In Memory Of
Frank L. Sweet, CFI
12/5/48 - 11/15/07
Academic Air Helicopter Service
Tulsa, Oklahoma
Riverside Airport
Phone # 918-749-0657
Frank Sweet was a super fellow who instructed with a Schweizer Helicopter and he would also do instruction in your personal Rotorway ship but you will had to take it to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Frank had an arrangement with John Spurling to do a complete overview of your ship before Frank would fly in it. Frank was an excellent instructor and was also the local NTSB investigator consultant for the FAA in Tulsa. I guess you can see I am kinda partial to this fellow since he managed to teach me something in .6 tenths of an hour Rotorway couldn't seem to teach me in over 10 hours.
The short version of the story is at Rotorway in June 2002
I couldn't do a power recovery autorotation and spent $1,470.00 hard earned bucks trying to.
Frank had me doing full engine out 0 stop sitting on the ground autorotations in 6/10ths of an hour so I can't say enough about this fellow. Feel free to contact me for further information, Id be more than glad to help.
There are some great comments about Frank at the link below
RotorWay International
4140 W. Mercury Way
Chandler, Arizona 85226
Phone # 480-961-1001
Fax # 480-961-1514
Flight training at RotorWay is broken up into three phases.
Things not covered there - you have to take
the written test (which has to be done at an FAA test center),
the night flying requirement (which can be done while
at the factory at a near by facility they can refer you to) and
plan on additional training beyond the minimum taught at the factory.
Up to June 2002 their flight school has a 60% failure rate according to the newest CFI instructor Kye Gunn so you may want to think twice before investing your time and money with RotorWay's flight school.
Below are the statistics for the Rotorway flight school as compiled by Bill Orth, Rotorway chief flight instructor, as of early 2004.
The distinction between Phase Three and the Check Ride needs to be understood:
Phase Three is basically a review of flight maneuvers and ground school material, including at least 3 hours of dual flight instruction, conducted by one of the flight instructors, typically Bill Orth. It is PREPERATION for the check ride.
The Check Ride is an FAA mandated oral examination and flight test conducted by an FAA designated examiner, namely John O'Neil.
Phase Three always preceeds the Check Ride. If the student is unprepared, or elects not to proceed to the Check Ride, this is regarded as failing Phase Three, but NOT failing the Check Ride.
1. Phase One - 85% pass rate.
2. Phase Two - 96% pass rate.
3. Phase Three - 95% pass rate (started preparing on Monday and took the ride on Thursday or Friday).
Check Ride - 80% pass rate, first attempt (took ride Wednesday or Thursday). 100% pass rate, second attempt (took ride again on Friday).
Items 1, 2, and 4 are about the same going way back to even before Rotorway started compiling the statistics.
Item 3, however, was more like 50 to 60 percent failure rate up to June 2002.
This is only a reflection for those who attended Phase Three but never proceeded to the Check Ride segment.
Rotorway has made many improvements in the flight school syllabus and flight programs to include sample exams, and lots of discussion during Phase Two about what to prepare for when coming back for Phase Three. John O'neil now sits in at the end of the Phase Two week to help inform the Phase Two students of the rigors and realities of the Check Ride. This has had significant impact and the Phase Three Check Ride prep stat's have since improved to 95%.
The days of what people used to think of the Check Ride as the "RotorWay Flying Club" test are long gone. Rotorway continues to strive for improvement in all areas of the flight school program.
Below are independent CFI's qualified in RotorWay helicopters
who can come to you or you can go to them for one on one training.
Bill Albrecht, CFI, RH
21305 SD Hwy 25
De Smet, SD 57231
1-800-216-9924
I will train in my Hughes 269A/TH55 or your RW.
I am hesitant to do any training in my 162F because of insurance/liability.
Todd Carroll, CFI, RH
Nevada
Phone - no current # available
Joe DeAngelo, CFI, RH
426 South 12th Street
Quicy, Illinois 62301
Phone # 217-224-6087
Jonathan Leedahl, CFI, RH
Leonard, ND
Phone # 701-645-2578
Todd Levan, CFI, RH
Orv Neisingh, CFI, RH
8840 Co. Rd. 9790
West Plains, MO 65775
Phone # 417-255-2201
Cell # 417-464-9999
Mark Peterson, CFI, RH
AirMark Helicopters
PO Box 17205
Clearwater, FL 33762-0205
727-540-9424 Hanger/Office
727-410-7908 Cell
Darren Raliegh, CFI, RH
Former Chief Pilot at RotorWay
Email from Mr. Raliegh on 12/7/01:
My 24/7 responsibilities as a news pilot/reporter for a television station
do not allow me to get away from my current duty station long enough to
perform flight instruction. While I am still willing to answer questions
regarding the flight characteristics of RotorWay products, I am no longer in
the business of training RotorWay pilots.
Phone # 702-814-1791
Jan Rovde, CFI, RH
Boston, Massachusetts
Phone # 617-461-5339
John Tomaino, CFI, RH, FW
CFI Helicopter & Fixed Wing
Long Island , New York
Republic Airport
Phone # 631-949-1568
John has his own RotorWay Exec with EAA transition training exemption
and will train you in his helicopter or is willing to travel to you.
