What is a good training program & instructor? (long-ish)

[Jack Tyler]

Over time, my impression is that a lot of potential (and current) student pilots come in the front door of this website with the general question 'How should one pick a flight school and/or flight instructor?' And there's good reason to be asking that question because it's now quite clear that serious gaps and dysfunctional practices exist in many flight training programs. (Proof of this? Stand by...) Or we can look at the same issue from the other side - how well do students succeed rather than how well do flight schools perform - and find truly abysmal results. 60% of all students who find the money, shop for a school, commit to a training program, and become so proficient that they acquire a student pilot license never complete training. When you factor those in who don't make it to that first license, the drop-out rate is perhaps 80%. (Let me illustrate: a fellow I just met this month spent $11K, had 59 flights (59!), receive little training on fundamentals, and no one at this big, nationally known flight school was willing to sign him off to solo. This middle-aged guy is motivated, bright and a successful, results-oriented businessman...but like most of us, was a babe in the woods when he walked into this flight school, not knowing what he should be looking for. The guy is now angry, embarrassed, no doubt suffers from self doubt, but I doubt those who met him would end up concluding he was the problem. The training system simply failed him).

So what should the 'consumer' do who's new to flight training and who's uncertain about how to make those initial, critical shopping decisions - which school, which instructor, which license?

I've been very impressed with what AOPA (aopa.org) began doing two years ago to study and then address this issue. After all, the size of the licensed pilot population is their reason for existing and, by definition, student pilots are their seed corn - the only front end of any GA pipeline. Rather than tackle this solely with their own staff - or presume they knew what the problems were and what was succeeding (the fault of previous AOPA attempts, in my view) - they spent a bundle and hired a professional research firm to dig into this from multiple perspectives (CFI's, flight school operators, both student and licensed pilots) from all over the country. That became the basis for establishing a series of new initiatives, each of which is dedicated to insuring that the next batch of student pilots have a more positive and ultimately more successful training experience. To read a bit about these initiatives (it's not all that long altho' the two videos do take a bit of time to view if you wish), go here:
http://www.aopa.org/ftinitiative/index.html

Can't get to that page? You may not be a member. AOPA is eager to have student pilots become members at no cost for 6 months. My suggestion: Take a discovery flight or in some other way become eligible for AOPA membership and join for free. Their website's content is vast, their ASI instructional programs are first-rate (and all free), and there's a long list of other services they offer, as well.

But what about that shopping list a newcomer can use? Here are the results of that nationwide analysis of flight training practices, which has content well beyond what any on-line forum or magazine can offer in providing specifics about what are considered real-world 'best practices' in flight training. Consider this your shopping list for what you should be looking for.
http://download.aopa.org/epilot/2011/AO ... rience.pdf
(Again, you may need membership to reach this page).

There's a lot there...but to dig into the shopping list, jump to p. 18-19 and begin reviewing the "11 discrete first-order factors" that the data validated as being critical areas for success. That's a good start on a shopping list. For those that can't initially see the above page, those 11 key factors broke down into four areas. Here they are:

• Educational Quality: Offering effective
training from professional instructors who
are dedicated to students’ success

• Customer Focus: Demonstrating
professionalism in facilities, equipment,
and engagement with the student to add
value to the experience

• Community: Emphasizing social
connections and recognizing
accomplishments

• Information Sharing: Equalizing the power
relationship between flight training
providers and students—educating and
empowering the consumer

(IMO the last two sound esoteric. To put a point on it, they refer to the value students find in becoming part of an 'aviation community' vs. just having a solitary learning experience, and the importance to students of getting accurate estimates of the time and cost involved in learning to fly...altho' there's more to each of those than what I've mentioned.)

Why mention all this? If you were going to spend $10K on a car or a boat, you'd do some research to make sure you weren't disappointed with your purchase. If you were asked to dedicate 6 months of effort to some project, you'd want to feel certain it was time well spent. If you were to begin a new sport, you'd like to be certain there were sufficient resources available to insure you could play it. The URLs above IMO offer some good guidance on what you should be shopping for and what other support services AOPA thinks you would find helpful (beyond those offered by your flight school). I think there's some good stuff there, and I hope it proves helpful. ALL of us in aviation benefit when more student pilots have a successful training experience, and it's clear the bar needs to be raised for that to happen. And more knowledgeable 'student pilot shoppers' is one certain step down that path.

[CBKERR]

Jack, great post. As a newly minted sport pilot I wish I would have been able to see this a year ago. However I did get "lucky" when I did my research and found CSP.

Brian

[Jim Stewart]

I read on another forum that to become a PP takes about 400 hours of study *besides* the flight time. I would have never believed it before I started on my quest for a certificate, but I do now. How often does an instructor tell a student that it will take roughly the same commitment as a year of college to get a pilot's certificate? Or that the discovery flight was in no way an example of the cost and frustration of actually getting through the checkride?

[jnmeade]

Students expressed and felt desires are likely not the same and change over time. Students objectives, ditto.
The question arises over amateur radio, too. Square dancing. Chess clubs. Etc.

[Paul Hamilton]

Yes this is one of the big problems with learning to fly. These are the typical statements I hear from students who are not satisfied with their training program, who quit or are looking for another instructor: “I never got any homework in between flight lessons”, “not sure exactly what we are going to do next or where we are in the program”, “I only hear what to do not why to do it.”.

Two important elements: Make sure you feel comfortable with the instructor and make sure there is a training program for flight and ground school that you can look at. Interview, test drive, it is worth the extra effort.

I have outlined a program at http://beasportpilot.com/start-flying/l ... -training/ with some specific steps that can help you choose a flight instructor. A checklist.

Some go through the flight and ground homework of the training program before seeing a flight instructor. http://lsapilot.beasportpilot.com/airpl ... -training/
Hopefully this will help students get into a program and know what you need to do, where you are, how good you are doing and where you need to go.