Has anyone received their Seaplane Rating/Multi from Traverse Air, TVC, MI?

[Pilotl1234]

Hi everyone,

I was thinking of scheduling my seaplane and multi ratings with Tom Brady at Traverse Air. Has anyone gone through his program? Any comments or suggestions?

Thank you!

 

[jordane93]

I did my commercial multi with Tom. Great operation, great instructor. I have nothing but good things to say. He sends you an info packet/study guide beforehand so you can study the procedures, systems and checklist for his Apache. I'd definitely go with Tom.

 

[Pilotl1234]

I did my commercial multi with Tom. Great operation, great instructor. I have nothing but good things to say. He sends you an info packet/study guide beforehand so you can study the procedures, systems and checklist for his Apache. I'd definitely go with Tom.

Thank you very much for all of your input! That's great to hear Tom is a great instructor. If you don't mind me asking, what is your opinion of the flight examiner/the checkride?

 

[jordane93]

Thank you very much for all of your input! That's great to hear Tom is a great instructor. If you don't mind me asking, what is your opinion of the flight examiner/the checkride?

Tom uses two examiners. My guy was a retired NWA and current 91 TBM pilot. It was very straight forward. One of the easiest checkride I've taken. If you study exactly what's in the study guide you'll do fine. It's basically a guarenteed pass.

 

[mondtster]

I don't have any personal experience with Tom, but when I was in Cadillac, MI his twin was flying almost non stop the whole time I was there. I also took a checkride with an examiner that does a lot of his checkrides and I felt he was very fair.

Northwoods Aviation is also in Cadillac and does seaplane ratings much like Tom does. I'm just mentioning them as another option.

 

[Brad Z]

I did my MEI and my buddy did his ASES. He'll quickly get you up to speed for the check ride. It's not a fancy operation; the seaplane operation is run out of his backyard and the apache is in Cadillac MI, about 40 minutes away. The planes aren't pretty but everything that needs to work works. He fuels with auto gas from gas cans. No office, just Tom and his cell phone, so getting a hold of him can be a challenge sometimes when he's flying...although he always gets back to you. I used the same examiner as Jordane93 and he was fair.

 

[NJP_MAN]

I did the C-AMEL with Tom. Best training I've ever received. Best checkride I've ever taken as well.

 

[Sam D]

Tom uses two examiners. My guy was a retired NWA and current 91 TBM pilot. It was very straight forward. One of the easiest checkride I've taken. If you study exactly what's in the study guide you'll do fine. It's basically a guarenteed pass.

As of this summer, he was down to one guy (the older one). Very laid back and enjoyable checkride. To the OP, I second everything @jordane93 said. However, it's a lot to cover in 7 hours of flying. Go in making sure your stick and rudder skills and instrument skills are sharp. This will take a little of the water pressure out of the fire hose.

 

[coloradobluesky]

One thing you can do to practice for you seaplane rating is brush up on slow flight. Thats how you configure the plane to do a glassy water landing. Get that one nailed and it will help you (and impress the instructor).