Choosing a Flying School

Choosing the right flying school can be a difficult decision for an aspiring pilot. Almost every airfield offers their own flight instruction, but how do you know which is the best? Individual factors like your available time schedule and budget can impact your decision. Here are a few things to think about when selecting a flying school.

Choosing a flying school: Cost

Of course, price is an important consideration when choosing a flying school, but it cannot be the only factor. Quality of instruction is very important in a life or death endeavor like flying. It may also take longer to learn the necessary skills if you are not getting good training from your flying school. This can result in a higher overall cost to get your pilot's license even if the cheaper school charges less per hour for instruction.

Choosing a flying school: How close to home?

The distance from your home is another factor to consider before you select a flying school. Besides being more convenient, attending a flying school near your residence can help reduce time lost due to bad weather. If you are flying close to home, you can simply look out the window and see if the day's weather conditions are suitable. Otherwise, you may spend an hour driving to your airfield and discover that it is not safe to fly at that time.

Choosing a flying school: How long?

The decision between taking an intensive flying school course or a more spread out schedule can also be an important one. Intensive courses obviously take less time, but are more strenuous and require the student to pick up a lot of information quickly. However, students generally remember the information better when there is less time between classes. An intensive flying school class can also be a good way to get your pilot's license while on vacation. Learning to fly with a more spread out schedule may be better for people who are trying to fit in their flying lessons around daily obligations like work or kids.

Choosing a flying school: Research your potential choices

Once you have narrowed down the things you want from your flying school, it is time to do some research. Talk to current and former students of the flying school to get their opinion of the instruction offered. Ask recent graduates of the flight instructor if they felt prepared when they took their pilot's license test. Some flying schools offer a trial lesson or a demonstration flight with no financial commitment. These are good methods of "test driving" your flight school before signing up for any lessons.