bafanguy I have my IR EOC flight tomorrow. After that, I'm done there.
Just a few more things that have happened since I last posted:
-I had my IR EOC ground and was told that I did an excellent job and really knew my stuff, but was unsat because I got one question wrong (my friends told me the same Chief asked them this question previously, and they weren't unsat on it when they got it wrong; furthermore, my friend took her IR check ride the day before me (with a different person) and passed, and said that she wasn't asked anything nearly as complicated as I was). They failed everyone who took their IR EOC ground for similarly small things on that same day I tested. My instructor was livid about it (thought that they shouldn't have unsat me) and confronted the chief, and was told that I "knew my ****" but they couldn't pass me over that one thing. He was even more pissed off when, on my retest, they nearly unsat me again on a question that none of my friends (who are way more knowledgeable than me) in commercial could answer (his response to when they found out I was asked that was "what the ****, why would they do that?). I later learned he was told off by our Chief because I struggled with said question.
-I'm now convinced our Chief has flown intoxicated at some points. Our VP of Ops (who's fully aware of all of this and is close friends with this Chief) joked about how this Chief basically "binge drank" his entire journey through his ratings.
-I'm now semi-regularly being sexually harassed by our VP of Ops, enough to the point where I no longer feel comfortable having a conversation with them alone in their office.
This is a part 141 operation and I'm going to change over to a Part 61. We have an extremely low pass rate on our commercial check rides, and it's enough to the point where now the FAA is getting involved. Everything is crazy rushed, and no one really has a chance to learn how to "feel the plane." It's basically assumed at the school that people are going to fail the P-180 on their check rides. I don't want any part of this.
Is flight school supposed to be so unpleasant? A significant portion of the school (even those who are clearing their PPLs in under 50 hours) are absolutely miserable. CFIs are grossly underpaid (about 45% below the local industry average) and are choosing to simply quit without having any other jobs lined up. One CFI had to choose between paying rent or getting his car fixed. No one I've talked to has described learning to fly here as "fun."
A friend recently warned me "you obviously like flying, but this school is a nightmare. Get out before it fully spoils aviation for you."