I keep getting feedback questions over and over. And when my response is not positive, I get calls to find out how to make it right.
OBTW – the “wrong” CFI problem exists even in the military – there are far too many stories of pilots nearly washing out on the elimination check ride – when another instructor is assigned and …. you end up with a GREAT pilot graduating!
Now not every student should become a pilot – that is certain – and the best IP’s can help them make that decision on their own. But most people who have some desire to learn – can become long term flyers.
Joe Girard! One of my heroes! Thank you for posting!
Aviation will not put its best foot forward in terms of instruction. Many CFIs do not want to instruct and are only doing so for the hours. Until there are more/better options for low hour pilots, the industry will continue to see such a high drop rate.
The airplane is a poor classroom. Too little emphasis on Ground School, teaching FAR-AIM and the use of simulators as a teaching tool given that their are now some excellent simulation tools available. CFIs do not follow-up with their students after flight sessions and beyond the student flight time, there is no inter-action between student and instructor. In most cases, flight school owners and managers have no idea how sloppy flight instruction is or has become, as they dont have weekly meeetings to manage student progress and see what CFIs are, or are not teaching. Managers and owners need to exercise much more over sight into what their CFIs sre doing.
To follow up on my previous comment regarding flight school management and
oversight of CFI teaching…..:
Like any large corporation, a flight school owner or management team should have
weekly sit-down “skull sessions” with their CFIs. These should include oral dialogue,
as well as a physical review of training syllbalaus, training records and other student
learning progress, deficiencies, etc. The idea is for management to keep a “handle”
on what is being done (and what is not being done) so corrective actions can be
taken. It also would serve to move the student along in the right direction and insure
that the student makes satisforactory progress in his or her flight training. The ultimate
goal here is to produce a pilot: pass the written exam and the check ride thru
regular, consistent training, supervision and oversight by the whole flight school
management “chain of command” team. Such sit down (skull sessions) would further
identify who the “good” CFIs are and who the mediocre ones are. as well as identy
“holes” in various aspects of student flight training. So far, this is not being anywhere
that I am aware of, particularly at the private flight level (excluding university flight
programs and military programs which operate differently).
In other words, private flight schools need to clean up their act, get serious, and make
an effort to offer the very best flight training service that they can to the student, while
at the same time, guaranteeing their own financial survival in a tough and often
competitive industry. No one should be more important to a flight school (or a CFI)
that the student!
The flight school business has, in many cases, become a racket. For most flight students, you have an 80% chance of NOT getting your PPL.
I believe the fix for flight instructor s is a committed instructor who loves to teach.Rod M is an excellent example…the time builders stick out and should be avoided.all instructors have troublesome students from time to time…pass them to another instructor who can reach him/her.my success has been with student who are enthusiastic,do lesson s assigned,on time for flight schedule.ill do whatever it takes to be sure the pass there ck.ride first time!
Also use different examiners as I can… instructor s get a grade slip too…least they used too
People are risking their lives going back to work. Not everyone wants to go back and so most businesses are short staffed. If you think customer service is paramount in the middle of a pandemic then your sense of self-import is the problem…not the doctors office.
Put your helmet on, wear a mask and get back in your basement while the world passes you by…Unreal. What will you do when they stop over paying on un-employment? Beg on a street corner in your mask??? This Dempanic is all in your head.
Did you really have to make this political and insulting?
Yes, I did. Otherwise you people will continue to be dense and pliable.
Your ad hominem attack shows who the real “dense” one is in this argument.
I was wondering how long it would take for one of you “lefties” to chime in….Say hi to Sleepy Joe for me.
WOW, you certainly missed the mark on this one! Jamies article had nothing to do with C-19, everything to do with customer SERVICE, no matter what business!
You’re right. Nothing to do with the Chinese Virus.
It sure got people talking about important issues though, don’t you think? Our Country has become so divided. Ideas, opinions, and conversation may eventually return us to what made us great in the 1st place. Hard work, making common sense conclusions not dictated to us by a biased media, and being innovators not simply consumers. The greatest growth in our history goes back to our Industrial Revolution. We designed and made everything that was worth having. We sold all that to the Chinese and they have become rich and powerful because of it. It’s finally coming back where it belongs. Finally someone got involved that actually cares about our country not themselves.Hopefully we haven’t been schooled in ignorance and laziness to the point we can’t recover and take advantage of it.
This article is but one instance of the virus that’s been destroying us from within for decades. Good customer Service is a state of mind and a way to successfully conduct business.
Excellent story that needs to be told about virtually every business in America right now. Demanding excellence from an employee has become illegal for the most part. We also don’t teach work ethic and responsibility in schools anymore. Your story illustrates a lazy inattentive CFI. But that kid should have been educated to demand better service. Our problems are all encompassing. American society has changed for the worse.
I’ve seen this all through my career as a CFI…if you do anything in life be passionate about it; and have a real interest in the student! When I started out in ’74 we only made 5 bucks fly hr.was my desire to make the safest pilot with in a 50 hr block.my personal goal.all my students passed first try! I achived my objectives, student recieved there ticket!I wasn’t interested in building fly time,but students who passed there check ride!
Why is GA dysfunctional? Gawd, where do you even start . . . ?
Jamie, we need at least an ENTIRE issue of GAN devoted to just this ONE TOPIC, and that topic will be how to improve the health of general aviation. Surveys, discussion groups, action items, not just complaints because there will be enough of those to fill all the hard drives in the known universe – and many of them are completely justified.
I’ve stubbornly refused to be run off from aviation despite the very best efforts of far too many of the players – at ALL levels – I have encountered in the past 50 years, all of whom seemed intent on making a small fortune out of a large one (theirs or mine, didn’t matter).
Step one is recognizing that we have a problem . . . as Pogo said “We have met the enemy and he is us.”
And if that isn’t enough, we also have an oversupply of external enemies, few of whom we are coping with.
If you want to organize a working group for this, I’m in.
P.S. I’ve walked out of a deserted, freezing doctor’s office after waiting two hours for a third class flight physical (“Say ahhh.”). The receptionist said “You can’t leave!” My reply was “Really? Watch me.” That wasn’t the first or only time, either.
Good on you for walking out! I have done the same AND sent them a bill for MY time. I feel the best way to “teach” inconsiderate jackasses is to tap “their” wallets, as they are tapping mine.
Precisely, I’ve done the same thing. My PCP now is a Doc for whom I did work as an architect. We’ve had this conversation about the value of his time and mine. I no longer sit more than 30 mins in his office for an appointment. He gets it as far as I’m concerned but not so sure about his other patients. I’ve become a griping old man to a lot of younger people because I won’t tolerate a standard of quality defined by half assed work, a total focus on assigning blame for the lack of quality service and general narcissism. Narcissistic personalities used to be kind of rare, now they’re pervasive!
Nicely done, Jamie. I think that we have all seen many examples of this lackadaisical attitude. Sadly, too few recognize this in themselves; instead, blaming their poor performance on being overworked or on the poor performance of others. It’s up to each of us to speak up if we are, in fact, in this situation. Few ever will, because deep down inside, they know where the blame truly lies. I hope your article is a wakeup call to a few who wish to stand out as a true professional.
Jamie, I have a similar story about my Grandson’s training experience. We’re pretty far apart geographically so I got a referral from a friend and found an experienced CFI for him. Unfortunately, Grandson chose a young instructor and got his wallet cleaned. He dropped out after his first solo.
I have found that the only things you exit a Dr’s office with that you didn’t have when you entered is a prescription for some toxic drugs, and a new bill. I try my best to take good care of myself and stay as far away from our medical system and its white collar criminals as I possibly can.
You’re right Jamie – it really is very sad what our nation has become. Over the past 60 years Ive watched in complete disbelief as our population has decided to transform itself one of low-achieving, self-absorbed crybabies. What happened to us?
I have no plans to vote this fall, or any other for that matter. There really is very little left to vote for. This nation is finished. The Chinese and Indians are here now, ready to pick over the bones.
No vote? There is only one to vote for. The one that turned our lazy economy around. Not the one that’s promising free everything. Be part of the solution!
Oh, please! Spare us the smell of your political opinions. The system we operate under, that has been in place for years, that has shown the same problems for at least two decades, is unfair to people who are working hard. Our mantra for decades has been that the aggressive self-promoter, the person who sees their goal and goes for it with no “distractions” (like who they harm in the process), those are the people who succeed in our capitalist morality. Money was the value system of the boomers, and the results are just starting to show, especially now that this “system” is being stressed a little by Covid. Imagine what fun will show i[ with continued global warming.
Please don’t tell me about a set of values that you expect from flight instructors that are not reflected in our national population. You’re asking one small set of tiny fish in the ocean to do what none of the other big fish are doing, -against their own best interests. The aviation industry is not kind or benevolent, and is as cutthroat as any other; – if you are lucky enough to find professional work after a college degree plus paying for entry level flight credentials and other dues, you will find yourself out of work very rapidly as soon as any hiccup hits your company. People are expendable commodities, and millennials have figured that out. While they are trying to pay off their college debts, forgoing family, houses, and all the security that previous generations enjoyed, their new American Dream is literally to live in a van down by the river, – like “travellers”, or gypsies. They are the second generation of downward mobility, and they’ve heard crotchety old farts all their lives telling them that “if you don’t like this profession you can get the hell out”, and they are opting for exactly that: They do any work on their own terms. Don’t like that? Tough. Then you can do that work yourself, – and pick your own crops too.
You may grunt “fine!”, but these are the young people who will take care of you in your old age. You may have a lot more money than they do, but you will need it, because you can’t buy real care and concern. They’ve had financial generational warfare going on against them for decades, and they’re just coping in the most obvious ways they can, and doing with a lot less of everything than boomers had.
I say this as a boomer myself, and with two kids who have “done everything right” that society told them: went to college, got a job, and now work long hours with little enjoyment. I wish I could have steered them off that bullshit path into trades where demanding what you’re worth is not thought to be selfish, as it is in professional work.
And the grifter, cheat, and bankruptcy artist con-man that you think is “turning our lazy economy around” has put us deeper into debt and given away more tax benefits to his crony donor corporations that didn’t need them than anyone in history. His, and his family and supporters legacy will be that of treason, theft, white supremacism, and selfish bullying. Buckle up for a bumpy ride, when the backlash happens in 2020 and afterward.
You are extremely confused in your old age. Much like the guy that spent the last 40 years doing NOTHING. And can barely finish a sentence, and mumbling incoherently behind a mask he sometimes wears while hiding in his basement. .
Your supposed hard work as a Boomer paid for those “perfect kids” of yours to go to school right? Or are they of the flavor that think my tax dollars should pay for their privilege? Please tell me you didn’t condone a Liberal Arts Degree when you sent them to school….Not many art gallery jobs out there are there?
I will agree with you on one thing though. Trades was they way to go. Those people are working and succeeding. And while they learned their trade, they weren’t being encouraged to loot and burn and stand up for BLM .
You seem to hate what life you’ve been dealt. I’ll lend you some money for you and your great kids to move to Venezuela.
I’ll take the successful billionaire that brought jobs back to the US , unfortunately a Chinese Virus put a kink in life as we know it. I’m sure you think it’s the Orange Mans fault it’s here though. Yet the stock market and business continues to grow and thrive despite 80% of people that I’m sure are your wonderful kids age are too busy protesting, rioting, tearing down statues, and not taking available jobs because they are being overpaid with their unemployment insurance. That’s coming to an end soon. So perhaps you take me up on the travel tickets and get out before you have to start actually working again.
You speak Spanish I hope…
Hey Mr. Grumpy,
I’m no Biden fan, but his dead cat would get my vote at this point. It’s hilarious that you’re attacking him for behaviors that your savior exhibits constantly. The man is not inspirational to me but at least he’s not evil. Cheeto’s own family thinks so, and so do hundreds of other mental health professionals who have gone on record publicly.
My kids put themselves through school, FYI, and they did so with hard work, scholarships and loans, and a good attitude. What they choose to do with their lives is none of your damn business.
I haven’t complained about my life at all, and I don’t know where you’re snarky comment is coming from, other than a malevolent arrogance and a sense of anonymity on the internet. This isn’t 4Chan.
I don’t need any money from anyone, especially someone taunting me about it. A psychotherapist would tell you it means I probably have more than you do anyway. I just don’t view it as any kind of statement about personal character or virtue. You obviously do, and that speaks volumes about yours.
I don’t think your Fuhrer started Covid19, it’s been shown that it probably came from bats, but he sure has made us “number one” in leading the world in cases and deaths, right behind his devotee, Bolsonaro, and has managed to blame everyone and everything for it except where the buck stops. All that winning! Such character that you worship.
But not to worry, one of my daughters is a Covid ICU Nurse, willing to risk her health to help selfish sociopaths like you all. Since you’re making assumptions, (and an ass out of yourself in the process), both my kids, who you are so eager to insult, work full time to pay their bills, unlike the welcher you claim is a “billionaire”. How many bankruptcies? How many lawsuits over non-payment of bills? Why is it that his returns are so secret, – afraid we might see he’s been a money-laundering pawn for Russians through German banks for years now? You are backing a thief, a traitor, a draft-dodging coward, a bully, a serial adulterer, an alleged pedophile, and a pathological liar, and that says a lot about you. History will not be kind to your ilk.
You’re right, it IS all coming to an end soon, one way or another. Maybe you should do what the other big tycoons are doing and get your safehouse all set up in Venezuela instead of offering tickets to me. This is MY country and there are a lot more of me than there are of you. Your type can dress like antifa and burn down buildings at a BLM protest like the Reichstag in 1933, but the truth comes out in the end, and those dirty tactics are well understood now. A robust stock market during a pandemic is just an indication of how broken our system really is. It isn’t a few big businesses that makes a healthy economy; – it’s the population that forms the ocean that they float on. Watch what happens when arrogant sociopaths like you drop the hammer on the very water that sustains them. There is plenty of precedence for you to take that as a warning.
I’m done arguing with a mental midget with no sense of humility. No facts can persuade people like you, – only bricks and axe-handles upside the head, or your stock portfolio tanking, or a landslide loss of your Fuhrer and his enablers can do that. Or a combination of all of those at once. Your ilk doesn’t think, they just swagger, which makes them very easy to hit.
‘Sonadavinci’? Where do these user nick-names come from? If you are going to diatribe behind an internet veil at least use a name that has some reality associated with it.
What can you expect from a guy that’s going to vote for Biden’s dead cat? lol I’m betting on dark brow eyes too…Cuz he’s full of Schiff.
What in the world are you talking about? I thought this was an aviation
forum, not a political drag net…..This whole tirade that you just wrote
makes absolutely no sense at all.
I agree. This is an aviation forum and there doesn’t appear to be anyone in control to filter out those trolls.
Yes, it seems so.
Anyone interested in possibly starting a new thread or topic
on flight simulators??
I am a big believer in these things for student pilot training.
I have FSX and X-P 11 and soon hope to acquire MS2020,
along with working (real time) ATC.
Comments or thoughts?
Dave
That would be a good topic. I would be onboard. I too have FSX and X-Plane 11 and am waiting for MS2020 next month. I find that both my setup at home and the Redbird at our local flight school are very helpful in maintaining my instrument proficiency.
Here in SC, the temps are between 95 and 103 on
most days. Really hot, and not conducive to flying
in airplane with no AC.
I was wondering, is anyone else flying in the heat
these days? We have sold bold students and CFIs
who are, but I did that last year, and decided I would
put it off until the Fall when it is cooler.
The worst plane to fly in the heat is the Diamond
DA-20 which is like a flying greenhouse! It has the
all-glass canopy and no AC or other form of
ventilation. The C-172 is not much better, but at
least you can open the window (but it really doesn’t
do any good below 4000 ft, or below the clouds. It
does help if you are higher and above the clouds
though).
Its the same here in Western Pennsylvania. I own a C172N and agree with you. I haven’t been up in three weeks because of the heat and the turbulence it generates over our Alleghenies. Still there are a few souls who fly early in the morning.
Yeah, here in SC, we have the Blue Ridge Mountain chain. I’ve flown over the mountains a few times. Nice scenery, but again, hot. Looking forward to the Fall (cooler weather). Meantime, I am spending a lot of time on the sim. It has the C-172N in it, although I generally fly the M model in real life and have done the SP and R models as well. There is not a lot of difference between the M and N model, except maybe the engine (some have Lycoming and some have Continentals). On the sim, I have added the GNS 430 GPS (which the FSX does not include). The GNS 430 GPS is available from Friendly Panels.com ($14.95) and works much better than the stock GPS 500 or 295 that comes with FSX. Its also easier to work with compared to the GNS 430 in X-plane 10.
Glad you are onboard with the idea of starting a new topic with FSX and X-P 11. Lets see if we can do it…..
I use mostly FSX until Sept when the new i9, & NVIDIA 3080s come out. I plan to acquire MS2020 as well. At the moment, I can only do FSX becuase my ancient Win 8 PC won’t do X-P 11. I bought it, (X-P 11) but it won’t run — problem is that neither the graphics card nor the power supply will support X-P 11, and I don’t want to invest any more money in an old machine.
Most of my sim flying is VFR. Just completed a 455 NM flight from Melbourne, FL (KMLB) to Greenville, SC (KGMU) under the guise of “visiting my son” who lives in MLB. I live in Greenville (Greer), SC. Long flight! Made it non-stop at 8500 ft, VFR, GPS in a C-172N,
arriving home with near empty tanks. Originally, I had
planned a fuel stop at Brunswick, GA, which would have been the half way point (227 NM), but the fuel
tanks had not even registered the half-way mark, so I
kept on going. Navigation, aside from GPS (GNS 430 add-on) was very accurate, and I also had Garmin Pilot
Sectional Charts which agreed with the GPS. Good flight. I used both VFR and IFR waypoints along the way which showed up on both NAV aids. Clear with some
turbulence (thermals) along the way, and clouds.
FWIW, in addition to my regular pilot log book, I also keep a separate logbook for my simulated flights. Same info is recorded. Insurance company gives points for guys who keep records and have simulators….and who keep log books, since the sim
is considered “training” for insurance purposes, and
thus qualifies for some pilot discounts when the
insurance comes due for renewal…..
Thanks for the info. I am using the steam edition of FSX. I am waiting for FS2020 to see what upgrades I will need. I am going to have to go from Widows 7 to Windows 10. I am not happy about that. I am also going to need a new video card. Hopefully this will get the glitches out of my X-Plane too.
Yep, I have Steam Edition of FSX as well.
Lots of add-ons over the years: utilities and
aircraft that I normally would fly, mostly GA
stuff, and a few LSAs tossed in for fun (we have some LSAs here too in real life).
Like you, I need to upgrade the PC to handle
both X-P and MS2020, but am waiting until
Sept when the new NVIDIA 3080s come out.
Be sure and read the minimum specs required
in order to run MS2020. Right now, the antiques
that I have (Win 8 PCs) can’t handle either X-P 11 or MS2020, so an upgrade will be a “forced” event here. I am seriously considering the i9, 3080, 16 or 32GB or greater, with an SSD. The reason for the much bigger machine is that I also want to incorporate some “live” ATC activity into the sim, such as with Pilot Edge or something similar. That should give plenty of “expansion” room in the PC department. (FSX has ATC, but it is all canned stuff, and somewhat generic, compared to what real ATC is like, at least around here (we have two Class D airports and one Class C all in the same approx area: GSP, GMU and GYH, all busy ones at that). There are also half a dozen or more “Private” grass air strips here, so ultra-lights are common. Most of these look like airplanes, but are usually one-seaters, very slow, except for one that looks like a flying motorcycle.
I also teach Ground School, so the sims are great teaching aids as well when a student wants to drop by for some extra or remedial help. I have a few who do.
Not flying much in the heat, but all this stuff keeps me very busy! Always something to do that is related to aviation, even when not flying.
The NVIDIA 3080 should be worth waiting for. An i9 with 32GB would also be ideal but I am not ready for a whole new setup yet. With the 3080 I’ll be up to the recommended specs and then some.
I agree with you. This keeps me pretty busy too. We’re still in partial lockdown here in PA. Our cases are increasing and the end is not in sight yet.
Here in SC, we are still in partial (not enforced yet) lockdown, although everywhere you go now, you have to wear a mask. Went to Tractor Supply the other day and got thrown out for not having a mask. Had one in my truck, so got it, and got in. Ditto Walgreens, grocery stores, Home Depot, etc. Pain in the arse!! (not to mention, these masks tend to fog up my glasses, LOL).
The MINIMUM recommend rig for MS2020 is:
Win 10 (64 bit), Nov 2019 w/update 1909.
CPU: Ryzen 3 1200 or Intel i5 – 4460
CPU: Radeon RX-570 or NIVIDIA GTX770
VRAM: 2GB
RAM: 8GB
HDD: 150GB
Bandwidth: 5Mps
Again, that is the minimum recommended by MicroSoft.
I am going for the ideal set up. Probably cost
me an arm and a leg, but for my needs, it will
be necessary:
Ryzen 7 PRO2700X or Intel i7-9800
paired with Radeon VII or NIVIDIA RTX 2080 – 8GB VRAM – 32GB RAM, HDD 159GB, SSD 1TB.
As I mentioned earlier, these are the current machines that are available now, but I am going to hold out until Sept 2020 for the NIVIDIA 3080. The whole rig comes with a large enough power supply and, as I mentioned before, there is a lot of expansion room. This is particularly important, as I suspect MS2020 will be greatly expanded by new vendors once it becomes mainstream. I also need to make room for a realistic form of ATC, as there are several of those out there as well, and they too required significant capablity from the PC.
Anticipated cost is around $2700.00 (so far)
for the 3080 series.
There is a difference these days between a regular PC and a “game machine”, so that needs to be taken into account. Most PCs are OK for normal home use, but they can’t support some of these new graphics, whereas the “game machine” is more or less designed specifically for those applications (and they also will work as a regular PC for home or office work).
The new machine will allow operation of both
X-P 11 and MS2020. I will likely hang on to FSX Steam Edition for awhile though. In no hurry to dump it just yet. Keeping a log book on it, so far, I have logged almost 800 “flight” hours, LOL (not to mention all the add-ons. I think over the years, I’ve spent a small fortune on additional software for FSX). Either way, I do not look at FSX as a “game”. It’s still a useful “tool” where nothing else currently exists.
Yes you can only go so far with a regular PC. I have a Dell PowerEdge T30 tower server that lets you build everything from the ground up but I believe I am close to the limit of what I can do with it.
Oh, please! Spare us the smell of your political opinions??? Yet your entire rant is politically stenched. Is “Sonadavinci” the latest screen name for Brian Stelter? Morning Joe? Don Lemon? lol.
I didn’t start politicizing this subject. You did. I have no idea who Brian Stelter is, or any of those other people are. My name is Matt, and I’d use my last name if aviation wasn’t so full of people like you and PhedUp.
Listen, there are a lot of us pilots out here who are NOT ballwashers in the Koolaid Kult Klan, and I for one, am sick of listening to crotchety rants about “kids these days”, liburel sheeple, and minorities on long trips. Maybe I’m just another pilot that disagrees with your bullcrap attitude of entitlement. Some day soon, you are going to find yourself a fish out of water, surrounded by people you hate. What a fun life you’ll have.
And MY post was a rant? What do you think this entire article was? MY post was a defense of millennials to a crotchety old fart’s attack, and YOU turned it political.
Doug H. is absolutely correct! Don’t “play” into satan’s hands!
Emphatically agree.
Then you are part of the problem. A lot of us gave up normal l Ives to give you that right to vote. Now you are going to sit back and let this country turn socialist. If it does you better watch your flying hours decrease as the cost will become prohibitive!
Amen…
Hold one…not yet…the CFI complacency focus, where exists Will not be fixed…plain truth….until… it becomes Not Mandatory to be CFI to be be flight crew for ‘United’…more plain truth..😎🇺🇸
Come October 1st, it won’t matter with United. They have already
announced/warned their employees that they will be layiing off a large
chunk of their workforce, including dozens of unneeded flight crews.
(Unless, of course, the Govt bails them out again. Even so, if the public
isn’t flying, what then?)