That's all folks, hope to see you at the Co-Op soon.
Yours truly
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| SORRY- The Pilot's Co-Op is no more - what a pity! |
Many years ago (so it seems), after I finally had my Single-Engine-Land in my pocket, I learned that the school I had trained at was not the only place to rent planes. So I started to shop around and was so lucky to find the Pilot's Co-Op. Not only were the people really nice and supportive (that was the case in the other flight school too), but also were the planes nice and - no - not supportive - but very well kept and maintained. I had tried one other school that also had very good prices and the planes also flew, but that was actually the feeling - you were surprised that they flew. I was really sure that I had found the right place. The difference to other flight schools was that it was a club and I had to pay a membership fee of $ 12.50, but with all the flying I planed to do and the very good prices, just a bit more for a Warrior than I had paid for a Tomahawk at my first school, that was nothing. And there was always coffee! So I had found my home airport. Burbank! If you can't wait and want to get there right away - here is the address: Pilot's Co-Op No worries, further down, for all those with patience, I will have instructions how to get there. But first let me show you around a bit. The day I went there to take some pictures for this page was a holiday, so the flighline was not as crowded as usual. |
Co-Op Flight Line (one of them)
| Or another view that really showed that on the long 4th of July weekend quite some people remembered that they had this piece of paper from the FAA still around somewhere .... |
Co-Op Flight Line (another one)
| What do we have left here? In the foreground that seems to be the
Seminole, right back looks like the Cherokee Six, and left back must be a Warrior or
possibly the Arrow. This might sound like all Piper, but there are lots of Chessnas
around, and also for the very brave at heart, a Citabria. And there actually are
instructors around that can teach you a different attitude, or at least to fly it. OK - now where is this place? You have the address and phone number in case you get lost, but here are some more instructions. For general orientation, the Coop (that's how the controllers call it) is located on the south-west end of the Burbank airport. In the Thomas Guide (or something similar) you can find the intersection of Vanowen and Vineland, and I just assume that you can find that. From here you go north on Vineland (towards the mountains) cross a railroad track and turn right into the driveway just past that. Here you will see already the big sign "PILOT'S COOP". Follow this driveway just north of the railroad track to the parking lot and park. You will be behind this building here ... |
| You enter the holy halls of the Co-Op through the door under the sign
"FLIGHTEAST". I don't really know why that sign still says that but there really
is no Flighteast. For one there is the Co-Op and then there is AEROTECH SERVICES (the big
hanger that says PIPER) where Dan Tompkins Jr. takes care of the planes on line with the
Co-Op. The Co-Op has between fifteen and twenty planes
on-line, two flight simulators one of which is a Frasca 142. You
see, you can do the full IFR training even if it's the most beautiful weather outside |
| Once you are ready to do it all by yourself and kick the flight instructor
out of the right seat and put in your loved one, friend, or buddy, there is still one
little obstacle to overcome: the practical test has to be passed, and before that the
theoretical. To do that (the theoretical) I still had to find a test center to take the
test for my instrument rating. Since then, too late for me, the Co-Op got some computers
and approval from the FAA to do the test in-house. Is that convenient or what? As a little
anecdote on the side - when I took the written test for my PPL (private pilot license), I
did it the old fashioned way with pencil and paper and had to wait for three weeks for the
result - three weeks in which I was certain that I had failed. It is so much nicer to take
the test and get the result right away. Oh, yes, and as I mentioned the practical test - for this one we still have to go to a designated FAA examiner. None at Burbank, so it could be Van Nuys or Santa Monica. Several choices. So, now that you really want to start flying, or get back into it and continue your training, how do you go about doing this at the Co-Op? The best would be to go there, probably after calling for an appointment with a flight instructor or Dan Tompkins, the guy who created the Co-Op. The instructors are all free lance's. I will ask all of them to put together some info about themselves so that you know more about them than they know about you. You will be together with your CFI (Certified Flight Instructor) for quite a bit and you will go through some things together, so it's a good idea to have some talks and test compatibility. Most of the time there are some CFIs hanging out there at the Co-Op during the day. All of them that I had to do with are real great people - what would you expect from pilots - right? - and just talking to them is probably a good idea. Once you have decided on an instructor you pick a plane, make an appointment, and be flying very soon. Oops, forgot - you first have to join the club officially. Before you do that, you should check out what Dan Tompkins has to say. |
| Beside all the high tech things at the Co-Op there is one extremely
important facility that is often under estimated. The chairs to both sided of the Co-Op
door. Coming back from a beautiful flight, maybe late at night, the ears still a bit
buzzing. Then sitting down on these chairs, a little bit of a relaxing talk with another
Co-Op member or your buddy, before splitting and going home - - - that's life! And before I split now and let you go your way, just one more thing that hopefully pushes you over the edge and will eventually make you a pilot. Look at this happy student ... |
| ... after she successfully practices a couple of steep turns (on the
ground). That's all folks, hope to see you at the Co-Op soon.
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