2009 CPL Diary at EFT
 

Before i start my diary please let me explain that i am aware that there are currently several CPL diaries on this site, but thought it would be a good idea to see how things have progessed since the last one.

I had arrived at Orlando International at 18:00 yesterday to be met on arrival by a very pleasant man who took me to my hotel in Fort Pierce where i would be staying the night while i would be re-housed the following day. It was at my request to EFT that i would like to complete my course as soon as possible as i do not have enough leave from work. As i stepped out of the car to the hotel the driver gave me two sets of books and adviced me that i should read up on these before the morning, well lets just say i never got any sleep until 01:30. the next morning i.e (today) i was picked up by the same gentleman who picked me up yesterday. I arrived at the school at 09:10 and by 09:15 i was speaking to my instructor and introduced to several other people, to be fair everyone seems quite friendly here. At 09:30 i had completed all the forms that were required which were all in a folder waiting for me to go through. My First Pre-CPL flight was scheduled in for 11:00 having completed all my paperwork, i sat down with my instructor who briefed me on what to expect throughout the course along with what was expected by the JAA. We then did a Mass and Balance sheet for the 11:00 flight.

The Pre-CPL flight included genral handling, steep turns, and stalls.

Having arrived back for a debrief i was told that there were further things i needed to brush on before i progressed on the CPL course, and in all fairness to my instructor he was correct. I have picked up some bad habbits so i do really need to shake them off.

My instructor was very kind to arrange a back seat ride with a student who was practising my weaknesses and this was at no cost, When i arrived back to EFT after the flight my instructor spoke to me about the things we will be covering tommorrow i.e ( genral handling , climbing and decending). I was then asked if i would like to sit in on a ground class which was a brilliant oppertunity to iron out any problems.

So all in all i would say and this is SO FAR that EFT seems in two words Organised and Professional, however i do have another two weeks here, I will keep you all updated with tommorrow's day. But for now I have lots of homwork to do.

Captain's Log
 

A whole further two weeks? And the guy is making you brush up on descending and climbing???

Hmm.

Don't wish to be overly pessimistic but I have a premonition you may well be changing your return flight. In all honesty if you only budgeted 2 weeks this seems somewhat ambitious. Were you given any assurances you would get your CPL done to completion by EFT prior to arrival?

Where did you do PPL and hours?

Just to confirm it is a JAA ME CPL?

Hope you get it done, and keep us posted.

Not wanting to 'rain on your parade', sorry for the americanism, but I think the previous poster has a very valid point.
If you were hour building up to this point and not practising accuracy for the CPL course, then having to revisit the very basics at this point seems to me as if you may well have a bit of an uphill struggle.
Two weeks? Hmmm.

Do keep us posted as i'll be interested to see how it turns out. Remember, these schools are there to make money from students, they aren't charities, but then again, if your flying isn't up to standard before starting the CPL course, then you pretty much only have yourself to blame.

Look forward to seeing your progress reports.

Looking forward to reading your diary m8 :p

Good luck with the course Kash360, I enjoy reading these diarys.

Day 2
 

Thank you so much for your comments, I was given a two week guide line by EFT. I am currently doing a CPL SE.

I woke up this morning 6 am to read through my notes before arriving to the school at 7:45. Walked in straight away got my weather, mass and balance sheet and signed out my a/c. Went out to the a/c did my pre-flight check and returned back to the office for my brief. My first flight was a carry on from yesterdays pre CPL flight i had to demonstrate that i could fly looking out of the window instead of being fixated on my instruments. I must say i find it allot easier now. Having demonstrated these skills my instructor signed me off for the CPL course which would would start at 13:00 we returned back from my morning flight and was briefed on navigation and flight planning. My first lesson included climbing and desending. ( i know everyone is thinking what the hell!!! doing that at CPL level however its the first lesson of the course.

During my down time there is so much to do, practise navigation, reading procedures etc...

One thing i love about EFT is that they wont tell you the answer they want you to go and find it. Which i think is a great technique.

My instructor seems very helpful along with other staff.

At CPL level you treat your instructor as a passenger, they want you to make the final call, suppose thats what its all about..

Got to get some food and do homework so ill be back tommorrow...

Good luck mate! I will be looking to join EFT next month as I am doing all the required stuff in order to be ready on time. Really looking forward to it!

Day 3
 

Hello everyone, what can i say about today other than it's 36 degrees celcius here and im feeling it..

Well today was again another 0745 start having planned my navigation flight last night. I aarived and staright away checked the weather, did my mass and balance sheet checked out the aircraft went out to the aircraft did my preflight checks obtained ATIS and went back to the school it was now 0850 and my instructor had arrived. I shown my instructor my planning and was breifed on the flight. Went out to the a/c took of on runway 27 and fixed on my first leg. My instuctor flew the first leg, i navigated the second leg and my instructor flew the 2nd leg and on the 3rd leg i flew and navigated. Arrived at my final point 1 minute out so was happy. Onced landed and shut down had a debrief which went well.

It was now 1200 so ran out to the airport resturant to grab a bite to eat.
Quickly arrived back to do my mass and balance sheet and pre flight checks. Went back in to the school where i was briefed on my next flight which would be touch and go's. It included short field take off and landings, glide approach and landing and flapless landing. I remember doing these at ppl but had not been practised them since so today was a blast from the past. There were a few thing i needed to brush up on and was assured by my instructor that we will try different types of landings on other lessons.

I arrived backed and was briefed on the flight along with a briefing about tommorrow morning flight which is Intruments.

So far i am enjoying the whole thing allot to take in. Which i had expected but for any students out there thinking about doing there CPL please please please do not waste your hour building time like i did, read up on the CPL requirments and try and meet them, it will make your life so much easier.

As far as EFT is concerned everything is going well, being treated very well and like a human being instead of a number. The housing is great not a 5 star hotel but still nice. They have given me use of the car which is great.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to ask!!

more homework to do!!!

i'm enjoying reading your thread keep it up :)

Sounds a bit forced to me.......

I'm curious about the pre CPL you mention, is this part of the 25 hour course and included in the price or is it an extra?

Anyway, good luck, I recently finished my CPL, it's hard work! especially if your trying to do it in 2 weeks!

incidentally the point you make about hour building is very relevant, if you waste your time whilst hour building it will cost you so much more in the long run by making your CPL far more expensive. being up to speed with nav, MDR, holding precise headings and alts, practicing PFL's, etc will save you time and money on the CPL course.

Not one to be a little bit cautious here normally but anyway,

Previous diaries on Pprune are generally very detailed on flights, the intricacies of training, students hitting brick wall and ultimately overcoming them.

This diary seems to be very light on the training and the details which most readers ultimately benefit from, but has significant amounts of back slapping and praise for EFT! Indeed all 3 posts so far have been very strong in praising them.

I completed a diary by comparison for my IMCR and didn't mention my training establishment by name, because to do otherwise IMHO is both unecessary to most readers and if not done correctly amounts to advertising.

I hope I'm wrong, but my cautious side is very active at the moment.

Obs

Hmmmm.... Kash 360:

"well lets just say i never got any sleep until 01:30. the next morning"

"I arrived at the school at 09:10 and by 09:15 i was speaking to my instructor and introduced to several other people, to be fair everyone seems quite friendly here. At 09:30 i had completed all the forms that were required...."

"I woke up this morning 6 am to read through my notes before arriving to the school at 7:45."

"During my down time there is so much to do, practise navigation, reading procedures etc..."

Rush, rush, rush......pressure building all the way through, you have about ten days left now, and you may fail the first checkride, who knows, deadlines for work and if you do get there, you'll probably remember shag all about it in less than three months.

Not the way to do it.

Day 4
 

Sorry about not posting my report yesterday, was really busy trying to over come my demonds. Sorry a few off you think that this is a ploy to make EFT look good, im only giving my version off how im finding the school. When i started this journey i was looking at peoples reports and seeing how they were treated and how they got on.

But if you want something bad to write, then well yeh EFT does not have 5* housing, they dont spoon feed you information and they dont wipe your ass for you. Sorry that was a bit harsh but the moaners will just moan no matter what.

Yesterday i flew twice again once in the morning and once in the afternoon. My first flight was learning the basic of instrument flying under the hood, to be honest i felt as i was the same as ppl but i did my ppl 9 years ago. So it was a blast from the past. I was ok with the instrument flying just need to make sure i keep scanning and not fixating on a single intrument. The lesson included rate 1 turns and climb and decents under the hood. We returned back to Fort Pierce doing a flapless landing.

My second flight of the day was doing more of the same as the first flight however this included unusual attitiudes. My insturctor would put the aircraft in a steep desent or climb during a turn and ask me to recover.

I think im pretty ok with instrument flying as there is 10 hours of it in the course, however i some times leave a few checks i.e before climb and before desent checks but i kept going over them last night and i made sure i did them all todayy.

Day 5
 

Again a very hot day!!

Im sorry my reports are not detailed as my flight level, angle of turn, fuel burn!! just trying to be helpful to people looking at doing the CPL. If you have specific questions then please put them across to me ill try to answer them.

Again usual two flights of the day.

First was a navigation excercise which included a diversion which i was dreading however it turned out to be pretty simple. But dont be fooled i took off and was consentrating so much on fliying the a/c and doing the checks that i nearlly missed my starting point of my navigation leg. It wasnt till my instructor pointed this out to me. I made three reporting point and when you reach each point, you must do a few checks such as what time did you arrive at the point, Gross checks i.e where am i in relationship to the ground am i going in the correct direction and heading followed by FREDA checks which are aircraft checks then do all your paper work. Do not get fixated on doing a whole task without flying the plane. You will loose attitude and heading very easily done.

Once arrived overhead destination my instructor had diverted the a/c and shown me how to divert which included drawing a line on a map cross referncing with the the compass rose on the map for a heading. Then working out a dist and time. He then let me do a divert to a designated point which i followed the steps as my instructor. We landed back doing a short field landing.

My second flight was all about engine fire and engine failure. Was not bad at all. Justa few drills as fuel selector off, mixture cut off, thottle idel, cabin hearter off, cabin air closed. this was for engine fire. You have to keep asking is the fire out and if it is then do a forced landing and if the fire is not do 45 degrees turns at 85kts turns to the left keep asking the same question. Is the fire out?

Engine failure, includes doing a few drill and keeping the airfield or landing spot in sight at all times. use best glide.


Anyway guys much to do. Allot off work involved. Hope this is enough information for now. If not please ask!!

No mention of our extra passenger leaping out of the air vent?

I'm not convinced you have to strap a frog in though...

Good stuff Kash! Nice work. Getting anxious to fly to ft. pierce now.

All that Florida flying, making me jealous :).

Hey, so sorry not been updating yourselves with my reports. Internet problems. I promise i will update my reports and experience and problems tommorrow. I have my 170A tommorrow. Wish me good luck.

No. I won't.