mutil time at ari-ben

[cforst513]

does this sound right/accurate to you guys?

at ari-ben in fort pierce, FL, they take 3 or 4 guys up in a duchess, and the guys in front log multi time, but even the guys in the backseat, who are just passengers, are logging time too. it was explained to me this way, which sounds cheap/illegal/like cheating. was this assessment of ari-ben accurate? is this how they operate?

 

[HMR]

Last year, I ran into two guys from a well known school that flies Seminoles back and forth across the country. The deal is, one guy wears a hood and they both log PIC under "safety pilot" rules. Fair enough. Problem was, they didn't have a hood and had just flown from Florida to the west coast VFR and both logged it PIC (neither was an MEI).

I met another group that was flying an old Seneca from Seattle-San Diego-Miami-Seattle. There were three guys on board splitting the expenses. The guy in the left seat was logging PIC time "under the hood", the guy in the right seat was logging PIC as "safety pilot", the guy in back was logging PIC because he was an MEI. These guys were bragging to me about how they were "working the system" (BTW-no hood on board).

I'm very fortunate to have a great PT91 job and probably shouldn't care what these guys are doing but I busted my butt as an MEI to get 500hrs in the Duchess and the experience proved invaluable. These guys are cheating themselves.

 

[cforst513]

how did you get your 500 hrs in a duchess? just through instructing?

i have heard/read that a lot of employers will deduct the safety pilot time from total PIC time since essentially all you did was go along for a ride. i wonder if this is problematic to a lot of the ari-ben people. the way i hear it goes is you pay $6,500 for a 100hr block of time, but 50 are actual PIC time and the other 50 are safety pilot time. that sucks, i think.

 

[PC12Cowboy]

nope only two guys in the plane and one is a safety pilot the other is hoodin it...I'm a MEI so I was helping the new instrument pilots learn real world IFR...its a good program and the house's are good

 

[HMR]

I paid for the first 10-15hrs to get my CMEL & MEI. The rest was all dual given.

I don't think the safety pilot time is going to get you into trouble. It is legal if done legally.

FWIW-I took a gamble getting my MEI. I heard the usual stories about how impossible it was to get multi time. I got my first multi student within a month of starting my CFI job. A little over a year later I had 500hrs Multi PIC. I went straight from the Duchess into a King Air 200, single pilot. The things I learned as an MEI made the transition into the -200 easy (it's a big Duchess).

Remember, it's always better to build experience than just "build time".

Good Luck!

 

[wingnutt]

no, thats not how they operate. call em instead of relying on the brother's cousin's next-of-kin's grandson information loop.


1-800-635-9032
http://www.aribenaviator.com/

 

[CUEBOAT]

does this sound right/accurate to you guys?

at ari-ben in fort pierce, FL, they take 3 or 4 guys up in a duchess, and the guys in front log multi time, but even the guys in the backseat, who are just passengers, are logging time too. it was explained to me this way, which sounds cheap/illegal/like cheating. was this assessment of ari-ben accurate? is this how they operate?

Who told you this? It is a safety pilot operation which is totally legal. Good old Ariben its not glamorous but definatley a fun place to work. Pay wasnt too bad either. Considering cost of living in Ft.pierce.