I don't think any school will prepare you to be a CFI. You can memorize the FAR's and that's about it. For the first few students you'll always be learning more from them then they'll be learning from you.

I will say along with this, I never truly learned to fly until I became a CFI :)

How can you tell he was a great and sharp pilot if you just met him? PS-he only knows ATP so he knows of no other way to go.

Saab, that was probably the best post you've made here...but it's like trying to tell a teenager he's not immortal. Most won't listen until it's too late.

Ignorance is bliss =) They won't miss it because they've never known it. And they most likely never will, since they never really flew by themselves much, I imagine they probably wont be the types to go out and get a $100 hamburger, due to being uncomfortable solo, or without a more experienced pilot in the aircraft.

I remember a few of my favorite memories so far involve just what your talking about. Flying into fields to try out their restraunts, flying formation, small uncontrolled fields (also quite dangerous with some of the people out there thinking "they own that field", etc etc.

Ah well, I look forward to making new experiences in the 121 world too =)

Its so crazy I remember walking to the 172's while my students where preflighting wishing to GOD i was in the Embraers flying overhead lining up over MMU to go into EWR. Now every time (including this morning) as I flew over MMU I was looking straight down, wishing I was doing touch & Gos' Ill never figure it out

I've always said all I want is life is a descent income, a good woman, and a Stearman. While flying in the Merlin is interesting because it presents a new atmosphere. I still get bored while doing a 3hr flight in it. I've never gotten bored in a biplane. Of course it could be the Ag pilot I fly it with. Talk about hair raisers.

I agree that you will miss out by not living the airport life. I taught aerobatics for a while and I don't think that you will ever have that much fun at atp and guess what, it will make you safer. Landing on an 1800 grass strip will make you more skillful because you will have to be. A rediculously controlled environment with electronic hsi's, rj sims and great steep turns is a cookie cutter. Tell me how you would think for yourself when you are in a situation that hasn't been practiced in your frasca sim and you are the captain. How do you correlate? It's not steep turns and chandelles in the real world. You're missing all the fun and all of the valuable lessons that you could teach yourself if you miss out on real flying and go to atp or jet university or whatever the newest fad is. Learning how to truely pilot an airplane could actually save your life one day as well.

I think the thing that most accel programs miss out on the most is the anticipation of the day that phone rings for your first real interview. The flight down to the interview center, after putting in five years of work, for it to finally happen, for me at least it was a surreal feeling. I dont know how it would have felt if it happened just 90 days after i started training. It was kind of a feeling like you finally arrived, but at the same time leaving all the things that you had been doing so long behind, just to start on a new venture. Like the "saaborowski" said in different words, you always envy what you arent, and when you finally are, what you used to be.

When you do ACPP, all your training is in the "ATP bubble". End result, you get to an RJ ASAP.

For most, that is good enough, and all that matters. However, I find it sad that "working your way up" and "paying your dues" means nothing anymore. Before you scoff at this as a waste of time, consider that the process, while time consuming, turns out a better product in the end.

Leaving the "bubble", you're forced to learn about life in the real world. I think that's a great thing, even if it takes you six months longer to get the RJ job.