> steve wrote:

>> hey guys... i've been searching thru the site a fair bit but haven't
>> come up with much on curtis aviation. i guess that's a good thing to
>> some degree, i seem to find a lot of threads on basair =P

>

>> so has anyone flown with these guys? do they have a good/bad/average
>> reputation in the industry? i'm wanting to get my CPL part time over the
>> next few years, and they offer a lot of useful stuff like bush strip
>> training (i plan to be flying places like PNG, philippines, indo, etc
>> with nasty short grass strips), flying trips, aerobatics, and stuff like
>> that. the guys have been really friendly and seem pretty good from what
>> i can tell as a newbie

>

>> any thoughts and opinions appreciated!

>
> Commercial training with the Marshall clan...good luck with that.
> Neither of them have done any "real" commercial operation in their
> entire careers. Rob Marshall and I go back a fair way and after many
> years in the industry, and many thousand hours after spending time under
> his "tutelage" I've become less and less impressed with some of the
> "lessons" he tried to instil. If I actually flew his preferred
> "position uncertain" procedures in the real world, for example, I'd be
> dead now; getting lost on the Tanami desert without a GPS is not a good
> place to be!
>
> Still, people change and maybe he's become a bit more approachable and a
> little less of an authority on everything (whether he actually knew
> anything about it or not was irrelevant)...or may not even be in the
> picture any more.
>
> Best idea is to give them (Curtis) a go if you like what you see, hang
> around. If you don't "click" with them, then find another school. In
> my experience the interaction between student and instructor is usually
> more important to your progress than many other factors. Most
> instructors can (I hope!) teach you how to fly, some are better than
> others for sure; how fast you learn is often a combination of raw,
> latent skill, the quality of the instruction, and your relationship with
> the instructor. Of the three, the last one will outweigh the other two
> if you don't get on well with the instructor.
>
> So no matter what school you end up with, make sure the training program
> is well organised, the facilities are up to your standards, and you and
> your instructor have a good relationship. I had 3 instructors during my
> commercial course; the first one and I just did not hit it off and I
> dreaded every flight with them. The next two were superb and I remember
> those flights fondly :) Rob Marshall was not one of those two either.
>
> Good luck with it all, and if you do cross paths with Rob Marshall,
> remember, it's your money, your career and your choice - don't let him
> bully you ;)
>
> Cheers,
>
> James