14-Day Private Pilot Training Course

Tony,

I just want to thank you for the great experience I had over the 14 days.  Not only is Abe a phenomenal pilot and excellent teacher, he also got me excited about flying.  I left jazzed about moving forward to getting instrument rated and I have applied to a local flight club, met several pilots that own planes in my home airport and am actively working on getting a hanger and my own bird, which is way harder than you might imagine.  The good news is a 45′ x 40′ T is only $450/mo here in hillsboro.

Here is what I loved about my time in Van Nuys.

1) I learned at a very busy, complex airport and ATC region.  Invaluable to get that kind of experience.  I looked it up afterwords and saw KVNY had 26,000 takeoffs/landings during March 2021.  that’s nearly 1,000 a day.

2) Abe really went out of his way to show me around the airport, introduced me to so many people and helped me understand how to navigate the intracacies of the Airport community.  Abe knows everyone!

3) Abe was the perfect balance of demanding yet patient.  Which often meant adjusting the focus in order to spend more time on my weak areas.  And he was always pushing me to gain the next skill.

4) Abe’s approach to ground training was excellent.  Give homework, then ask me questions the next day about topics from the home work.  If I knew the answers we would move on and not belabor that area.  If I didn’t know the material, he could tell and we would dive into that topic and hit the whiteboard.  Super efficient and avoided wasting time on things i had a pretty good handle on.  BTW, i found Abe’s background in ATC work both fascinating and useful.  Probably rare to have a CFI that has been through ATC training.  Really great that he can describe from first hand experience what is happening inside the tower and explain why they probably just gave that specific instruction, etc.

5) Abe was super flexible on start times.

6) Abe was really good at constantly asking me how i felt about my competence and comfort with various skills and training.  While he was great at gauging my competence through demonstration, he also put a lot of weight into where i thought i needed more work and which areas I was fairly confident with.  This technique is so much better than just following a script or syllabus.

7) The plane was fantastic.  I can’t say enough about how well Alex cares for the plane and keeps it in top shape.  The logs are impeccable and you can see pride in ownership throughout the plane.

8) Lastly, Abe let me be a part of his life for the time I was there.  This made the whole experience so much fun, valuable and memorable.  It wasn’t just 8 hours a day of flying.  We had lunch together, went out to dinner with our significant others, joined a bunch of other pilots for nice night out, etc, etc.  He really went out of his way to make me feel a part of his life and a part of the KVNY family.

While I am starting IFR training, i am finding it a bit slow and frustrating to make progress…so who knows, I may be back for more!

Thanks again,

Chi Miller

North Plains, Oregon

• Chi Miller - North Plains, Oregon