Wow! It's been over a month since I viewed this thread. I had forgotten all about it till I got a private message today about it.
Since this time I have been time building somewhere else. Because I am not about "blasting" one school and promoting another, I will not mention the name. I have done just about 200 hours in the last month (one of the reasons I forgot about this thread, just too busy). In the last 200 hours, I haven't even come close to having the experiences I had at Ari Ben. It cost me a bit more (and not much) but as it's been said already, you get what you pay for.
As I said in the past, I'm sure some people have had a great time at Ari Ben, thats great, I wish I would have too.
To respond to the comment made that I'm not a good pilot and I complain to cover that up, I did all my other training at another flight school, and didn't have ONE SINGLE NEGATIVE THING TO SAY ABOUT THEM. So did I all of a sudden become a crappy pilot from the time I graduated flight school and went to Ari Ben? Not likely.
To Ryan, concerning the conversations we had about systems, I did appreciate that, and I enjoyed flying with you, sorry you had such a tough time "putting up with me".
About the student I was flying with who grabbed the controls. It was an approach in to Craig, and there was nothing wrong with my approach, as it was said, he was a CFI and probably used to grabbing the controls out of instinct. Since my Ari Ben days, I have done 4 approaches (at the controls) down to bare minimums with gusting winds, and another student with me, and he never felt the need to grab the controls.
The place I'm at right now is the third flight school I've been too. The first I got my training at. The second was Ari Ben. This third is where I'm doing time building. Out of the three, Ari Ben has been the only one who basically lied about their opperation. The only one where I had a negative enough experience I decided to post about it. The only one where I felt my safety was compromised. The only one where I only got 20 flight hours done in two weeks because of maintenance issues.
As someone else earlier pointed out, I didn't say anything libelous. I knew that Ari Ben would eventually see this post so I reported it exactly how I saw it. Maybe my opinion was off, maybe it wasn't, but I reported on it honestly, the way I saw it.
As someone said earlier, I probably could have handled it better, and done more to make my experience positive. But I didn't think at the time, and I still don't think there was much, if anything, I could have done to make it more positive.
Again, as someone said earlier, lots of people start daily diarys about the school they are attending. So what.
I'm sure you build lots of great experience flying at Ari Ben. Lots of experience troubleshooting, lots of experience dealing with equipment failures. Thats great to a point. I don't think I need a daily emergency (yes, exaggerated, but you get the point) to become a better pilot. I don't expect brand new equipment, with leather seats, and a red carpet to roll out when I land. But I would like something that will work more than 25% of the time. As I said early on in my post, with the 220 hours I flew at my first flight school I only had one maintenance issue. And those planes got the heck flown out of them too, they were'nt brand new, but they were maintained that way. The place I am at now has the heck flown out of the planes, they aren't brand new, but they are maintained that way. Ari Bens planes get the heck flown out of them, they aren't brand new, and you can tell!
I don't have the time, energy, or desire to respond to everyone that said something "not so nice" about me, but I am glad to hear that I am not the only one who had this kind of experience. I'm also glad that people have had a positive experience there. Learning to fly costs a crap load of money, and if someone can get it for the low low rates they charge at Ari Ben and have a great experience, then I am happy for them.
Thats all I can think of right now, thanks for the comments!
