Sport Pilot Talk

jnmeade wrote:I pretty much give BFR and otherwise train established pilots. I'd give primary in pretty rare circumstances.

jack tyler wrote:Paul describes two ends of a wide continuum.

langj wrote:The downside to a single aircraft school is when you are at your solo stage. The priority goes to the instructor with his student, it can be hard to get in to do your solo time.

drseti wrote: so I went for the stripper pole.

drseti wrote:

newamiga wrote:seek out a flight school where... they have more than one LSA if possible.

Full disclosure notice: I run a small, one-airplane flight school, so my opinion here is probably not totally objective.

In many cases, the very best instructional experience will be to fly with a dedicated, experienced flight instructor, who takes on one student at a time (maximizing individual attention) in his or her own (or the flight instructor's own) aircraft. Probably an older guy or gal, retired and teaching for the love of it. This is a completely different learning experience than what can be gained studying at a large flight school, with a flight line full of aircraft and a stable full of CFIs aspiring to become airline captains, any one of which (airplane or instructor) may be assigned to you for a given lesson. The large or the small flight school may work better for you, given your personal learning style. But if you go the small school route, the aircraft options will probably be limited.

So, what is the advantage of the one-airplane, one-instructor approach? You become an apprentice, learning at the foot of the master, rather than just another student. If it's a good fit (and it doesn't always work out that way), you might develop a close personal relationship with your instructor, which can last a lifetime. Especially if the CFI instructs in and also maintains his or her own plane, you will get to work on the plane alongside the CFI/mechanic whenever it goes down. So, you'll be getting training not just to be a pilot, but to be a knowledgeable aircraft owner some day. And, if you're the only student, the plane won't go down as often as you think, unless you do something wrong (and that, too, is a valuable learning experience).

If your goal is to get your license as quickly as possible, at the lowest possible cost, go to an assembly line type pilot factory, with lots of planes, lots of instructors, and maybe a simulator or two. If you want to be the best and safest possible pilot, find a master whom you respect, and work closely with him or her, for as long as it takes to learn as much as you can. In other words, fly with Mr. Miyagi.

Here we have yet another example of a basic truism in aviation: one size does not fit all.

Addendum: Sometimes, that close, personal relationship with a flight instructor lasts beyond a lifetime. See, for example, my Avalon Eden stories:

http://avsport.org/publicat/index.html#avalon

N918KT wrote:Paul, your idea of an old retired freelance instructor who acts like a mentor or master to the student pilot is very fascinating. I don't know if this is a temporary phase or a permanent dream but after seeing pictures and videos of flying old taildraggers like the Piper Vagabond, I actually do want to learn to fly in a very simple aircraft like the Piper Vagabond. I realize that airplanes with glass, gizmos, and gadgets do not interest me. Do those kind of retired experienced CFIs who own a very old simple airplane exist? I was thinking of finding a CFI and airplane like that in the future maybe.

jnmeade wrote:I flew a Citation I into Boerne Stage a few years ago. Are they still flying gliders there?