Originally Posted by BURflyer
I'm going though an FBO, the planes are never available and the MAJOR problem at FBOs is that they bow down to money not the student. If some rich guy want's to rent 3 planes, guess what you as a student, are screwed. This happens all the time. Plus you get to know the mechanic really well at an FBO. At an academy you know you are flying safe planes that are available ONLY to students. Also the BIG thing about the academy is that it's structured. At an FBO it could take you half a year to get you ppl, your at the mercy of the schedule of the school and the instructor. On average you only pay an extra 10k going through an academy, in my opinion it's worth spending. I'm getting out this FBO as soon as I can. Oh, I forgot to mention that if you do go through an FBO make sure you get the youngest CFI that doesn't have many or no students at all. Don't go through an experienced instructor because they won't teach you anything special and they are less available.
Sounds like you chose a bad FBO to do your training at. I have taught at both a small FBO and a large college aviation program so I have experience both ways. It really pays to do your homework and talk to a lot of people who already use the FBO or aviation program you are interested in.
At an FBO remember YOU are the customer. If you are not happy with the way you are treated there TELL THEM. Like you said, FBOs (and all businesses for that matter) care about money. They dont care whos pocket it comes out of. Most places will do what it takes to not lose you as a customer. If they don't, then you dont want to be there anyway. If they are cancelling your flights so someone else with more money can fly, that is just bad business. They charge you all the same rate so who cares whos flying the airplane!? The FBO makes the same either way. The only time we would move students on the schedule at my FBO was if another student needed to do a checkride and the examiners schedule conflicted with the aircraft availability. And even then, it was a call to student A to ASK if they would mind moving their flight so student B could do their checkride.
At a large aviation college or a "pilot factory" you are still the customer but your voice is a lot quieter. Depending on the size of the program and the time of year, aircraft availability can still be an issue. At the aviation college I worked for, we would have availability problems at times during the year even with a fleet of 60+ airplanes. It just doesn't make economic sense to buy a bunch of airplanes to fix a short-term availability problem just to have those planes sit the rest of the year. Its hard for student to understand, but it would actually increase their costs.
And as far as getting the youngest instructor with no students and staying away from the experienced ones... Not always a good policy. Usually the younger guy just wants to build time so he can go fly his shiny RJ so really doesn't care if he does a good job teaching you just so long as that time gets into his logbook. Besides that, the younger guy has fewer experience to pass down to you which just makes your training that much shallower. As with anything, it depends, but the older guys are usually a better bet.
I know this is probably rambling but hope it helps.