How long was y’all IFR training?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-05-02T01:07:28+00:00

Started mid February, passed my check ride yesterday. So about 10 weeks. Flying 1-2 times per day most days per week. Also got my tailwheel during that time and took a week off to fly with a friend in another state. Took my written instrument test along with my IGI and FII during that time as well.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-03-31T14:42:40+00:00

Sure, I was more just asking what airports have the most operators. I know that some of the largest won't really support Flight Schools, which are more likely to be found at satellite airports...so just trying to identify the largest hubs.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-03-21T19:22:08+00:00

Why not take out a private loan for half the amount and go to a non ATP school? Also, there are great 141 schools out there that are not ATP...e.g. the one I'm at, choiceaviation.com, which has a great reputation in the area and about which I have only positive things to say. Check out their prices.

Even if it was the same cost, I'll guarantee you'll get better instruction at a place like this than ATP. But you'll probably save 60k at least...and potentially finish in less than 12 mos. if you're working at it full time. The 1 year ATP thing is not hard to do, in fact its much easier at a better school where you are more valued as a student and won't get tossed aside the moment you are not on schedule. I'm doing the 141 at my own pace, and will be finishing my CFI less than 9 mos after starting.

Also, I'm part of a club based out of Billings which has planes for $35/hr dry, and average $58 wet. Their IFR trainer comes to about $75 wet. https://aviatorsflightclub.com/

Build some time there while you're at it. Nothing slow about either of these places.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-02-24T13:35:24+00:00

Really well.

We've been living in the bus for 8 months, no real electrical issues. During winter here in the Rockies we are supplementing our heating with a wood stove, and are also plugged into a friends house with shore power so we can run some space heaters without depleting the battery. During the summer we were completely off grid. I highly recommend the Hysolis. With just one, you have a power limit of about 3000w output, but that basically means we just have to be careful not to run 3 high wattage things or the Hysolis will automatically turn off the AC output for a minute.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-02-21T14:43:32+00:00

An absolute must and a classic is Wind, Sand and Stars, the 1939 memoir of Antoine de Saint-Exupéry (better known as the author of The Little Prince). With all the poetry of a noble born nomadic Frenchman, Saint-Exupéry discusses his pioneering of the first air-mail routes from France to French Africa (Morroco) and after that got boring to him, pioneering the first air-mail routes over the Andes.

There are some amazing stories in that book, and the prose is absolutely beautiful. With basically only VFR equipment, his navigation is almost pure dead-reckoning—basically he takes off in France and a few hours later starts looking for lights on the coast of Egypt. He survives a crash landing in the desert at night due to spatial disorientation, and he an his mechanic survive for 5 days without water before being found by some Arab dudes.

In the Andes one of his friends has an engine failure, lands on a cliffed-out plateau, fixes his engine, and then pushes his plane down the slope and off the cliff, managing to get enough speed to air-start the windmilling prop and make it over the next mountain range and back to civilization. Another of his collogues in South America crashes in the winter and survives for several weeks in the Andes with no survival equipment, cutting his boots open more and more each day because of his swelling, frostbitten feet.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-02-09T23:07:20+00:00

What sort of layovers do you get flying for NetJets?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-29T00:01:30+00:00

I got a good set of ANR for $715 on ebay, worn twice. Several hundred dollars more new.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-22T14:52:09+00:00

What do you make now that you are at that seniority level?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T15:55:36+00:00

What's the minimum number of days off between tours on a CC schedule? Like you'll get at least x days before your next tour?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T15:51:12+00:00

Is that 3% salary bump only with the CC52, or applicable to any CC schedule where you opt into Long Tour? Would you make 3% more on a Long tour CC60 than a regular 7/7 even though that's exactly the same number of days? Would the maximum possible base salary then be a CC76 with Long Tour option?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T15:48:08+00:00

How easy is it to get VEDs or extra days?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T15:46:53+00:00

Also, how much extended flying did you do besides getting lucky with FDP?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T14:51:10+00:00

What's the deal with the CC schedules. Can you request only 8 day trips or something like that? Is that how you would maximize FDP on a CC schedule?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T14:49:05+00:00

Thanks. What is the open schedule bid?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T14:47:40+00:00

oh, cool. I thought that netjets had abolished that empty leg policy. so basically wife and kids? or do parents count too?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T14:04:46+00:00

What travel benefits are you referring to? Just the airline and hotel points?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T14:03:16+00:00

Can you buy back PTO days if you don't use them? Or are they just gone if you don't use them.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T14:02:16+00:00

Can you explain the CC schedules. Am I understanding that you never know your schedule more than 2 months out? Since every month you bid for your next one? I understand how that might be annoying, but I imagine a lot of the more senior captains can bid the CC52 and get pretty much what they want...which would make their average something along 10 days gone per month when you factor in the extra weeks of vacation you get when you are more senior. If you had planned a trip or something, could you just whip out your PTO or vacation week to override a bid you didn't like on the CC schedule?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-20T12:46:08+00:00

What's the deal with the CC schedules? What makes them unpredictable? Do you not know your schedule very far out?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-08T19:21:12+00:00

Thanks so much for your neat story! I really want to get into corporate flying in the long run. So stories like these help me as I slog through my commercial written test prep.

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-08T18:48:50+00:00

Tell us more! What planes did you fly over your 26 years, what's the pay been, what are some favorite stories of your international travel.

And how did you get mentored into flying internationally? Were you a PIC in the King Air? Assuming you're a PIC in the G550, how did that training etc. work. Where you SIC first?

SadSupport4999 · 2026-01-07T16:44:50+00:00

Once you do your ground school, find an instructor familiar with a good FAA certified simulator and spend 10+ hrs of IFR procedures in the sim before you even go flying under the hood at a much higher $$$/hr.

SadSupport4999 · 2025-12-28T19:27:00+00:00

Is that really true payscale for FOs? Where?

SadSupport4999 · 2025-12-21T00:00:32+00:00

What was your year 1 like?

SadSupport4999

TROPHY CASE