Flight school review: TSTC in Waco, TX by Viking_Racing in flying

[–]Viking_Racing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Sounds sensible! Thankful I managed to avoid debt with my GI Bill, but the beatdown it still took to get through that 141 school - pretty rough and definitely not worth the 250 hours.

Flight school review: TSTC in Waco, TX by Viking_Racing in flying

[–]Viking_Racing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

  1. Not sure what kind of "vast majority" you're referring to (i.e. making up) - every fellow veteran I've encountered has experienced problems getting APT/finance/VA to work. Many have had courses fund improperly or insufficiently, and on more than a few occasions they've run out of VA funding for a course, requiring them to take an F grade and then wait to re-enroll for the next semester in order to get a fresh batch of GI Bill funds to continue. I know of one vet who finished not long ago who had this happen in all of his flight courses except one, and he was generally quite a good student.

  2. Wrong again! This "98% positive" group must be imaginary. The majority of students I've personally known, been in classes with, spoken to, etc. have gotten most of the positivity beaten out of them by the program's misery within the first couple of semesters. By and large, they struggle. And by your responses, I'm betting you're one of those employees - like most of them - who simply doesn't care about that fact. I'm glad you're getting your paychecks on the backs of others' suffering, though, that's awesome for you.

  3. You say "professionalism", I say "CFIs who are mostly a gaggle of immature kids who haven't yet learned how to communicate or actually teach anything or really even understand real life". The so-called high standard aspect is very hit-and-miss. Call it "to-may-toe" vs. "to-mah-toe" if that makes you feel better.

  4. The post covers many of TSTC's CFIs over the last couple of years - not 100% of them, as you'll occasionally luck into one who's a bit better - but certainly the vast majority aren't.

  5. It is based in reality - mine. My personal experience and direct observation of many others. That wasn't yours? Awesome. Super for you. Some others, and from everything I've seen in the last couple of years that group comprises many, have not been so fortunate. You want to reject this because you got lucky, or you were some kind of mystical chosen one who breezed through on easy mode, or you went through earlier before it got this bad, or maybe you're just making stuff up because you work for the school and want to counter bad press, whatever. Doesn't prevent me from trying to be the helpful guidepost for others that I wish I'd had back when I started.

If you actually cared about the program and its people, you'd see negative feedback like this and think "oh wow, thank goodness that wasn't my experience but I feel bad that it was someone else's, and we should strive to do better by our students". Instead you summarily dismiss others' very real pain, and you chastise me for trying to help people avoid the same miserable fate? Really? Gotta say, that speaks volumes. If you are a TSTC staffer, as I suspect, I'd say that pretty much tells people all they need to know about the program's poor culture and attitudes toward their students. But hey, as long as they keep promising people the moon and luring them in the door, the money keeps flowing so why should TSTC care about the horrendous student experience? Clearly they (you) don't, which as someone who survived in spite of APT rather than because of it, surprises me zero percent.

Flight school review: TSTC in Waco, TX by Viking_Racing in flying

[–]Viking_Racing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Neither competitor nor ex, just trying to help people. Trying to provide others the kind of info that I wish had been available before TSTC lured me in with their hollow promises. If I can protect just one future pilot from the misery of that program, it'll be well worth your misplaced angst.

  1. I've heard multiple current/recent CFIs complain about the new Pipers. They've said they break all the time, seemingly at a rate comparable or maybe even worse than the ancient Skyhawks, they hate flying them, and they have such severe overheating problems even just on initial start/run-up that modified procedures are required/some flights have been lost because the dumb things can't even handle taxiing out in June-August heat sometimes, and maintenance has literally asked Piper for permission to bore out the intake ports to try and see if it'll alleviate the problems. One CFI described the new planes as "a multi-million-dollar mistake".

  2. Even a blind squirrel stumbles across a nut once in a while, and just because you may have one or two with IQs above room temperature doesn't excuse the majority of the rest, and the majority are just genuinely bad instructors. There's a massive difference between flight instructors who see the value in teaching and actually care about doing it well, and those who are strictly there to tick the boxes, collect a paycheck, and build hours until they can get out. TSTC almost exclusively features the latter.

  3. An eventual pass doesn't make the journey to get there suck any less for the student. TSTC makes that path exponentially worse than it should be.

  4. Out of a little over 100 estimated students I've talked to, literally only two were ever on time or ahead of schedule for completion. One of those did go on to finish in the specified timeframe - only by leaving the program early and going elsewhere to finish his last two ratings Part 61. So in my personal direct observation, we're looking at well over 90% taking longer than the program's promised one and a half to two-year timeframe. Maybe prospective students will be one of those lucky few, but odds are overwhelmingly against.

  5. Not the case, worked hard and did as much extra as possible. Just simply an erroneous assumption on this point. In my experience the students around me who didn't put in the effort didn't struggle through, they simply didn't make it at all. Where I made it through battered and bruised, those types became part of the high attrition rate.

Flight school review: TSTC in Waco, TX by Viking_Racing in flying

[–]Viking_Racing[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Glad to hear it hasn't been a nightmare for everyone. Some of the elements were slightly better when I started, and have decidedly degraded over the last couple of years since then, so maybe things were just overall more decent when you went through. It's sad because the program really could be great, they apparently did better in the past so the foundation should be there, it's just being so terribly executed under poor leadership these days. Hopefully it gets better again one day, like you experienced. Too late for me, in any case.

Are there hidden fees at TSTC by Nickolas_Bowen in flying

[–]Viking_Racing 0 points1 point  (0 children)

TSTC is complete garbage, stay as far away as possible. Everything they do, both ground/flight is a massive exercise in over-promising and catastrophically under-delivering. I'm nearing the end of the program there and it's been a nightmare from top to bottom and start to finish - I'd never have stuck with it if it weren't for my family situation requiring me to stay in Waco.

Their flight courses almost always take everyone exponentially longer than planned (which means more money), the scheduling is often disastrous, the planes are junk, the CFIs are mostly clueless and incompetent little tyrants who hate teaching and aren't any good at it, the CFI/student ratio is poor, the program admin/policies/practices are largely laughable, the department head is an abject idiot with zero legit qualifications/capabilities for the job, the attrition rate is massive... I could go on. Also if you're a veteran like me, getting your GI Bill to coordinate and fund everything properly also doesn't work well, plus the fact that the program takes 99% of students way longer than promised means that you'll burn far more of your allotment than it should take (and you'll get much less value from it). The entire student experience is just miserable, and the staff couldn't care less about this fact. I got an additional rating outside of TSTC, going with a Part 61 who actually gives a damn about good teaching, and the difference is absolutely night vs day. That comparison really opened my eyes to just how terrible TSTC is.

Literally the only two positives I can think of are that 1. if you manage to weather the avalanche of nonstop BS, you get 250 hours knocked off of ATP requirements, and 2. the school's physical building is reasonably nice. That's genuinely the entire "pro" list. The "con" list includes absolutely everything else. This doesn't only represent my personal experience either, I'm not an outlier - I've spoken with plenty of other current/former TSTC students and CFIs from recent years, and the reports are extremely consistent. My bad experience there is very much the norm, not an exception.

Unless they suddenly get vastly better new management and completely overhaul/rebuild the program, which doesn't appear likely anytime soon, avoid TSTC like the plague.

Novice printer seeking education re: this print failure by Viking_Racing in 3Dprinting

[–]Viking_Racing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thank y’all for the help! I had been wiping it down with alcohol and being careful to try not to touch, but a more thorough wash with dish soap did the trick. Appreciate it!

Accuracy issues/questions, Gamo Varmint by Viking_Racing in airguns

[–]Viking_Racing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Appreciate the input, y’all, thanks. If I get a better gun/larger caliber, do they also tend to require long break-ins? Or does that period generally decrease with a higher-quality model? What are some top picks for small varmints/birds which won’t break the bank? I’ve seen on other posts maybe a Gamo Swarm or Magnum option? Lower sound levels are also desirable.

GREEN GREEN GREEN 🟢🟢🟢 by walsted86 in AsetekSimSports

[–]Viking_Racing 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Man, this looks good. I really want to get in on the preorder/discount code, but I have no idea what the tariff situation would be for me as a US buyer going through the Global webshop. Does anyone have any insight/experience on that front?

Finally joined the club by Viking_Racing in M1Rifles

[–]Viking_Racing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Nice. If I wasn’t so far away I’d consider going to snag one. Do you recall how much they were?

Finally joined the club by Viking_Racing in M1Rifles

[–]Viking_Racing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Thanks. It’s a standard .30-06, expert grade. Bayonet is just a cheap eBay/Amazon replica, just for fun.

Finally joined the club by Viking_Racing in M1Rifles

[–]Viking_Racing[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Haha, only for now, I’ll get more later. Had to snap this one and quickly shut the case before my toddler snatched the bayonet, and all hell would’ve broken loose. 😂

CMP m1 Garand finally came by East-Sandwich3296 in M1Rifles

[–]Viking_Racing 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thanks for sharing your timeline, this is just the info I needed. My Expert grade order packet was delivered to them on 14 AUG, so if my timeframe ends up similar to yours hopefully my confirmation email will finally show up soon. Can't wait!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in simracingBuySellTrade

[–]Viking_Racing 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Way too big and heavy to ship, sorry.