Standard Disclaimers:

1.The following comments are based on information obtained first hand by me at RAH/LIFT in IND.

2. All of this is subject to change w/o notice as LIFT is still in process of finalizing many things.

3. Please allow 1-3 weeks for any correspondance with LIFT to include offers of acceptance, retest or rejection. They are still sorting through almost 2000 applications.

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The Good.

Staff is very (VERY) friendly and helpful. They know that a bad reputation will murder the academy and are absolutely professional. They want professional students, as well. Problem solving and maturity WILL GO FAR with LIFT.

The believe whole heartedly in their endeavor to create 121 RAH pilots from scratch and arent in a hurry to do it. The plan over on myst 'time/hour to ratings' gates. If something calls for 10 hours, they plan between 12-14 to allow for individual growth.

They are hiring 90 CFI's from outside RAH - once the program gets going, they plan on only using LIFT CFI's. If they cannot use a LIFT CFI there at LIFT, you will be lent out to another affiliated flight instruction program (actual names TBD - but think Vincennes and other 141 schools)

Total tuition for training will be valued at 85K. RAH is eating 20K per student in exchange for a quality candidate FO.

If YOU disenroll, you are on the hook for whatever training you completed (up to the full 65K if you go as far) PLUS the 20K RAH waivered money on their investment.

If THEY disenroll you, you only owe on what you accomplished. This isnt being distributed widely (along with many fiscal details) because they are still finalizing the legal terms and conditions. Lawyers, man.

They will give you a monthly schedule so that you can work around training since not all of us are independantly wealthy or have parents that love them enough to foot the bill.

The Bad.

You are on your own for living accomadations. They have no desire to become involved in the student living situation. No dorms, no living stipend and no set-aside agreements to reduce rent with any vendors. They are working towards a partner apartment vendor that will help match LIFT roomies in 1/2/3 bedroom apartments to offset the cost of rent.

The Ugly.

Everyone will have to make their own decision when it comes to LIFT; for me, the living situation MAY premempt me from training. I have a house and family in Ohio that I dont want to sell and am not going to crack my 401k to live in an apartment for 12 months and risk being disenrolled at any time (hey, I may be a terrible pilot, tbh).

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The Process.

Step 1; show up and sign in at the desk; recieve a cheap visitors badge and lanyard. That takes you 50% of the way to an offer from LIFT. Look neat/tidy and act professinally. The building is full of a range of people in a range of states of dress. Half of my testing class wore suites, the other half slacks and a polo (no ladies this go around). I believe that they dont publish guidance on this for a reason.

No, they wont disqualify you for poor fashion choices, but dont show up in board shorts and a Van-Halen (not Van Hagar) T-shirt. These folks are professionals and aviation in general is a conservative buisiness. Also, this is a training academy; so even if you dont want to dress up for a job interview, you may want to look sharp in respect to the people working there. Did I mention actual RAH CA and FO's are all over the place - likely judging you based only on your appearance? Its not part of the program, but lets face it, put yourself in their shoes........

The testing.

Very reasonable testing suite by COMPASS software provided by some Euro company. (CSTE maybe?). The test provides you with abundant information and sufficent time to test successfully. If your proctor forgets to tell you, TABLE A is in a document protector under the COMPASS explanation sheet. REFRESH YO MATH SKILLS. Seriously, nothing was 'hard' but some things you will not have seen since 6th grade.

The coordination testing with the rudders and control stick are easy and almost even fun. There is a feedback anomoly when you recenter the stick or pass from one lateral limit (back through center) to the other lateral limit. Very managable, but be aware that its there for the Slolom. You get three 90 second runs with each test and they are EASY - dont put the control in a deathgrip and you will reduce the workload by like 80%. I nearly squeezed the thing to death before i made myself relax.

The rest isnt worth talking about; decision making, some light mechanics and memory drills. A window displays up to four peices of numeric info (Speed Range Heading Radio) and you are tested on recall. Think of how ATC/Center passes vectoring data? Yeah, that - can you rember heading speed and altitude for six seconds.

They unofficially visit this forum and likely will NOT create an official presence here since the odds of being Hasslehoff'd are pretty good. Want to see the depravity of mankind? Visit comment section/forums....

I PM'd those of you that asked me specific questions; thanks for reaching out.

Bottom Line.

Its gonna be a great program and will provide RAH a bunch of quality 121-ready FO's. They are selective in hiring instructors and have only taken on less than half of who applied - they know they have to do it right the first time out of the gate and they start flying in September.

If I missed anything, hit me up. I have to figure out how to run two households after quitting my job to go learn to fly.......

Cheers!