Falcon Journey: It Begins

[surreal1221]

Alright - Air Show is complete. Just waiting, and hoping, to hear from the FAA today in regards to when my checkride is.

Otherwise. . .I may just explode.

[surreal1221]

Yup - real close to exploding, and I'm not really sure what the hell the deal is.

Maybe it's poor communication between the school and the FAA.

I'm ready to pop.

[Crockrocket94]

Damn man, whats the deal? FSDO being sloooooooooow?

[Gonzo]

Can you not get a letter from the FSDO and take the ride with a DPE?

[surreal1221]

Originally Posted by Crockrocket94

Damn man, whats the deal? FSDO being sloooooooooow?

Check PM.

Originally Posted by Gonzo

Can you not get a letter from the FSDO and take the ride with a DPE?

I could, but it'd be close to $700-$1000 for a CFI initial ride with a DPE. A cost, that I'm not really willing to shell out right now.

[surreal1221]

Finally. MEI checkride scheduled for the 25th of Oct.

I'll most likely get in one more flight before the big day.

[surreal1221]

And. . .I suppose it's time to say this.

The Falcon Journey is complete.

Today I had my CFI Initial checkride - MEI. The ride went great, and between my CMEL checkride and this checkride I only had two additional ME flights, just to get the maneuvers down from the right seat.

I'll provide a much larger, more indepth posting later. I'm about to head out to go enjoy some hot wings and a beer or two.

[MFT1Air]

So, the stress of waiting has been lifted; the stress of producing is gone.

Life is good.

Congrats to you!

[stapper2]

Originally Posted by surreal1221

And. . .I suppose it's time to say this.

The Falcon Journey is complete.

Today I had my CFI Initial checkride - MEI. The ride went great

Congratulations Josh!

Glad you finally made it.

[surreal1221]

Thanks gents.

Mike, how'd your trip down to the Miami area go?

[stapper2]

Originally Posted by surreal1221

Mike, how'd your trip down to the Miami area go?

It was great. Good experience/confidence builder as well. I'll give you the details when I see you to shake your hand in congrats.

[surreal1221]

Originally Posted by stapper2

It was great. Good experience/confidence builder as well. I'll give you the details when I see you to shake your hand in congrats.

Excellent man. Very good.

I just got back in from Dallas. A new DA20 is on property, and man is it nice. The previous owner took GREAT care of this thing.

But yeah, flying VFR from just north of Dallas, back to Falcon. . .was some of the best flying I've seen / been a part of.

[TexasFlyer]

CONGRAT'S!!!!!

Looks like you might be my future MEI. I'll be flying out of PDK though once I get my Instrument, so not sure who instructs in the DA42 up there, but I'll commute down from ATL still if I fit better with a CFI/MEI at FFC (I drive down from Atlanta now because I really like my current instructor).

If the weather cooperates and the DA40's stay out of MX, I hope to have my Instrument before the end of November. The problem is, I only got to fly 9 of the last 27 scheduled flying days due to either weather or maintenance on the 40's. Not happy about it at all, but sometimes these things happen since you just can't control mother nature or the failure of mechanical items (most times it's been weather, but then a good day comes along and the plane decides to be a lemon).

I'll post a blog of my experiences at Falcon eventually. I'm waiting until I get my instrument and then I'll write a recap of all the good and the bad of my experience. For those who want a quick thought from me though, here it is:

The Good...
* I love it here at Falcon, nice place (very busy too).
* The DA40 is a joy to fly and I can only imagine the 42 is even better.
* The field is busy, but not busy enough to keep you waiting too long.
* The instructors are outstanding, top notch.
* I am very excitied to eventually instruct for them since I like what I see.
* If you have an issue, they will do all they can do to resolve it (I had a training issue that is being fixed, slowly but surely).

The Bad...
* Sometimes feel lost due to very little structure.
* They can't control mother nature, and the weather here for over a month now has been 500 foot to 2500 foot ceilings most days making training tough (Northern Georgia weather simply sucks!).
* The DA 40's are in MX a lot (they seem to be the Harley of airplanes, love them but they have their issues just like my 'hog').
* They seem to have some operational issues where things are not yet standardized, but it is clear they are working on this. It seems to simply be from growing pains. So not really a bad thing, but still a frustration at times since it has affected me directly, but I see this improving. Could be much worse though if the operations items were from something other than growth, but these pains are from them growing in the right direction (so while they are a 'pains', there is an exciting side to them for Falcon as a whole which will affect me in a good way eventually).

Overall, this is a great place. And once the weather improves and the planes cooperate a little more, I'll be rockin' and rollin'. I been here since August 1. So here are the stats since August 1:
* 86 total days at Falcon (living in Atlanta... I miss my Texas Home!)
* 56 total schedlued lessons
* 28 completed lessons (yes, that's pretty much a 50% cancellation rate due to Weather or MX!!!)
* About 15 hours DA 20
* About 21 hours DA 40
* Completed PPL refresher/ flight review
* Working toward Instrument now

That's it from me for now. I'll start my own blog in about a month since I don't want to take over Josh's outstanding blog (PM's will get responses eventually).

[surreal1221]

Good to hear you're getting some progress Joe.

I'll be available man Trying to get a SE add-on to the CFI rating later this week.

I've been told HQ management is making some staffing changes up there at PDK, so it's all up to you man. I don't know who they have for MEI's - but you're always welcomed to schedule me when the time comes.

You ditch your apartment in PTC?

[TexasFlyer]

Yeah, ditched the apartment in PTC (paid an $800 buy-out; one months rent... so not bad for my sanity).

Since I totally ditched my business now and my flying was not progressing at the rate anticipated, I found myslef bored to death being single in PTC and found no salvation in Fayetteville or Newnan either). So I moved up to the Poncey-Highland area of Atlanta which means I can walk to any Poncey, Midtown, Little 5, and Virginia Highlands in under 30 minutes (or scoot over on the bike in 10 minutes). It also puts me about 10 miles from PDK, a 20 minute commute on back roads to avoid the Rte 85 congestion. I'll be flying out of PDK starting Mid-November from what I was told today, so that's perfect for me.

But for the next few weeks until I transfer up to PDK, I'll be still making the 40 mile drive each way to Peachtree City. Hence why I am only scheduled for afternoons now since I can do the drive in about an hour by missing the rush hour ATL mess.

I should complete stage II check instrument next week and stage the final cross country phase after that. So certainly should be moving onto commercial by the end of November (fingers crossed N236MA stays happy and mother nature cooperates like it has the last two days in a row now).

See you around.

[surreal1221]

Ah good deal.

PDK will work out real nice for you.

Yeah the Highland area is where it is at. Never a dull moment, as I'm sure you've noticed.

Originally Posted by TexasFlyer

Yeah, ditched the apartment in PTC (paid an $800 buy-out; one months rent... so not bad for my sanity).

Since I totally ditched my business now and my flying was not progressing at the rate anticipated, I found myslef bored to death being single in PTC and found no salvation in Fayetteville or Newnan either). So I moved up to the Poncey-Highland area of Atlanta which means I can walk to any Poncey, Midtown, Little 5, and Virginia Highlands in under 30 minutes (or scoot over on the bike in 10 minutes). It also puts me about 10 miles from PDK, a 20 minute commute on back roads to avoid the Rte 85 congestion. I'll be flying out of PDK starting Mid-November from what I was told today, so that's perfect for me.

But for the next few weeks until I transfer up to PDK, I'll be still making the 40 mile drive each way to Peachtree City. Hence why I am only scheduled for afternoons now since I can do the drive in about an hour by missing the rush hour ATL mess.

I should complete stage II check instrument next week and stage the final cross country phase after that. So certainly should be moving onto commercial by the end of November (fingers crossed N236MA stays happy and mother nature cooperates like it has the last two days in a row now).

See you around.

[surreal1221]

Had my CFI SE-add on ride yesterday.

Passed. Flew down to Macon with a student pilot in the morning. He had his PPL checkride first. Unfortunately for him he didn't do too well. His soft field landings were not "soft" enough.

But anyway. SE and ME Instructor. Yipee.

[Ian J]

Dayum.

Everyone on JC is growing up so quickly!

Congrats, Josh.

[surreal1221]

Thanks Ian

[surreal1221]

Well . . .sorry I haven't provided a comprehensive conclusion to this thread. Been a little busy. Just topped over 50 dual given.

I will eventually provide a full comprehensive conclusion to this training thread. It's been a long(er) process, glad it's over with. I've enjoyed a majority of it, and if I had it to do all over again I would change a few things, but otherwise I can't complain.

If anyone has any questions in the mean time, just fire me a PM. I'll reply as quickly as I can.

[Gonzo]

How do you feel about the letter that Dan sent out considering the shortage of planes at some of the outstation schools?

[Bwatz]

DW and his letters... Some things never change....

[surreal1221]

Originally Posted by Gonzo

How do you feel about the letter that Dan sent out considering the shortage of planes at some of the outstation schools?

I have not seen it man.

What was it saying?

[ZachH]

Shock Cooling....

[surreal1221]

Welcome to the gang Zach