Question for an FBO / CFI
 

What are some things to look for in a FBO / CFI when researching flight training?


-LAFF

-COST
-Quality, number and type of aircraft
-Ouality of onsite maintenance
-# of students succesfully certificated
-recognized by industry ( Cessna Pilot Center, etc.)
-scheduling and availability
-location
-ground school and FTD training

Those are some things I think make a good flight school :)

LAFF, what happened to ATP? :-P

Due to the transient nature of flight instructors, the person in charge is probably the most critical factor...that person will be your POC and continuity for your entire program.

CFI's come and go, and there's not much you can do about it. You could find a career CFI, but as a commercial prospect you are probably better served by being exposed to a variety of CFI's and a variety of techniques and ideas. Also the transient CFI's will move on to airlines, and then you will have some connections to smooth your next step.

The manager/owner/head honcho should be a pilot, preferably with airline or professional flying experience (above the CFI level). If the manager is a non-pilot, run away fast. Make sure you do a sit-down with this this person and chat him/her up a bit. Be very leary of a high-pressure sales pitch. You've been reading this board long enough to know what's up in the industry...if someone promises you a 777 job in 18 months, throw the BS flag and walk out.

Be sure to talk to some current students...approach them on the ramp BEFORE you approach the school. You will get your best intel here.

Also talk to a CFI or two if you can. Note: Foriegn CFI's are often indentured servants who are chained to the school by an H1B visa. Nothing against foriegners, but if the school resorts to H1B's to retain CFI's there may a reason that local CFI's won't stay.

Don't worry too much about the type of airplanes, their appearance, or their equipment. Fresh paint is usually lipstick on a pig...a shiny coat of paint on an old airplane is a LOT cheaper than actually reburishing the airplane. I'd rather the money was spent on avionics myself. Ask other students about airworthiness and dispatch reliability. A couple sims are really manadatory for a professional training course, PC-based sims are OK if they are certified and loggable as sim time (they will have actual controls and radio-heads in a cockpit-like enclosure).

Ground training is not too important for an educated and experienced professionl like yourself...it's not rocket science, you can just read the book. There is no reason for you (and five other studenst) to pay $80/hour each to hear a $10/hour 22 year old CFI read out of the book. You can probably see why owners/managers like ground training? :rolleyes:

Ideally you want a school that has ME airplane)s) available and teaches ME ratings. Smaller schools usually hire their own graduates, and you want a CFI job where you will be able to get your twin time eventually. Many schools don't do twins, and their CFI's have to either seek out an MEI job or buy some twin time after they get 1000 (or 600 or whatever) SE time.

Also if you can live at home, keep your day job, and work on ratings at the same time you will better off financially.

Wife caught me in bed w/ ATP literature...It's what your thinking...She threw away all my ATP literature , clothes, stickers, banners, decal kits,etc...

I may never recover...

-LAFF

Honestly,

This is what happened...Articles like this...http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...keOrBreak.aspx

I decided to accept the reality of the situation. I'm retiring at 39. Why waste years making under 100K when I easily slide into a DoD / Fed Gov job with my security clearance , education , experience? I want to stay involved in aviation - I'm going to get my ratings slowly and CFI on the weekends...

-LAFF

Life's a *****

Thanks...Appreciate it...

You should get into the AF while you can...

You won't regret it.

No kidding...

Retirement for me is working 40+ hours a week and getting paid well while doing it...I'm a workaholic...I'll never stop and in the tech sector I can work till I die at my desk. I'm planning on doing just that...My co-workers however see eager to see me retire...I don't hold it against them - they want my desk / offfice.

_LAFF