Indian Hills in Ottumwa, Iowa (week 2 of 6)

I'm here to report on Indian Hills Community College commercial driver program in Ottumwa, Iowa. I'm currently two weeks into the six week program. The first week of the program is completely in class, where we study things like rules and regs, maps, logbooks, and routing. The DOT came out during week one and let us test on general knowledge, air breaks, and combos. Week two was spent almost entirely in the trucks, practicing left and right turns, pre-trips, and shifting (double clutch). The college owns several roads at the airport where we drive in about a 1.5 mile loop while practicing. The airport area does host other other industries so we do have to learn how to deal with other cars and semis. Next week we start doing skills training such as straight line backing, backing around corners (alley docking), and measured turns. Everyone who has attained their permits also starts highway and town trips next week. Oh, did I mention that the tuition is incredibly low at only $1,800.

Now on to the students. I expected more than we had, we started the program with only 10 students, and after week 1, that number was down to 7 students. I've found i really like the low student numbers because it give us more opportunity to ask questions in class, and gives us MUCH more drive time when we're in the trucks.

Instructors:
The classroom instructor/head of the program is a very knowledgeable former wal-mart driver who says he has over 4 million verifiable accident and moving citation free miles.
we have two driving instructors who are very knowledgeable retired drivers, who are patient and calm in the passenger seat, they take the time to show us how to do it right, then walk us through it as we are behind the wheel. I felt very comfortable behind the wheel from the get go because of our driving instructors. The class is split into 3/4 students per driving instructor to maximize drive time.
As our instructors are all DOT certified to give the exams (pre-trip, skills, and driving), so we will test right there on the roads that we are trained on, with instructors that we know and are used to. We're told that "to keep the instructors honest", the day after we test with our instructors, three students will be selected to complete one part of the test each for the DOT.

On to the trucks. The program owns four tractors and five trailers. We are currently only using two of the tractors because of the low student numbers.

Tractors:
1988? Cabover pete with unknown trans. (I'm told by the instructors that it is not often used)
2 - unknown year conventional freightliner's with 13 speed trans.
conventional international with super 10 trans. (picture below)

Trailers:
2 - empty 53' vans
1 - empty 48' van with dayton wheels.
1 - empty 53' flatbead
1 - 53' van with approx 15,000 pounds load of sand.

All in all, after two weeks of six, I have to give this program a 4/5 rating, my only complaint being the maintenance on one of the trucks being used, which needs its tranny rebuilt and a new throttle sensor put in, but what can you expect when it's student drivers, many of whom have never driven a stick shift or large vehicle in their life.

Pictured is the truck I'm training on and will test on.

 

This is the route we took during week 2, on campus practice driving. We took this route (red) going both clockwise and counter-clockwise. Also shown are some of the other industries that generate traffic on the roads we use.

 

Hey nickred sounds like a good school can I have the info how to get in touch with them.

 

Certainly:

http://www.indianhills.edu/courses/tech/commercialdriver.html
http://www.facebook.com/ihcctruckdriving

Rick Simpson, Program Director
email: Richard.Simpson@indianhills.edu
phone: (641) 683-4256 or (800) 726-2585, ext. 4256

 

Good write up of IHCC. Just be careful of the classroom instructor Rick. He will waste time, hours and hours in fact telling you personal stories unrelated to trucking. I don't mind a side story here or there but I thought it became a real problem and the classroom was the weakest part of the program. Just try to keep him on track.

The best thing about the program is they will get you behind the wheel fast and keep you driving. They will take you "off the reservation" and on to the open road for real highway driving soon enough.

FYI, the two Freightliner's (Wine and Purple) are a 1995 and 1996. We never took the Pete out. Do they still have the blue truck?

 

The wine truck is the international with the super 10 and the blue is the freightliner. But to answer your question, yes the blue truck is still here. Personally I think that truck is in need of retirement though, or at least a major overhaul.

 

^ Yeah, it is beat but most students liked it as they found it was eaiser to shift.

 

your school is only 1800 ? #### thats good here in ohio i am seeing prices of 6500 still looking though good luck to you wish you the best

 

Good news everyone! I graduated the Indian Hills program today, I scored pretty well on the tests:
Deductions:
Pre-Trip: 5
Skills: 3
Road test: 0

I'm excited to get started, and on the 20th of this month I start orientation with Roehl Transport for the national van division. I can't wait to get over the road, I'll be posting my experiences more and hopefully meeting many of you out on the road.

 

^congrats and good luck!