There are a lot of really good things about Alyeska Helicopters, (like admin and the maintenance guys) but space constraints will not permit me to elaborate as much as I'd like to. So on to the most relevant. My instruction experience was a combination of the best and the worst. I started out with a phenomenally talented instructor that had me making noticeable improvement every flight. True to his prediction, I was hovering in 8 hours. Hovering, incidentally, is the hardest part, can be daunting, and is easy to overthink. He had little tricks for getting my head out of the game that made all the difference in the world. The same was true of liftoffs and touchdowns, descents to land and takeoffs. With him I always looked forward to the challenge, eagerly awaited the next flight, and was progressively improving. He wasn't one to waste words or talk a lot to say little. His comments were short, meaningful, and made their point, thereby not distracting me from the task at hand. Initially I got the lecture on why gentle control inputs were crucial but after that it was just, "oh no, don't do that" when I screwed up. Eventually he wasn't saying, "oh no, don't do that" and I knew I was improving. More to the point, his message was delivered and received without destroying my train of thought or concentration. With him I always knew who was flying the helicopter. His control interventions, like his verbal inputs, were minimal, letting me see, feel, correct and learn from my mistakes. At the time I didn't recognize how helpful that was but became acutely aware of it when I flew with the next guy. Flight instruction is mostly a stepping stone for aspiring pilots so I wasn't surprised when he moved up and onward to another job. I consider it my good fortune to have had him as a first instructor. When my 5-star instructor moved on my already scheduled and partially paid for flight time was handed off to his replacement, This experience was a 180 degree about face. Instead of improving I got progressively worse with this, we'll call him the 1-star instructor because he is so bad. When learning a new skill we go through a 4 step evolution starting at (1) unconsciously incompetent, to (2) consciously incompetent, to (3) consciously competent, to (4) unconsciously competent. Transitioning from step 2 to step 3 is the hardest part and is where a bad instructor can ruin you. Step one is a matter of recognizing that a skill is needed and step 4 is a matter of building myelin around the neural pathways we've built resulting in what is also known as muscle memory. It's a necessary step but really a matter of repetition. Just something to keep in mind while I share my 1-star instructor experiences. The other concept to consider is SNS activation. With 1-star I heard the same lecture repeatedly. Maybe 14 times and always while intently trying to move from step 2 to step 3. Imagine having your concentration destroyed time and time again and then having 1-star bark at you because your performance has fallen as a result. With 1-star I could never tell who was flying the helicopter. He was constantly intervening to the point where I lost all ability to recognize, correct and learn from my mistakes. With 1-star the expectations were always changing, hover height being a prime example. One day it's, "get higher." The next day it's a whole different standard. When asked about the discrepancies he becomes argumentative, much like you'd expect from a teenager. if 1-star's goal is to get a student to fail, he is very good at that. 1-star takes all the fun out of it and obliterates enthusiasm to the point where I opted forfeit my funds on deposit rather than spend any more counter-productive time with this no talent instructor. My advice, don't prepay. I have so much more I could share but am up against a space constraint. I am also not sharing a name on the off chance that 1-star may improve and don't want this to follow him if he does. It's a possibility. Many thanks to the rest of the awesome Alyeska crew.
Anchorage, Alaska · PAMR
Alyeska Helicopters, LLC
4.9 from 7 Google reviews
Alyeska Helicopters, LLC is a flight school in Anchorage, Alaska. A full write-up of this school has not been published yet; the contact details and Google reviews on this page are current as of the last sync.
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