How to Choose a Flying School
Best Places to Learn to Fly Airplanes or Helicopters
Many people who decide to learn to fly light aircraft pick the cheapest flying school or the one closest to their homes. But there are many other factors to consider.
Learning to fly is not easy. Selecting the right school and instructor can make a great deal of difference, both in the amount of time it takes and in the student’s level of enjoyment. An experienced flying instructor tells it like it is.
Price is Not Everything
Many potential students simply choose the cheapest flying school. But this is not necessarily a good idea. As with many things in life, often one gets what one pays for, and the cheapest school may not necessarily be the best. Less good instruction means that it will take longer for the student to get a pilot’s licence, so it will cost more in the end. It may be better to pay a higher hourly rate, but make sure of getting first-rate instruction.
Where to Learn?
Sometimes students simply choose the airfield and flying school closest to their home. Other things being equal, this is quite a good idea. Flying is weather-dependent, and a lot of time can we wasted driving to an airfield some distance away, only to find that the weather that day isn’t suitable. Also, flying is tiring, and a new student is unlikely to be able to cope with an hour or two of flying training in addition to a long drive.
Intensive Course or Learning over Longer Period?
Sometimes students decide to learn to fly on an intensive course over a few weeks, perhaps during college holidays, for instance. They may elect to do this in an area far from home, or even in another country. There are some advantages to learning intensively. Most people retain the information between lessons better if they are closer together, and so fewer lessons have to be repeated, with a corresponding saving in cost.
But some people can’t cope with intensive courses, finding them too exhausting. And choosing a flying school far from home means that a potential student may have difficulty checking it out in advance. Learning over a longer timescale, on the other hand, has the advantage that it can be fitted in with the person’s ordinary life, which is what he or she will want to do when they have gained a pilot’s licence. So there are points on both sides, and every student needs to consider this issue from all angles.
So How Should One Choose?
The potential student should do some thorough research in advance. It is best to visit a number of flying schools, and if possible take a trial lesson or demo flight at each. One should talk to as many people at the school as possible, including current students, and find out what they feel about the school. If possible, it is good to spend some time there, absorbing the atmosphere and seeing if it is a place in which one would feel comfortable. The flying school owner and/or instructors should be happy for the potential student to do this; if they are not…well, perhaps that is not a good place in which to learn to fly.
And once all this has been done, flying is supposed to be fun, and the student should enjoy the course. If things are not as they should be, it is always possible to change schools, even in the middle of the course.
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Further Reading
Trial Flight Guide, Aeroplane – Dorothy Pooley, Pooley’s Flight Equipment Ltd, 2002.
Trial Flight Guide, Helicopter – Ruth Downey, Pooley’s Flight Equipment Ltd, 2007.
