little venting........

[dingo222]

Don't laugh, I can't talk anything aviation with my wife either.

She doesn't get it, doesn't want to, and that's just life.

God, isn't that the truth.

 

[Caveman]

LearLove:
today I went to rent the same c-152 that I've rented since 1990. I've maybe flown 200 hours in that plane over the years, I was also a line guy and instructed at this FBO over the years.

It was the usual flight around the hometown and a few landings. 0.6 on the hobbs. Land, pay the bill (debit card) then BS with the fellow bums for awhile then it was home to watch the games. A few minutes ago I look at my bill to put the balance in my checkbook and see I was charged 0.15 for a "reservation min fee". I've never seen this before. I've done plenty of 0.5 (or less) flights in college when i could only scrape 25-30 bucks together for some flight time. No notification of any changed policy either.

Guess 16 plus years of bussiness doesn't make someone a valued customer anymore.

I think I just figured it out. LearLove, Lear70.....Coincidence? I think not. I've gone back to places where I use to work or ran the joint and never expected any special treatment. What makes me different from any other customer. I go to give back. To help give that struggling instructor an hour of flight time and 25 bucks. If you don't want to pay for renting an airplane or pay to meet the FBO's legal insurance requirements, then don't rent. If an extra .5 hours of a rental fee is that important, maybe you need to rethink your financial position and start putting more money in the bank.

If an FBO needs the .5 so badly they have to check out a former employee maybe they need to rethink their financial position. If I went back to the flight school where I was employed I fully expect to be able to rent without having to get checked out. I already got checked out to the tune of about $15 grand. If I'm not current or haven't flown GA in a while and need a babysitter that should be my call, not theirs.

 

[Caveman]

And what, Sir, makes you think you DIDN'T need a check out? Most places I have flown at require a checkout if you haven't flown 'THEIR' planes withing the last 90 days or so. To make you feel 'not so ABOVE others', we had a NWA DC-10 captain in 2001 who wanted to rent a 152, but he was more than happy to go on a check out ride.

Get off your high horse!

A billing dispute is something else, a check-out ride is a different scenario.

Bunny

That's because your a chick and a rookie one at that. "Most places"....what is that? Two, three? Every line pilot I know says that if they ever take the time to go fly a GA a/c they would have to take a CFI with them for a few turns in the pattern. I'm betting every one of them would also resent having to get 'checked out' based only on the fact they haven't flown at a particular FBO in a while.

 

[Lear70]

And what, Sir, makes you think you DIDN'T need a check out? Most places I have flown at require a checkout if you haven't flown 'THEIR' planes withing the last 90 days or so. To make you feel 'not so ABOVE others', we had a NWA DC-10 captain in 2001 who wanted to rent a 152, but he was more than happy to go on a check out ride.

Get off your high horse!

A billing dispute is something else, a check-out ride is a different scenario.

Bunny

High horse? This doesn't have anything to do with a high horse, Miss "I'm not really a commercial pilot, I'm actually a mathematician... no wait, I'm a physics researcher,,, no wait,,, I'm a grad student whose private pilot instructor told her about this board..."

So what are you today? Your posts border on the inane and, since you lack ANY experience in this industry, I think you know what you can do with your opinion.

I think I just figured it out. LearLove, Lear70.....Coincidence? I think not.

And what are you implying, sir?

I've gone back to places where I use to work or ran the joint and never expected any special treatment. What makes me different from any other customer. I go to give back.

That's nice. I go to fly a small airplane for fun because I want to take my wife/daughter/kids at church who are interested in flying.

Nothing makes me different than any other INSTRUCTOR who worked there. None of us should have to go through "check-out" flights after having given hundreds or, in some cases in the early 90's, thousands of hours of instruction in that exact aircraft.

That's simply assinine.

To help give that struggling instructor an hour of flight time and 25 bucks.

Good for you. That's your prerogative. To tell me that I should HAVE to do the same thing is EXTREMELY presumptuous. It's none of your business.

Secondly, an hour of dual is running about $150 bucks right now including the aircraft, not $25, but the money isn't the issue, it's the instructors and/or FBO owner trying to take advantage of an airline pilot. Screw that.

If you don't want to pay for renting an airplane or pay to meet the FBO's legal insurance requirements, then don't rent.

Wrong. And, in my case, the owner agreed.

If an extra .5 hours of a rental fee is that important, maybe you need to rethink your financial position and start putting more money in the bank.

What I have or don't have in the bank is none of your business, and I'm doing just fine, thankyouverymuch. Maybe not NWA DC-10 CA fine, but enough to go play around once or twice a year in a Cessna-beater.

How I SPEND my money is ALSO none of your business. Don't turn this thread into what it's NOT. I never said I didn't have the cash to pay, I said I didn't believe it proper to force a guy who flies every 6 months or so to "checkout".

Now if you haven't touched a single-engine airplane in 2 or 3 years then, as Caveman said, you owe it to yourself to grab the instructor and go do some stalls and your 3/3 as well as at least one instrument approach if you're gonna take it cross-country or in IMC.

But, as Caveman said, exactly how much time should be up to the individual pilot, not the FBO who is there to profit off any hour they can get.

As a 7,000+ hour pilot I'm in a much better professional frame of mind to know what I need to feel competent and comfortable versus a 300 hour instructor. Let him make his money off people learning to fly.

Talk about the blind leading the blind...

 

[PropPiedmont]

............ It's none of your business........

......What I have or don't have in the bank is none of your business.............

.....How I SPEND my money is ALSO none of your business. ...............

As a 7,000+ hour pilot I'm in a much better professional frame of mind to know what I need to feel competent and comfortable versus a 300 hour instructor. Let him make his money off people learning to fly.

Talk about the blind leading the blind...

Think you just hit the nail on the head. If it's none of my business then I'm sure it's no one elses' business. So why make post like that on here if it is no ones business? I have a lot of personal issues too. Instead of sharing them with the entire world and then telling them it's none of their business, I choose not to share.

Wow, 7,000+ hour pilot, you are professional. Just remember that line in the future when you break 25,000 hours. I'm sure you'll look at a 7,000 hour pilot how you look at a 300 hour pilot now.

But then again, your flight time is none of my business.

 

[Lear70]

Think you just hit the nail on the head. If it's none of my business then I'm sure it's no one elses' business. So why make post like that on here if it is no ones business? I have a lot of personal issues too. Instead of sharing them with the entire world and then telling them it's none of their business, I choose not to share.

Wow, 7,000+ hour pilot, you are professional. Just remember that line in the future when you break 25,000 hours. I'm sure you'll look at a 7,000 hour pilot how you look at a 300 hour pilot now.

But then again, your flight time is none of my business.

I didn't make a post like that.

You did. You turned a post about a flight school / FBO trying to screw people for extra money and made it about whether or not I was managing my income correctly.

I stand by my statement, that's none of your business and has nothing to do with the original thread.

If you want to debate the merits of requiring a checkout or something that has ANYTHING to do with the original thread, feel free, but leave the personal attacks about my money management out of it.

THAT'S called "being professional". Look it up.

 

[Crossky]

Nothing makes me different than any other INSTRUCTOR who worked there. None of us should have to go through "check-out" flights after having given hundreds or, in some cases in the early 90's, thousands of hours of instruction in that exact aircraft.

That's simply assinine.

Secondly, an hour of dual is running about $150 bucks right now including the aircraft, not $25, but the money isn't the issue, it's the instructors and/or FBO owner trying to take advantage of an airline pilot. Screw that.

I never said I didn't have the cash to pay, I said I didn't believe it proper to force a guy who flies every 6 months or so to "checkout".

Now if you haven't touched a single-engine airplane in 2 or 3 years then, as Caveman said, you owe it to yourself to grab the instructor and go do some stalls and your 3/3 as well as at least one instrument approach if you're gonna take it cross-country or in IMC.

As a 7,000+ hour pilot I'm in a much better professional frame of mind to know what I need to feel competent and comfortable versus a 300 hour instructor. Let him make his money off people learning to fly.

I'm not current in SEL pistons, I presume you are according to your comments?

Maybe it's just me but I'm a 6,179.5 hr pilot and I would expect a check out to be required. I wouldn't be comfortable kicking the tires and lighting the fires (spark plugs) without a checkout. I've flown a cherokee once with a friend in 2005, after cancelling it the first time cause the gusts were in excess of the max demo xw comp. Before that the last time I touched a cessna etc was spring 2000.

You also gotta consider the insurance requirements, it's the dam lawyers and all that! Even if you were current flying SEL A/C from other locations they may still require it. I think it's more about the FBO covering their a$$es than gouging you.

 

[Lear70]

You also gotta consider the insurance requirements, it's the dam lawyers and all that! Even if you were current flying SEL A/C from other locations they may still require it. I think it's more about the FBO covering their a$$es than gouging you.

That's a very good argument, and is quite possible.

Yeah, I fly about once every 6-9 months, not quite 90 days current but if I have to carry people I go up, do a few bounces, then come by and pick everyone up and go.

I wouldn't even mind the .5 with an instructor, if they'd leave it at doing my 3 in 3, but the last time there was this NooB working by himself who wanted to go out and do a full checkride type of thing and the owner about chewed the guy's head off over it.

Just rubbed me the wrong way and the original thread got me thinking about it.

I also use this forum to vent, feels good sometimes, then I go to work all happy and relaxed.

There, I feel better. Hope everyone has a good one.

 

[LearLove]

just swung by the FBO and asked about the charge. it was a mistake. account credited, situation normal, all is well in learlove land.

return to the reg. sked program of mesa /gojet bashing.

and no lear70 and myself are not the same.

 

[Crossky]

Yeah, I fly about once every 6-9 months, not quite 90 days current but if I have to carry people I go up, do a few bounces, then come by and pick everyone up and go.

I wouldn't even mind the .5 with an instructor, if they'd leave it at doing my 3 in 3, but the last time there was this NooB working by himself who wanted to go out and do a full checkride type of thing and the owner about chewed the guy's head off over it.

In that case, I totally agree, if you've been checked out or have flown at that place within the last year or so, it's improper to be asked to check out again, especially if you have lots of experience.

Didn't mean to add fuel to the fire. Take care.

 

[sleddriver77]

What chaps my a$$ these days in regard to renting a spam-can is the COST of the rental checkout. Sure, I understand why the insurance companies require a checkout, and I can recall (as a young instructor) flying Most Honorable ChickenHawk with a "jet guy" or two from the airlines/military. The first half hour and first couple landings were not usually very pretty. If I were to rent an airplane today, I'm just looking to go putz around the local airports, do touch and goes, and look out the window. (Daddy ain't lookin' to build time, here.) SO WHY IN GOD'S NAME DO I NEED A 10 HOUR RENTAL CHECKOUT FOR A FRIGGIN' SKYHAWK??? These goofy new airplanes, with all the glass and crap you just don't need in a piston single has driven the cost for the occasional renter thru the roof!!! I don't wanna take the time to learn the various "avionics suites" in all the different GA airplanes; I have enough trouble with the one I have to deal with at work!! At least here near me, it is almost impossible to find an "old school" piper/cessna to rent without joining a flying club or driving WAAAAAAY out of town. I can't wait to finish my homebuilt, which may not have an electrical system PERIOD, let alone "glass" in it.

 

[JediNein]

In that case, I totally agree, if you've been checked out or have flown at that place within the last year or so, it's improper to be asked to check out again, especially if you have lots of experience.

You're not paying my insurance policy. You're not facing my risk. You aren't going to be blackballed from ever getting aviation insurance again if you ding my airplane.

The day after a flight school changed hands, the previous owner and I were up doing his insurance-required checkout flight. It wasn't his policy anymore, it was and is mine. Neither of us cared that both of us had flown that same airplane the day before. We aren't risking an insurancy policy over 1.5 hours of flight time.

If one doesn't want to comply with the flight school's procedures and policies, there are plenty of other flight schools and rental outfits out there. Go knock yourself out.

 

[Deerkiller]

If an FBO needs the .5 so badly they have to check out a former employee maybe they need to rethink their financial position. If I went back to the flight school where I was employed I fully expect to be able to rent without having to get checked out. I already got checked out to the tune of about $15 grand. If I'm not current or haven't flown GA in a while and need a babysitter that should be my call, not theirs.

It's called an insurance requirement you moron. Stop being so high and mighty and do your checkout. You are now the guy all the CFIs make fun of when you leave...congrats.

 

[Lear70]

You are now the guy all the CFIs make fun of when you leave...congrats.

Unlikely.

No one ever made fun of the major airline pilots or major players for the charter or corporate gigs on the field.

Ever.

Stuff like that comes back around and bites you in the butt when you're finally looking to move up and on.

Sounds like you've forgotten how the game works.

 

[siucavflight]

It's called an insurance requirement you moron. Stop being so high and mighty and do your checkout. You are now the guy all the CFIs make fun of when you leave...congrats.

I doubt it, most CFI's know how to advance in this industry. Any time that I had a major, regional, corporate airline pilot come in to the flight school I was working at, I would do as much talking to, and helping them out as possible. I would tell them what I wanted to do in the industry, give them a resume, and in turn they would usually give me their business card, and tell me to call if there was ever anything they could do for me.
If you want to make fun of this guy then fine. But I gaurntee you the rest of the guys in the school were not laughing.