My experiences at Ari Ben

[IFollowRoads]

Bottom line ladies and germs, if you think something is wrong with any outfit you can contact the FSDO. They'll go out there and have a look.

But I'm sure Ari Ben is already getting drop in inspections by the FSDO staff. All the flight schools around these parts do. And I can say with complete confidence that Ari Ben is required to operate a legitimate and safe operation or they would be shut down until they comform to standards. Or they will be finished. Simple as that.

You might have learned to fly in a G1000 172, got your commercial in a Entegra Arrow, and your multi in a brand new Seminole somwhere. Will an Ari Ben aircraft be a bit of culture shock to you? Yes, definately. But since I got my multi in an old Aztec D I'd probably feel right at home. I never flew anything that had matching avionics until the first King Air I sat in.

Keep in mind that there are processes in place to address safety issues with the feds. And remember that your first step in the process isn't to jump on FI and female dog about it. Sack up and call the FSDO. Then keep your yap shut about it as things take the natural course. If you think it's so unsafe you owe it to the rest of the people who fly there.

And my rib at Gulfstream was good natured, I've talked with Russian about street captain before

 

[dcramer16]

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!

 

[dcramer16]

In response to a private message I recieved asking why I didn't start a daily diary about the place I am at now and accusing me of only posting the negative things about flight schools, and not the positives:

If I started a daily diary about the place I am at now, it would look a little like this.

Day 1
Got to fly today

Day 2
Got to fly today

Day 3
Got to fly today

Day 4
Got to fly today

Ya get the picture.

And thats not all I have to say about the subject.
The last flight school I was at, the planes worked everytime. I was so busy flying I didn't have time to start a daily diary. With Ari Ben, and all the time I spent sitting on the ground, I had plenty of time to start a daily diary.

I wish I would have had time to start a daily diary at my first flight school. I had a great experience there, and would have been glad to share it with people.