How to avoid school tricks

[LostYetAgain]

Hints/tips that might be useful.


In selecting a flight school remember that they want you to spend your pocket full of cash with them. A few will make an extra effort to help you choose them.

Forums
Where serious amounts of cash (your cash) are at stake, treat recommendations on the forums with caution. Don't get me wrong, there is a vast array of valuable information on the forums, but where there is a vested interest involved, you need to be careful.
It is in a schools interest to project a favourable image on the forums, and from what I have seen, it's not difficult for them to get an unfavourable post or thread removed. “No one has a bad word to say about them” might well indicate a great school, but then again, it might indicate something else entirely. You need to be savvy to get a true picture of the schools out there to help you get value for money.


Getting factual information
Ideally contact a couple of recent ex students from each of the schools on your list. You could do this by starting one or more threads on the forums. Better to get a premium account on LinkedIn, and InMail a couple of ex students, perhaps one who has just started a job in the area you want to work, and one who has not found a pilot job yet. Most will be prepared to help someone following in their footsteps and will identify with the challenge you are facing. You may also make a contact for the future. Talk to them directly, away from public view. They will be happier to talk completely honestly if they don't have to put it in writing. Check that their views are still relevant – recent student? Instructor still at the school? What happened to other students they knew? How many students did the instructor have? Who were the best instructors? Who should be avoided? What were the aircraft like: condition/serviceability/availability? How often did they fly: every day/once/twice? Did they “back seat”? Did the instructors have a commercial/military background? How much help did the school offer after the course? Do they know someone else you can talk to about the school/your other choice of school?


Aircraft
How often will you fly. I would say that once per day is about right. You can get more done in the SIM, especially in the early lessons, but less than once/day isn't great. You should be able to get a feel for this from the school website. What is the ratio of aircraft to instructors? It would be odd to have more aircraft/SIMs than instructors. High utilisation is key in reducing costs/maximising profits.


Airline contacts
Get specifics. Find out what airlines a school currently has contacts with & what they do to link you up … is it simply a letter of recommendation? How do you get recommended? How many students from the school have been have been placed with those airlines recently, say, in the past 12 months. Did the school have an active role in that placement, or did the student do the legwork themselves? It's not unreasonable to ask.

Pass rates
I doubt that you will ever get full, true statistics from a flight school. The old adage “There are l1es d8mn l1es, and then there are statistics” applies. The schools want your money, and statistics are a good way to “help” you compare schools. There are “first time” passes, and “first series” passes. Find out what they mean. If the school declares, say, an 80% pass rate, does that mean you have an 80% chance of passing if you go there? That is unlikely. At best the figure will only include those students that actually made it as far as the test. The information that's missing is the number of hours that students took to get that 80%, and how many students dropped out (or were discouraged from continuing). If the school does publish figures, they must be proud of them, but take a hard look. Do those figures actually make sense?
Make sure you are comparing like for like though as not all schools operate in the same way. For example, it would be difficult to compare and airline style school against those that don't train that way.

Simulators
IR schools make good money from their simulators, and little from their aircraft. It is in the schools interest for you to spend as high a proportion of time in their SIM as possible, after all, they are in the business to make money. There is nothing wrong with that, but If you would rather spend more time in the aircraft, then ask. Remember though, that a good instructor in a decent simulator is a very effective training combination.

What happens if you struggle on the course
Please ask the question before you part with your cash! Find out what the schools fall-back plan is. Do you then fly with a more experienced instructor? Can you change instructor? How many instructors are there .. if there are only 2, then your choice is limited.
Be honest with yourself. If it took you a while to get your PPL, then please, PLEASE, don't give yourself the additional challenge of doing your CPL on a twin, take it one step at a time, and get your CPL on a complex single before stepping up to the twin.