Thank you very much. It was a very intensive 12 days and Bill had to run a very tight program to get in the 2 written tests and the medical examination. I had learned the course material to a reasonable standard before coming over, but Bill impressed the need on me for an excellent score in the written exams as being a pre-requisite for a short and precise oral exam, so we gave that extra attention in the first week. We flew a lot every day (3-5 hrs) and I studied in the evenings and from 05.30 every morning. And then there is Bill’s little pack of pink cards that give you a right real quiz every time you sit down to lunch. The result was 92% for the PPL written and 93% for the IR.

In my case I needed intensive practice with the G1000 system, particularly with the “buttonology,” and Bill kept drumming that into me. I paid a lot of attention to the G1000 manual and the aircraft POH in the second week. Bill showed a great deal of flexibility in adapting the training depending on the weather and available test booking scenarios; we settled early in the second week for Friday for both tests. Luckily the weather played along. After the “buttonology” comes the “fire drill” which sorts you out for flying two approaches rapidly after one another for a single facility. Bill knew what his Designated Examiner was looking for and gave me useful tips and encouraging words, food and perfectly timed AVGAS right through the test day which ended at 21.00 in Georgetown after we got back from testing in Brownwood.

I think it very well worth mentioning that Bill has all the “soft factors” buttoned down as well. The aircraft was in a perfect condition, we always had a clean windscreen, the right docs on board, all the training aids you can think of. He showed me a lot of useful programs on the Net, which make flight planning and weather updates quick and useful to find and interpret. His little pack of DVDs contain useful tutorials for everything from US radio technique to IF clearances and real-time emergency scenarios. He took me to every conceivable restaurant specializing in different variations of Texas cuisine and no sooner had you tasted the first mouthful out came the next briefing, the inevitable pink cards or the practical test standards /oral guides. Not even ordering his recommended specialty (“you can’t leave Texas without having had chicken fried steak”), got me exempted from the pink cards. Some days I was pretty wound up; he sensed that and found the balance to push you on, but keep you sane at the same time.

I worked very hard and Bill was quite honestly the “Perfect Coach”. I’d recommend him to anyone and threatened to send my wife over (only problem is she’d come back 20 lbs overweight).

A big thanks to AFIT and Bill from an “elated” INSTRUMENT RATED Pilot.