What made you choose your flight school over the others?
Posted by Dismal-Cupcake9303@reddit | flying | View on Reddit | 20 comments
I’ve noticed everyone seems to prioritize something completely different when picking a flight school.
Some people care most about cost, others care about instructor quality, aircraft maintenance, scheduling flexibility, career connections, overall vibe, etc.
So for the pilots and student pilots here, what was the biggest factor that made you choose your school specifically? And looking back, would you make the same choice again?
JSTootell@reddit
Found out that my friend, who had a plane in his profile picture, also happened to be a CFI.
He also owned his own plane.
So, no flight school shopping needed. Saved me a lot of headaches.
AccidentCommon208@reddit
Financing 💀
SavingsPirate4495@reddit
Man...you have to go back DECADES!! 🤣🤣🤣
I had decided to start flight training "just because" and had spoken to someone at work who had taken flying lessons. He recommended learning at a towered facility with an ARSA. Yes...it was that long ago!! There was one such facility in my area that was conducive for that exact level of flight training, so I started looking at the flight schools on that airport.
That following Sunday, I look in the paper (remember those back in the day?? 🤣🤣) and there's an article about the owners of a flight school on that airport; husband, wife, and son. Their credentials and history were exemplary and fascinating!!
I made an appointment the next week to meet with the school owner, the husband, and he walked me around their school. I made an appointment for my first lesson and I kept that instructor for both my Private Pilot Certificate and Instrument Rating...he was friggin' AWESOME!
7 years later when I decided to make aviation a career, I went back to that flight school and got my Commercial/Multi from another instructor there. He was equally friggin' AWESOME!!!
Keeping the momentum going, several years later, I got my CFI/CFI-I at American Flyers. They have a great reputation. And that's where I started my aviation career after 20 years in "the business world".
That's the VERY short story.
And the rest is history...
Harry73127@reddit
10 minutes from my house. Well-run part 61 that doesn’t screw you on pricing. No complaints at all
realh2h2@reddit
10 minutes from where I live
eugeneoshepkov@reddit
Just picked based on how close it was to my place - still quite far away, 40 minutes by car. Also their fleet looks good, 15 different airplanes - good variety if I ever want to try other airplanes
Affectionate-Let-979@reddit
20min from where I live. I only fly on weekends, and it keeps getting cancelled because of the weather or my instructor. At least I get there quickly. Would I really be better off elsewhere in terms of weather and instructor availability? Probably not, and I’d be adding an extra hour of driving.
yogaballcactus@reddit
I think it depends on what else is going on in your life. I’ve got a lucrative but time-consuming day job, so I am willing to pay up for a school with a lot of planes and CFIs willing to come in early before I go to work or stay late after I’m done work. If I had less money or if I had more time then I’d probably try to find a cheaper place with a handful of clapped out old Cessnas and only a few CFIs and just accept that maintenance and scheduling are going to be issues.
Proximity to my home was also huge and I am paying extra for it. But being close by means I can work in a lesson before or after work and I get to fly 2-4 times per week instead of 1-2.
I would make the same choice again I think. When you can only fly 2 or 3 times a week, you really do not want maintenance to ground you. I’ve rejected a plane once or twice and my CFI just looked up which of the other many planes sitting on the ramp was available and we took it up instead.
Mispelled-This@reddit
At first, I prioritized cost. Then I saw what I got: dated planes and poor availability, and then lots of flights canceled anyway due to maintenance not being done promptly.
So I quit there and went to the school on the other side of the field with a newer, larger and better-maintained fleet. I went from flying 2-3 times per month to 2-3 times per week. The cost per hour was higher, but I made more progress in fewer hours, so the total price was likely the same or lower.
Antique-Kitchen-1896@reddit
Cost with a controlled field.
Worked out I have gotten a good deal of benefits out of it.
intercepting_final@reddit
Location! They were located 15 min down the road so no reason to relocate.
strategic_leaf@reddit
They were the only 1 ( out of 3) that picked up the phone. I left messages, but the other two didn't even call back
NevadaCFI@reddit
15 years ago, I wanted a seasoned instructor. My CFI for PPL and IR was in his 70s, had about 20,000 hours, and was simply a fantastic instructor. That's what I was looking for in a school.
21MPH21@reddit
That's a really good point, a lifetime CFI is worth their weight in gold. Too many just going through the motions to get their hours
EliteEthos@reddit
They had airplanes and instructors
SyllabubMore3865@reddit
I actually started at a different flight school than the one I go to now. The mistake I made was not asking enough questions and just started flying because it was the cheapest at the time. Well, I did not connect well with my instructor at all and found him difficult to learn from the start, scheduling was sporadic, and once I left like a month later, the primary aircraft I used ended up in the middle of the highway. My second time around I looked into things like instructor vibes, scheduling, airplane maintenance, and went with the best option. I wish I would have done that the first time around to save myself a few thousand dollars as my first 20 hours weren’t super beneficial or productive.
21MPH21@reddit
Florida because you're going to fly a lot of days (sometimes mornings, sometimes nights, gotta be flexible).
Been around a while.
Recent and old-school avionics.
Pathways with multiple regionals.
Doesn't require full payment for each rating (min acct balance of say $5k is ok).
Almost all CFIs are grads.
Icy-Bar-9712@reddit
Dumb luck. (note said dumb luck was not assessed as good or bad) I knew nothing about aviation, wife got me a discovery flight for my birthday, they were the only "school" as I understood the system at that point that was really able to work around my schedule with me being employed full time.
Its been hella frustrating as a student and an instructor there, but made ATP mins 3 years from lesson 1 almost to the day. So if we judge the choice by the outcome, I really cannot complain (I'm going to anyway....)
NewYork-Paki@reddit
In house DPE
rFlyingTower@reddit
This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:
I’ve noticed everyone seems to prioritize something completely different when picking a flight school.
Some people care most about cost, others care about instructor quality, aircraft maintenance, scheduling flexibility, career connections, overall vibe, etc.
So for the pilots and student pilots here, what was the biggest factor that made you choose your school specifically? And looking back, would you make the same choice again?
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