Newbie from Iowa<--No wisecracks!!!

[number_twelve]

Let me be the first in this post to say that Iowa is not that great of a place to live! Actually, I hate it here. I moved away once, now I kick myself every day!

Anyway, the name's Jake and I'm working on my Instrument check ride. Have been now since November, but the weather is just nasty. I've logged 12.3 hours at my school (Ottumwa) since the first of December. OUCH!!! I'm hoping to blast through my commercial, get a CFI somewhere, then get the heck outta here. I'd like to go down to Tucson, AZ for many different reasons, but I think I'd consider just about any place that doesn't have to deal with snow in the winters.

I'd love to hear from anybody who has a good recommendation for a CFI job, although I am constantly looking around at what's out there. If anybody has any good input about schools in the southwest, I'd love to hear it.

Also, I've seen other poor souls on here from IA and would like to know what they're up to!

[PGT]

Welcome!

Few guys from the DSM area around here. Yea Iowa sucks, I haven't flown since 11/2. How do you like the school there?

[Van_Hoolio]

Hey welcome to JC.

I actualy like Iowa though. Des Moines isn't too bad. It's better than living in any of the CoEx bases, that's for sure/ Maybe when you get old (27) and can fly for free you like Iowa more.

After the PPL in Iowa City, I did all of my flight training and basically all of my flight instructing well out of state.

Maybe we should have a DSM M & G sometime?

Mike

[number_twelve]

I'm at the Indian Hills program now, and it's a good place to start out. I needed a college education anyway. They're just a little slow because of the amount of students. One thing that would be better would be if they gave ACTUAL ground instruction. The classes are basically online style classes. That means no lecture, unless you ask for help. The chief flight instructor is Jane Berg who, supposedly, is the best person to use to obtain a CFI from in this state. Now, she does give great ground instruction during that phase of it.

Oh, btw, I am an old man! I'm 27 as well! I go up to DSM alot for different things since I live in Knoxville, so I'd definitely be up for a M&G!

[ZachH]

Welcome to JC !

[ricecakecm]

Iowa...where Men are men, Women are huge, and Sheep are scared!

[number_twelve]

^^^^You nailed it! It's as bad as northern MO!!!

[Maximillian_Jenius]

Originally Posted by number_twelve

Let me be the first in this post to say that Iowa is not that great of a place to live! Actually, I hate it here. I moved away once, now I kick myself every day!

Anyway, the name's Jake and I'm working on my Instrument check ride. Have been now since November, but the weather is just nasty. I've logged 12.3 hours at my school (Ottumwa) since the first of December. OUCH!!! I'm hoping to blast through my commercial, get a CFI somewhere, then get the heck outta here. I'd like to go down to Tucson, AZ for many different reasons, but I think I'd consider just about any place that doesn't have to deal with snow in the winters.

I'd love to hear from anybody who has a good recommendation for a CFI job, although I am constantly looking around at what's out there. If anybody has any good input about schools in the southwest, I'd love to hear it.

Also, I've seen other poor souls on here from IA and would like to know what they're up to!

Tucson native here! You can have it, it's all yours!

[scflyin]

number_twelve, i went to Indian Hills a long time ago. Man it's funny to hear that school mentioned. How big is the program now? It was 1993-94 when I was out there. The winters out there were brutal.

[number_twelve]

Originally Posted by scflyin

number_twelve, i went to Indian Hills a long time ago. Man it's funny to hear that school mentioned. How big is the program now? It was 1993-94 when I was out there. The winters out there were brutal.

Hey, it's good to hear from someone else who went there!!! Rumor has it, Hills grads are supposed to help eachother out, especially the pilots!
I think you might remember Randy Brookhiser then. He's still kicking and in charge of all of the ground courses/classes. I know he started out as the Chief FI, but switched to the ground side of things.
Right now, I want to say we have around 25 kids in the program, all in the private and instrument phases. All the guys in the commercial or CFI portions have either graduated, or dropped.

[jrh]

Hey, I grew up in Iowa and did a fair amount of flying there.

I did my private license back in 2003 at PS Air in Cedar Rapids.

Then, a while later, I did my CFI initial and commercial multi add-on at Livingston Aviation in Waterloo.

I'm over in Lincoln, Nebraska now for the moment, but my parents still live in Cedar Rapids, so I try to get back that way every now and then.

Personally, I love flying in the midwest. Every place has it's ups and downs, but in general the midwest is the best fit for me. The people are friendly, the controllers are relaxed, the weather is about as good as anywhere, and the flying is easy.

When I worked in Pennsylvania it was fun, but the crowds and grumpy people got on my nerves eventually. The airspace was just too crowded.

When I flew in the Pacific Northwest for a while, it was a ton of fun, but it's so desolate. I missed having ten airports within a 30 mile radius. And the mountain flying was fantastic, except the winters sucked.

So everywhere you go will have pluses and minuses. Enjoy Iowa while you can, then enjoy wherever you move to.

[Teller1900]

Hey, my first night XC was to Ottumwa (I think, or was it Waterloo?). I graduated from Iowa State in Ames (learned to fly and worked three years at Hap's Air Service at AMW) and worked for almost two years at WHO-TV 13 in Des Moines...I know exactly why you want to get out!!!

I went straight from DSM to Mesa, Az, flying out of KIWA. There's a great school down at SDL, Sawyer Aviation, and last I heard they were looking for instructors. Nothing quite beats the change from Iowa to Arizona!

[SoonerAv8r]

Originally Posted by number_twelve

^^^^You nailed it! It's as bad as northern MO!!!

I'll second the northern MO part. Did my college time in Marshall (Mo Valley) As a down south boy I've never experienced cold like that. It's nice up there in the spring and summer but forget the rest!

[scflyin]

I can't believe that guy is still there. He was a good instructor. Do they still have an airlline flight out of there? They had a beech 1900 that flew for United Express when I was a student there. Sounds like a good amount of people are still training there.

[number_twelve]

Thanks for all the replies fells, I appreciate them.

Hey jrh, you're right about flying around here WHEN the weather is nice. I've met tons of great people flying around here, and it's definitely nice to have so many airports so close by. We always want what we can't have though... I also lived between McChord AFB and Seattle for about 4 1/2 years and would love to fly out there if I had the chance. At the time when I lived out there, flying was only a dream to me.

Teller1900, thanks for the suggestion of Sawyer Aviation in Mesa, I'm gonna be checking them out soon to see what they look like. I can already tell that a move from Iowa to Arizona will be awesome. The winters and the landscape drive me nuts! I NEEEEED mountains!!!

sciflyin, I'm not sure when they stopped, but no more B1900's passing through OTM. I know there's a route that goes something like MCI-Kirksville-Fort Dodge-and a few others. It's a US-Scareways plane, not sure of the regional company though. I don't know if it's the same company or not.

Any other ideas are more than welcome. I'd like to know about schools in Prescott, AZ too. I know Embry Riddle is there, but I'm sure I'll need a PhD to instruct for them!