Originally Posted by
FlightLevel350
I agree, if you’re dedicated and self motivated why would you need so much ground school? I myself work best by sitting in a room hitting the books hard followed by some hands on teaching on the actual aircraft. This is where the value of a great instructor truly shines.
In life I’ve found that self reliance is one of the best traits found in any person. Read the books and if a section of the book confuses you, then seek out the answer. In a world of google and a ton of YouTube videos, you’re bound to find the answer and when you do, it’ll be yours forever since it wasn’t so easily handed out.
Yet I do suspect that there are some people that work best with many hours of ground training. To each their own.
I don’t mind paying $80 or $100 an hour for a great flight instructor, but when I see that many hours of ground instruction, I’m always a litttle skeptical. Especially when I don’t see it as an optional thing, I have been looking through some flight schools in my area and do notice that many of them do this. To each their own, I’m sure it works for some. Just know that all that ground instruction as shown above amounts to about 7k. Which is money that can be put towards your CFI ratings.
Furthermore, that is why places like ATP are such a joke. They charge nearly double the price quote shown above yet provide zero ground school. Which like I said is fine, but for nearly 90k...it’s not that fine.
Lastly, my comments here are guided towards a self starter who like most of us wants to finish their training at the most afordable price possible. Like I said, there are people who could greatly benefit from plenty of one on one ground instruction and there are those to whom ATP works great for. Different strokes for different folks.
These numbers are based on 10 years of full-time teaching and over 6000 dual given. I agree that they are slightly high, but the average student will typically need to be spoonfed a lot of material. Most people don't have the drive to push themselves. These numbers could be split in half if the student prepares correctly, but most don't. Also, these numbers are based on flying out of a highly populated area which increases both the need for ground and flight training...and the hold short you're number 8 for departure costs. Another thing is that the downside to having so much teaching experience is that I have a lot to teach :-). You truly get what you pay for.