Wednesday 2 May 2012

How to pick a flying school

By Italo May


Choosing where you learn to fly is a challenge. Without flying experience you may not appreciate what is and isn't important. The choice is likely based on faulty knowledge.

When I began comparing schools I looked at three things: price, time and ground school. I didn't want to pay too much. I wanted to get licensed as soon as possible. I wanted convenient times and locations for ground school.

Looking back i think i can say that, of the three criteria only one was important. That item was ground-school. It emerged as a lasting quality on which to base a decision.

Ground-school is where you learn what you need to successfully write the flying exam. Different schools offer different options. It can be in a classroom setting, online or one on one.

Location can be on or off airport and they can be offered during the day or evening. If you're a mature student with a full-time job an off airport night time class can be very advantageous. On the other hand, if you're young and can devote full days throughout the week to learning to fly then an on airport daytime setting is likely more practical.

It's best to avoid an online ground-school. The degree of complexity in the material is too much for a web based course. A course taught by a pilot with lots of experience is much better

There are various printed materials that you can use. Usually the ground-school will provide you the basic texts. However, there will also be other study guides that you can acquire. You can get them from your school or from pilot supply stores.

The web is another way to augment your education. You can make use of pod casts. You can also find web based study guides. These will cover anything from the per-solo exam to the whole course.

To summarize, you can rank flying schools before you get experience based on the ground school. Location and time of class is important. A ground school with an experienced teacher is preferable. If the school will direct you to or supply you with additional resources it's an even better candidate.




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