Accelerated Flight Crew Crash in AZ

[FlyinBrian]

RJpilot, You crack me up.

My tone was harsh because I was upset about the situation. Please tell me where I made a false statement. I may have said some things that weren't very nice, and perhaps even a bit unprofessional. But anyone can take a look at the rest of this thread and understand who the professionals are and aren't.

When I refer to flames, I don't mean the truth, I mean statements like:

and I know you. Any questions? YES I KNOW YOU! Good luck with Eagle!

This is an obvious attempt to "rub-in" The fact that I'm a furloughed airline pilot, and contributed absolutely nothing to this ongoing debate. My few off-color comments were not directed personally at anyone on this board, and were meant to give emphasis to my displeasure. Compare that to the above comment
which anyone can recognize as taking pleasure in a fellow pilot's furlough and tell me who the professional is.

I have been nothing but honest on this board. I may have been harshly critical, but I never said anything that I knew to be untrue, nor did I ever demonsrate a reckless disregard for the truth. If you can show me a single outright falsehood that I have posted to this board, I would be surprised.

So here it is again RJ... If you have something to defend the concerns that we've raised and asked you to address several times, please do. I won't "twist" what you say. I don't need to damage your credibility any worse than you already have. I know that the facts of this case will eventually come out. I hope that when we get the NTSB report that my analysis is way off base, and this turns out to be a freak accident. But if AFCT is still throwing instructors in the back seat, it would make me sick to my stomach.

 

[bigD]

I was looking at AFCT's web site and noticed that part of the 19K package was being an instructor for 8 months or so after you get your MEI. Is this a paid position? Someone alluded to "5 bucks per hour" many posts back, but I wasn't sure if he was being serious or not...

 

[FlyinBrian]

The poster who said $5/hr. was being totally serious. Last I knew, that was their wage. It was a $5/hr increase from the previous wage.

 

[bigD]

Wow - 5 bucks huh? That's pretty hard core. Do they sign a contract to instruct or something? I'd think that many would jump ship and instruct somewhere else for triple or quadruple the money.

 

[AZaviator]

$5/hr

I don't believe a contract is required to instruct at AFCT. The low pay for the CFIs is how they can rent out Apaches at $110/hr including the CFI. To the best of my knowledge, there isn't another flight school that pays its instructors this low, nor should there be. Myself, along with most other CFIs on this message board probably earn more flying 1.5 hours with a student, than a CFI at AFCT earns in one day. I'm not trying to brag or anything like that, just merely pointing out some facts.

Go ahead and flame away if you need to. I could care less.
The flames on this post are actually quite entertaining.

 

[bobbysamd]

Minimum wage

$5/hour isn't even minimum wage. See, e.g., http://www.dol.gov/esa/minwage/q-a.htm

I've been reading this discussion with interest. Of course, I am so sorry for the folks that died in the accident. Just am wondering if there is a website to this place.

Thanks in advance for all responses.

 

[bigD]

Here you go:

http://www.acceleratedflight.com/

 

[Flint]

I love the email address given on the web site. AFCT's electronic business communications is based on free web mail, (hotmail). That is classic. That is pretty low budget.

 

[FlyinBrian]

Unfortunately, Flight instructors are schedule sensitive employees and are exempt from FLSA.

These instructors have spent their hard earned money and time developing and honing a very special set of skills that they then turn around and sell for less than a Taco folder at Taco Bell. They justify this because the time they build is virtually 100% multi-engine. They don't seem to mind cheapening the profession to get ahead. This is the basis of my admittedly rude "Pilot-whore training bordello" comment earlier in this thead. I find this tremendously unprofessional behavior.

 

[weekendwarrior]

Funny, their website is not currently working. Wonder if the coward took it down?

 

[Goffer]

The page is loading just fine.

 

[weekendwarrior]

Oh ok. It's working fine now. It wasn't earlier. Probably once the URL was posted it crashed from so many people going to see it!

 

[Chunk]

Watch the reaction on this one....

Ask Stu (owner of accelerated) which side of the picket line he was on when he worked at EAL?

When a coupla guys criticized (legitimately) his school, he threatened them that he'd make sure they never got a job!

Real class act.

Chunk

 

[Flint]

Poor old Jerry Bloom has his hands full with all the work needed to keep'em in the air. Hope he doesn't take the fall for Stu...

 

[172driver]

The idea of three people logging multi PIC time on a single flight is repulsive to me.

1. Questionably legal
2. Definitely against the spirit of the regs
3. Not good experience...might as well be pencil-whipped
4. Unprofessional
5. Unsafe

How many of you MEI's out there would want to sit in the back seat with a couple of 40 hr pilots in the front during a routine flight, not to mention an emergency? I would be pretty sketchy about it in a single but wouldn't even think about it on a twin training flight. Do they practice engine-out ops with the CFI in the back? 'Watch this dude...this is what Vmc really looks like.'
'Oops, feathered the wrong one again.'

I feel extremely sorry for the three lives lost and the grief of their family and friends. I do not know the circumstances of the crash. Maybe the front seat pilots responded appropriately to the emergency, maybe not. Had the CFI been in the front seat, I would be much more likely to believe it. I hesitate to blame the CFI for sitting in the back because that is the way she was trained. Most of us trained in the real world (not a pilot whore bordello) would never dream of sitting in the back with two students up front. Why even go along at all?

How many of you low-time students out there would like to fly a twin with your MEI in the back? If so, you probably haven't been in an airplane when the s**t hit the fan.

Some of you airline guys...do your companies hire these yahoos? As far as I'm concerned, they're trying to circumvent the system by paying only 1/3 of their dues. I'm all for saving money but flight time in the logbook doesn't necessarily equate to experience, as I'm sure you know. Do your airlines consider back seat time as flight time?

BTW, didn't ATA (the school) lose their 141 certificate for this very issue? Maybe the Orlando FSDO isn't so kind in their interpretation of the regs.