Flight Training Opinions

From Wayne:

Sometimes people ask me for advice on how they should go about becoming a pilot, or getting their licence. Here is what I normally give them:

Pick a location that they can get to. Depending on where they live, depends on where they should do their training.

Pick a school that makes THEM feel comfortable. Do you feel welcome? You’re going to give a lot of money to them over a period of time and you don’t want to feel like you’re dealing with a greasy used car salesman every time you show up. It’s an individual preference.

No matter what the schools (or flying clubs) say, they’re all going to cost about the same, and unfortunately, it’s going to cost a lot more than the price they give you.

Money can be a problem. From my days as an instructor I would always recommend that you have as much money saved up as you can. Running out of cash before the end of training is both a demoralizing setback and cripples your learning.

​Another tip I’d offer is to COMMIT to at least 2 or 3 days a week for training. Flying once a month when you have the cash is fine, but the skills you learned one week need to be relearned every time you go flying, and this will draw out the process and will take longer and cost more money.

From Nick:In BC we have the luxury of having flight schools that come in all shapes and sizes: There are independent owners running small businesses, there are big companies that run one or multiple schools, and clubs that offer flight training alongside rentals and other services.

When selecting a flight school, like any purchase, it is extremely important to feel comfortable with where your money is going. When I shop at a place where I know my dollars are going directly into the pockets of (an) individual(s) who supports him/her/their self, I feel better about it.

When I did my flight training, this was one of my guiding principles. I was going to be spending $50K or more (for private and commercial). That amount of money is not small. Even $10-12K for just a private is no small amount. Before choosing a flight school, spend time meeting the people who are involved, who owns/manages/teaches, and see where your dollars will be going. At the end of your training, you want to be happy with the product you received and who you gave your money to while getting there.

From Scott: Most local flight schools have acquired reputations for strengths and weaknesses in certain areas. I think it depends what the objective of your training is, ie PPL, CPL, advanced ratings etc.

Do your homework, meet with the instructors and ask to speak with some students who are doing what you are hoping to train for. Whatever you do, don’t rely on old testimonials. I have been extremely frustrated in my attempt to obtain my CPL this year.

The school I selected was where I did my instrument rating 10 years ago and it was a top notch operation then.

It has gone down the toilet since then. Most of the students I have talked to are unhappy. They have accepted far too many people for training and it is near impossible to get a plane and your assigned instructor more than once per week.

I would ask to see the schools online booking tool and see what the availability of spots for training are before committing. If you can fly regularly you will advance your training more quickly so picking a school that caters to large groups of foreign students may not be the best way to go.

Perhaps it is the same everywhere but I know I am voting with my feet and looking for a different training operation to do my multi-IFR.”

From Abishek:

I have been pursuing my PPL actively for close to 2 years, moved to Vancouver on work and have moved between 3 schools because of work\life balance, being a weekend warrior, conflicts with instructors and finding the right tick. Here is what I can summarize as things to remember — Remember you are paying for a course so you have a right to learn.

– Find out how many airplanes the school has flying, this makes a huge difference because during summer you might be grounded for days if you don’t get your bookings in place or are limited with choices of airplane.

– Do not pay money up front, chose to pay as you go.

– You do not have to be locked to one school or instructor, your learning and hours matter first.

– Visit the school, talk to the instructors if you can. The first google result is not usually the best. Finding the right instructor can make a huge difference, with the right person, you might even be soloing in no time. Find someone who shares your passion, grab a coffee with him or her and find out why they fly.

– Take a look at the airplanes, they will be old but they can be well maintained and thats important.

– Ask about ground school, find out how frequent the classes are and who teaches. In most cases it might be a newly minted CPL pilot, which isn’t wrong but it helps to have someone experienced explain the theory of it all.

– Flying is fueled by passion. Passion from you as a student, passion from your instructor and school.

– Trust your gut, if the instructor and you do not gel, then ask for someone else (refer to point 1, its your money)

From Alexander: There is a lot to think about when it comes to flight training.  I highly recommend waiting until you can afford to do your training in one go, as opposed to picking away at it over the course of a year or so.  Ideally you should be flying a couple times a week, that way you do not have to go back and re-learn all you have forgotten since your last lesson.  Make sure the school understands that, and they can provide a reasonable commitment to being able to keep that pace up.  In the long run, you will definitely save money and time just getting it done.  However, it is easier said than done.

Depending on your goal after your PPL,  take a look at the school’s rental policy following completion of your license, some have quite demanding currency requirements to be able to rent their planes, that can be fairly difficult to keep up with.  Also ask around, there is “Air share”  arrangements where you basically buy shares in an aircraft, and that is a lot less restrictive and it tends to work out more economical than renting from a school.

Remember that flight schools are a business, and ultimately they want your money.  Most are pretty honest, but if you feel you aren’t being treated fairly, make sure you bring it up.

Hope this helps a bit!​