Ivan Posted November 20, 2005 Report Share Posted November 20, 2005 Does anybody out there know more about the flight school Western ops. in Rialto CA?How big is the school and has the school a good reputation etc ? Thank's for your infos Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
copter doctor Posted November 20, 2005 Report Share Posted November 20, 2005 I don't have any personal dealings with them other than on the phone, but read an article in AUTOROTATE on the school that spoke highly of them. At the time the article was written, july 2003, they had three people in the company but provided training to DEA pilots as well as other enforcement agencies. Best advice is to check out the web site and if you live close, go visit. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted November 21, 2005 Report Share Posted November 21, 2005 I've thought about training there myself, but am not sure. As they themselves say, they "pick up where the factory leaves off." Unlike an "instructor factory" such as HAI, for example, Western's expertise (and it is definitely expertise second to none) seems to be focused more toward very experienced pilots, not instructors-in-training. But I could be wrong, and would welcome insights from anyone with better information. I'm kind of like a moth to the flame when it comes to Western...intrigued and keep returning to the thought of training there...but not sure. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arotrhd Posted November 21, 2005 Report Share Posted November 21, 2005 Western Ops is, by comparison to many other operators, a small operation, BUT, you will be hard pressed to find higher time or more qualified instructors than Bob Spencer, Pete Gillies and Rob Green, and Dennis McCall (when available). As many of you know, Pete has actively written articles for several rags regarding autos from an "outside the factory perspective", but the writings represent the talents and skills that all there possess. There are many capable and high quality training operations in the SoCal region, but Western Ops is in a class by itself - the only other operator (IMHO) that I would to consider to share this same class is Helistream with Rob, Barbara and Andreas. There is a reason why both have government and public service/LE initial & recurrent training contracts...and why they don't really have do a media blitz for their training and services. -WATCH FOR THE WIRES- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted November 21, 2005 Report Share Posted November 21, 2005 artrhd -- Thanks for the insights. Do you have a sense of how someone who finished their ratings with Western (i.e. comm/cfi/cfii) would fare on the instructor market? Assuming that Western wouldn't themselves hire them to instruct, is Western's reputation widespread enough that it would be of great benefit? ::thanks:: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EAGLE1 Posted November 21, 2005 Report Share Posted November 21, 2005 I will ditto everything arotrhd said. I did my pvt, comm and CFI at Helistream. Very experienced, knowagable and first rate. I still do emergency proceedures with Andreas twice a year and learn something new each time. (great pilot and instructor) I have also done recurrent and emergency proceedures training (read full down autos day and night) at Western and I do not think you could find better instructors with as much real world, practicale application flight time as Bob and Pete. If you are in Southern California either school will do! They are the cream of the crop. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
arotrhd Posted November 22, 2005 Report Share Posted November 22, 2005 DUHHH - That should have been ROD (Anderson), not Rob @ helistream...Sorry guys & gals, my bad. Sometimes I get character lysdexic when typing. Thanks as well E1. -WATCH FOR THE WIRES (and my bad typos)- Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Slick Posted November 28, 2005 Report Share Posted November 28, 2005 Can anyone point me to someone who got their instructor ratings at Western Ops and then went on to instruct (either there or elsewhere)? Thanks! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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