I finished my first recurrent with AST yesterday. Previous did an initial last year.
Man. These guys are so much fun to work with! There’s no BS silly games learning how to work every switch and button in the sim. It’s not in your airplane. It doesn’t matter. It’s right to flying. They throw every scenario I could think of at you. Even got to try a VMC roll. Bird strikes. Split flaps. Blown tires. Microbursts. Single engine night, day, heavy, light, high DA, you name it. And they’ll even let you really screw yourself and give you a failure at the worst possible time.
I mostly worked with Jim and he’s a great guy. Let’s you try it your way, and then the AST way. See what works better. There’s no pressure to do it their way. I have to say, there wasn’t a time where my way was better. Theirs won every time.
I’m a low time pilot. Around 980 TT, just hit 200 hours ME. With their training, I feel like my family behind me is safe. You can’t plan for everything, but I feel like I left AST a better ME pilot.
Thanks again Rick, Chuck, Jim, and Jess (and tell Staci she’s amazing!) and I can’t wait to do it again!