AirWillie

Dude, at 17 hours you shouldn't even see the CFI unless you're getting ready to jump in the plane, no more hand holding for administrative stuff at that point! CFI is only supposed to log hobbs time and any ground lesson, THATS IT. Supervising you on preflight or fueling doesn't count! And what are you doing fueling the plane anyways, don't you have ramp rats at your airport?

If you are a good pilot, you should be ready to solo by your 8-10 hour mark. At 17 you should be into cross-countries. From my experience if you have ANY doubts about your cfi, that's the time you should dump them, a good cfi doesn't give you any doubts. Also do not get the most popular CFI at the school, doesn't matter if they have a 100% pass rate, it's more important that you have somebody that's avialiable. My first CFI ever was basically the chief CFI of the school I dumped his ass because he was never available.

toeman9

Thanks for everyone’s input. No, we don’t have ramp rats. The students do all the work, unless their CFI is so inclined to help. So either I finish up my PPC with this CFI and move on to a different flight school for the rest of my training or I get out now and try to find another CFI to complete the training with me.

mprinceton26

Switch right now there are no hard feelings in this business. I've flown with many instructors like him and usually after 1.5-2.0 hours you can tell they are leachers. When leaving the tarmac if you guys aren't talking about the next step ahead whether it be solo or check ride forget it. And that accompanying you on the tarmac is coplete BS. They are suppose to teach you to pre-flight the airplane on your own by like day 2 or 3. I've noticed there are a LOT of CFI's out there who play this game. They lose students all the time too. A few who don't know anybody stick around with them trying to get their PPL for 2+ years.

LAfrequentflyer

Yeap....2+ years for a PPL. FBOs are a waste of time...If you can afford to get your ratings at www.allatps.com

-LAFF

AVIVIII

Totally get a new instructor

AVIVIII

Now I have to disagree with part of what you are saying. 2+ years is a waste of time, especially if the student is dedicated. However, the generalizations of saying that FBOs are a waste of time is totally inaccurate. I have signed off 21 PPLs in over 2 years of flight instruction. They average 9 hours to solo (lowest yet is 5.9) 52.4 hours for the check ride and take an average of 257 days total ELAPSED time, some of them took breaks for kids, finances, etc. Yes, I track all of that.... and I don't fly with people that aren't serious about committing to the time. I don't have a formal syllabus like you will see in the ERAU types. It is strictly performance based, satisfaction and move on. And just because you have trouble with slow flight doesn't mean that we have to repeat lesson X, with steep turns and ground reference maneuvers, a thousand times until you get it. Most importantly, find someone who is going to teach you how to fly the airplane, not just how to read a checklist and when to push the buttons.

However, I have total confidence in the training that you will get at ATP. But go there after you get you private.

LAfrequentflyer

I agree with you - flying is more than checklists / pushing / pulling things. You have to understand. A good CFI / student combo can do that.

Note that I'm jaded because of my bad FBO experience. Thats why I am so against them. It will take me some time to get over my bitterness.

-LAFF