Choosing an Instructor for the PPL
This post is related to an earlier question about which was better to learn on; the C 152 or the Pa 38. I responded in that thread that I thought it did not matter the only really important issue was the quality of the instruction.
Rather than cause thread creep I thought I would expand on that thought in a new thread.
As a person who has been instructing full and part over 23 + years I am continually amazed at how little research students often do before starting flying training. I think it is vital that every student starts with the premise that they are the customer and that it is up to the school to sell them on why they should train at that school.
I think it is entirely appropriate to talk to current students to get some impressions of who the school operates and IMO it is absolutely vital that the school can articulate and present a complete plan on how you will get from zero to PPL.
You will mostly likely get assigned an instructor, which is not necessarily bad, however in the first few flights it will become obvious if the two of you are a good fit. It is absolutely vital that you tell your instructor if things are not working out and if things do not improve you talk to the CFI. I tell all my students that there will a review of how things are going at the the 5 hour mark. If it is not working for either of us I will arrange a new instructor for them.
Finally I tell students that flight instruction demands a two way commitment.
From me:
- Every flight will start with a clear briefing on what the objectives of the flight and the preparatory ground instruction appropriate to the exercise
-in the air we will not progress to the next exercise until you are ready
- Flight safety will be the primary concern for everything we do
From the student
- I will show up on time and mentally ready to learn
- I will complete the homework assigned
- I will give you honest feed back on how things are going and listen to what you have to say