Originally Posted by
Valiant
Greetings, very new here. And have very rudimentary knowledge of aviation. Walked into local flight school. Did a tour of aircraft. Flashed my passport and ID. Signed a bunch of docs. Filled out a blue card. Instructor told me to buy either speedy's or kings ground school and then he only signed me up for an hour of flight instruction. He didn't really give me a detailed plan of action.
So did he want me to get set up with a ground school and get some studying done and then give me the first flight lesson. Or was he just tryna blow me off???
What should I watch out for in a flight instructor??
Need experienced help.
When I was first getting started at my flight school I felt the same way had similar experiences to you.
I came in trying to ask questions how to start, etc. only to get blown off and have little information provided. I had filled out all the paperwork and had $5,200 cash for a deposit. They jerked me around a couple times.
I think if they had someone who could sit down a new student and explain:
1. Go get your 1st class medical (if you are a career change) 3rd class if you only want PPL.
2. Get this ground school program and start doing “x”
3. Get a knee board, chart, and other misc items, etc.
4. Go on the website and start scheduling your lessons. You can book up to 1 month in advance so be Johnny on the spot so you can get your day/time/aircraft/instructor reserved.
I come from a management background and am used to cutting through all the noise and creating a list of action items. I expected the flight school to guide me through the onboarding process but that was not the case.
I don’t know if they were trying to blow you off, but I know at my school there is no one that takes prospective students and runs them through a brief onboarding process etc. in an organized and easily understood manner. (I could do something like this to prospective students at my school in 10 min)
I use king schools. Personally I do not think it is very good. Very outdated videos. Poo explanations. I have used sportys as well. It has better videos etc. but like anything has its issues too.
You will be fine with King schools, but also check out YouTube videos from “8MA”. He is a flight instructor and has great YouTube videos that explain things a lot better than most ground school programs I have seen.
You should try and do some ground school with one of the programs or at least “8MA” and start at the beginning of his series. Develop a basic understanding of the aircraft, controls, etc. before your first flight.
Good luck.