The FlyingTanker Has Started School
Topic 15074 | Page 1
I hit publish too soon, here is my diary 
On June 21st in the afternoon I drove the 160 or so miles to Drumwright Oklahoma to start my CDL training. My Training is beginning with the CDL permit prep class, which is two days long, then I will take the permit tests and drive home, and will come back Tuesday of next week to start the real truck driving course.
I got to my lodging at the Driller Inn at about 5:45 last night, unpacked, then drove to the school to kinda check it out. After that I ate dinner, hung out in the house for a while and went to bed. Not really much happened. My house mate did not get in until late so I didn't see him until this morning.
This morning, June 22nd, I headed over to the school at 6:45 as I had been instructed in the email, and found out that I was fifteen minutes early and the east entrance, which I had been instructed to use was still locked. My house mate found me wondering around and brought me over to the south entrance and I met my instructor Mr. Towner. My class is made up of four guys including myself, and two girls.
Initially we were introduced to the school, given some paper work to fill out then sent out to a tiny clinic in town to get the DOT physical done. That was pretty painless and easy. After that the instructor gave us a tour of the school building, he would have given us a tour of the course too, but the DOT was all over the place and he didn't want to be in the way. After the tour we came back to the classroom and started on the airbrakes portion of the CDL manual. We stopped for lunch around noon, and when we came back in at one o clock we played with the air brake simulator, finished up the air brakes chapter and moved on to the combination vehicles section. Each section of the course includes us reading the manual, then a video, then the instructor quizzing us on the section and expounding on it.
Class ended around four o clock and I headed back to the house. There really isn't much more to tell. I will probably get better at this blogging thing in time, I hope to include more pictures and maybe even videos in future posts. That is it for now folks, Lord willing I will post again tomorrow.
June 23rd
Class started at 7:00. It began with CDL test prep videos for General Knowledge and Combination Vehicles. Lunch was at noon. After lunch we watched a couple more videos, then we did practice tests for the rest of the day. I aced all the practice tests scoring 100% on all but General Knowledge which I scored 98% on. Class let out at 4:00. After I got back to my room I was bored so I decided to go ahead and study for the HAZMAT test. I studied until 8:45, then went to bed.
June 24th: Test Day
Class started at 7:00 again. We just focused on tests. I mainly focused on HAZMAT since I had all the others down. Our appointment for the real test was at 1:00, but around 11:00, everyone was ready to be done with practice tests and a few filtered out. At 11:30 our instructor let class out and told us we could go early but we would probably wait in line. We all decided to try and see if they would take us early and headed out. I rode with one of the other guys. We both arrived first and got in the regular line. At about 12:45 we got called and by 1:00 we were taking our tests. I opted to take all the tests for all the endorsments except Passenger, and I passed all of them. So I have, Tanker, Doubles/Triples, Air Brakes, Combinations and HAZMAT done. I really didn't think I would pass the HAZMAT, I did so little study on it, but I did. The guy I rode with and one other guy from our class passed, the other three failed. Those of us that passed got to come home Friday and we don't have to go back to class until Wednesday when the real course starts. Everyone else has to go back Monday and try to pass again. Anyway, after we got our paperwork from the DMV we headed back to Drumwright and got our CDL permits. We then went to the school and got our permits copied and after that I headed home. It was a good day. I studied so long for those tests, and it payed off.
CDL:
Commercial Driver's License (CDL)
A CDL is required to drive any of the following vehicles:
- Any combination of vehicles with a gross combined weight rating (GCWR) of 26,001 or more pounds, providing the gross vehicle weight rating (GVWR) of the vehicle being towed is in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any single vehicle with a GVWR of 26,001 or more pounds, or any such vehicle towing another not in excess of 10,000 pounds.
- Any vehicle, regardless of size, designed to transport 16 or more persons, including the driver.
- Any vehicle required by federal regulations to be placarded while transporting hazardous materials.
HAZMAT:
Hazardous Materials
Explosive, flammable, poisonous or otherwise potentially dangerous cargo. Large amounts of especially hazardous cargo are required to be placarded under HAZMAT regulations
Combination Vehicle:
A vehicle with two separate parts - the power unit (tractor) and the trailer. Tractor-trailers are considered combination vehicles.
DOT:
Department Of Transportation
A department of the federal executive branch responsible for the national highways and for railroad and airline safety. It also manages Amtrak, the national railroad system, and the Coast Guard.
State and Federal DOT Officers are responsible for commercial vehicle enforcement. "The truck police" you could call them.
Doubles:
Refers to pulling two trailers at the same time, otherwise known as "pups" or "pup trailers" because they're only about 28 feet long. However there are some states that allow doubles that are each 48 feet in length.
Dm:
Dispatcher, Fleet Manager, Driver Manager
The primary person a driver communicates with at his/her company. A dispatcher can play many roles, depending on the company's structure. Dispatchers may assign freight, file requests for home time, relay messages between the driver and management, inform customer service of any delays, change appointment times, and report information to the load planners.DMV:
Department of Motor Vehicles, Bureau of Motor Vehicles
The state agency that handles everything related to your driver's licences, including testing, issuance, transfers, and revocation.
HOS:
Hours Of Service
HOS refers to the logbook hours of service regulations.
Sounds awesomeness man! Thanks for the update! This is encouraging!
New Reply:
New! Check out our help videos for a better understanding of our forum features
Preview:
Why Join Trucking Truth?
- The High Road Training Program
- The High Road Article Series
- The Friendliest Trucker's Forum Ever!
- Email Updates When New Articles Are Posted
Apply For Paid CDL Training Through TruckingTruth
Did you know you can fill out one quick form here on TruckingTruth and apply to several companies at once for paid CDL training? Seriously! The application only takes one minute. You will speak with recruiters today. There is no obligation whatsoever. Learn more and apply here:
TT On Facebook
Well folks I have started trucking school at Central Tech Truck Driver school in Drumwright Oklahoma. I am so excited. First a big thank you to Trucking Truth, I passed all of my endorsement tests, even HAZMAT on the first attempt. I aced all of them except General and I had an acceptable score on that one
So thanks, This site is awesome 
HAZMAT:
Hazardous Materials
Explosive, flammable, poisonous or otherwise potentially dangerous cargo. Large amounts of especially hazardous cargo are required to be placarded under HAZMAT regulations