My experiences at Ari Ben

[epic!]

thanks for taking one for the team here, im in the market for some good time building and saw ari ben. ill think ill save some money (and my life for that matter) and go somewhere more reputable, any ideas of where to go?

 

[Amish RakeFight]

The cost of sharing the time under the same arrangement that Ari-Ben has can be accomplished locally. Find someone who needs 100 hrs. too and go split the costs. For what it costs to fly down to Ari-Ben, pay for lodging and food, including paying for an apt. back home you're not even living in, the cost for the ME time will come out to about the same.

 

[135fr8r]

Who is Mary? I take it T.J. isn't there anymore? She was the posterchild for lots of words.

 

[Lazy8]

i've said it once and i'll say it again... you get what you pay for.

people in search of the cheapest training/equipment will get just that.

 

[dcramer16]

Day 11

Hello again! Thanks for the replys. Just another update. The bosses at Ari Ben found out about this thread, and I have been kicked out. I got a refund for the hours I paid for that I didn't fly and thats it. To tell the truth, I am kinda thankful that I'm out of there. Someone will get killed someday, mark my words. They called me today and said since I wasn't very happy there I could get a refund for the hours I didn't fly, and be on my way. I took it and ran. I have 240TT and 140ME so for the price I paid for the time building $80/hour and it being safety pilot time, I will just rent a 172 for that price and get up to 500TT. Any thoughts on this guys.

Ari Ben was ticked because I "blasted" them on the internet. I didn't blast them. Everything I said on this page is true. Did I once say "Don't go here", did I once say "This school sucks"? No. I reported my side of the story and everything I went through. I reported the truth, I reported the facts according to me. You make up your own mind whether you want to come here or not. You don't need me to tell you what to do.

So I maintain my innocence. I didn't "blast" them. If they pulled there sh*t together I wouldn't have anything to complain about.

Now that I am done with this school let me go on to say I went to school with ATP. The whole time I was there I never had a single reason to say a negative thing about them. There program, people, planes, everything are WONDERFUL.

So I am not going to tell you NOT to go to Ari Ben, I'm just going to tell you that you should go to ATP...LOL

 

[135pilot]

dcramer16, thanks for the update, what you have done, i.e telling us about your experience at Ari Ben per the time building program is a blessing to so many who are surfing this site now and in future looking for time building programs. Have no shame for you have done what many cannot do and will not do for their fellow pilots. Thank you for saving us unwanted headaches, we have enough to deal with just training to be a pilot.

 

[dcramer16]

135, thanks for your post. Again, I am not telling people NOT to go to Ari Ben. I am just reporting on the experience I have had with them. Some people may say it's all BS and I'm just upset. Thats ok. If my post at least helps one, just one other person out there make the right decision, it's worth people calling me names. It hasn't happened here, but another forum I've posted at, it has. In the other forums, it has turned to "well, I just can't believe you would want to cut corners and time build, serves you right, if it even is true what you say happened to you"...lol But, thats alright. Thanks for the post.

 

[dcramer16]

Taking one for the team

thanks for taking one for the team here

boy did I ever! LOL
I'll probably be lucky if I don't get suied. You won't believe the $hit storm this post has caused on jetcareers.com

Thats ok, I'm up to my arse in flight training dept. At this time I only have $50 to my name!LOL

 

[Princedietrich]

Well cramer, at least you got out of there with your money back and your skin intact.

You've got over 100 multi, so that'll be good to get you in the door with several career opportunities later on. best bet at this point in terms of time building would be one of two options.

1. Get CFI rated (if you're not already) and start bouncing yourself off the runway until your fillings come out.

2. Plunk down with a flying club or a rental outfit and get a bunch of time in a cheap single. Then just go flying cross country wherever you feel like going.

You're at the point now where XC time and night time are going to be absolute gold to you. Make a definite effort to build up those sub-minimums for 135: the 500 xc, the 100 night, and the 75 ifr. The 1200 TT will take care of itself. Of course, with that 100 multi you've also kicked the doors to the regionals wide open if you want to go that route. Since you mentioned a goal of 500 TT it sounds like that's your plan.

Anyways, whatever you plan on doing, best of luck to you. :beer:

 

[MarineGrunt]

disregard - it's been said already.