Choosing a Flight School

Choosing the right flight school for your needs is 50% of the battle as far as ending up at the right place with the right people there to support you. Here are some bullet points that can help you to build your own list of priorities in order to make the decision more straighforward:

1. Location: The flight school shouldn't be so far from your home or work that you consider the travel to and from the airport to be a chore. Although I've never thought that this would be an issue personally, because I've never had anything but a strong desire to show up and learn, some people might decide to bail on a lesson- or even quit altogether- if the drive time and traffic becomes too much to bear. Today's gas prices only compound the issue.

Location isn't just about travel time either. Consider other factors, such as airspace for example. Many people will wisely, in my opinion, travel a little farther away from a large city in order to train at a slightly less busy airport. Personally, I can't imagine trying to learn at an airport like BWI for example- the distraction would be too great, and the new skills and workload required just to get off the ground might faze some students. Experienced pilots usually avoid flying GA aircraft into major class bravo international airports (e.g. BWI, Dulles, Reagan National; LAX, SFO, DIA, you get the idea)- that should tell you something. Another side effect of airspace is whether or not the airport has a tower. The presence or absence of a tower has a double-edged effect- on one hand, it might be good, because as a student, you will be well versed in dealing with a tower once you get your ticket. On the other hand, it might take time (and in aviation, time REALLY IS money) to travel away from a busy towered airport to get to a practice area, where maneuvering flight (a fancy name for when we do fun stuff besides flying straight and level) can be safely performed. Having to burn some fuel and $ and instructor time just to "get over there" to do stalls for example might be viewed as wasted money.

Another side effect of location and airspace is operating procedures for entry and exit from the airport- and in this case, I'm specifically referring to the Washington DC special flight rules. This extra layer of actions that are required on the part of any pilot can complicate your flying lessons a bit, and any extra layers of frustration can lead down the path to quitting before the student completes their training.

2.  Instructors: Although I will be writing a subsequent piece on how to approach the task of picking an instructor, some general ideas can be brought up at this point. From the general flight school perspective, you should look to pick a school that has a large pool of instructors, so that if your primary instructor is sick or goes on vacation or whatever manner of short term disappearance, you can grab another instructor and still make your flight (in these cases, sometimes grabbing one of the most experienced instructors in order to get feedback on your peformance is a great idea). A small school with only one or two instructors not only minimizes or eliminates this possibility, but a school of such a size screams out to me that the school might not be making a lot of money, and they might not even be in business for much longer (which is why ANY prepaid training plans should be viewed with skepticism, in my opinion).

 3. Aircraft: This one is easy. You will feel more comfortable and get more satisfaction training in newer, better equipped, and more modern aircraft. This is true for both your training flights and the flying that you will inevitably (hopefully!) be doing once you get your license. Mom and dad and Grandmom and your nephew etc. will be more at ease getting their first flight with you in a newer looking airplane.

That is not to say that at some point you will likely fly an airplane older than you are! Typically this will happen when you need a specific type of airplane for specific training- for instance, if you need an airplane with retractable landing gear, or a multiengine airplane. These sorts of fancier expensive airplanes are less common in rental fleets, and the older ones simply cost less for their owners to acquire and lease back. Older aircraft are generally viewed with skepticism from the perspective of safety by the general public, but anyone that has been flying for a while knows that age has little to do with safety, comfort, features, etc. when it comes to flying.

What is more important than aircraft age is how well the airplane has been maintained- and for that matter, updated as well- such as paint, interior, and avionics. Have a look over the school's fleet and check for dents, cracks, bald tires, MAJOR oil leaks, poor windows, ratty seats, and the like. If nothing screams out at you- even with a relatively untrained eye- that's a good indication that the hidden parts of the plane, for instance the important parts like inside the engine and airframe, are in good condition.

Also, it makes sense to pick a flight school that has a large number (let's say, more than two) of the make and model of airplane that you will be flying. This is helpful simply from the perspective of trying to maximize your chances to fly, based on schedule availability.

If anything else pops into my head, I'll put it up later.

Getting Started in Flight Training

The biggest hurdle to getting started as a student on their way to a private pilot license is "getting out the door". Don't misunderstand my choice of language, because that phrase has another more specific meaning in skydiving, whose meaning you can probably easily determine. I'm talking about getting your butt up from that chair and out to the airport! I am fully aware that it is easier to just sit at home, poking around the net for info and advice, convincing yourself that the the idea of getting started in flight training seems as likely as becoming CEO of Coca-Cola or curing cancer.

Trust me, it's not like that at all, and if you go to the right flight school, as soon as you walk in the door, you are very likely to enter a warm and understanding environment where no question is "silly" or "stupid". We have ALL BEEN THERE, on day one, not knowing what color the fuel should be (or what color it shouldn't be), or where to check the oil. Everyone has these little learning hills to climb, and I guarantee that every single hill climb will fill you with a sense of accomplishment. The first time that you can "pay it forward" and help someone else check or adjust their tire pressure, you will both feel rewarded. You will feel good about being able to offer a helping hand, and they will feel good that they learned something, and furthermore it wasn't an embarrassing situation for them.

My next entry will cover the topic of choosing a flight school, and after that I'll get into choosing a flight instructor. These steps are two of the biggest hurdles that make the difference between someone who actually starts flight training, and someone who just stands by the fence filled with uncertainty and fear, watching other airplanes take off and land, yearning to be in the left seat. Once those two choices (pick a school, pick an instructor) are behind you, all that remains is to learn the reference materials, learn how to fly the plane, and then pass a "checkride" , where you prove to an examiner that you know your stuff, with respect to both knowledge and flying skills. Safety is always job #1, so any thought or action is always taught from that perspective. I can't stress that enough.

So! if you can read and study, you can learn the reference materials. If you learned how to drive a car, you already know how to absorb and apply knowledge towards the safe operation of a vehicle. So there's really no mystery to the process at all!

Oh right, except for the next two major topics. Let me go catch up on my logbook (a common pilot joke, or chore, depending on if the pilot is "caught up" or "behind") and I'll get back to you soon.