Flying School Directory

[bjarvi1]

Hi,

Having recently been in the situation of looking for a flying school to train for my PPL at I was surprised to find that there isn't a directory of flying schools in the UK and because of this I had to look in a variety of places and on a large number of websites to find a flying school that would suit me.

After finding out that there isn't a directory of flying schools that gives relevant, unbiased information to prospective students and also reviews of the schools from current and previous students about what their experience has been of the school. I am interested to find out whether people would use such a service and as such would like to ask a few questions:

Would you use a service of this sort?

What features would you like to see in a flying school directory as a prospective student?

If you were a flying school looking to be placed in a directory of the sort, what features would you like to see?

Thank you in advance for your replies.

[Cusco]

There is a directory of flying schools published in Flyer magazine every year: I'm not sure which month of issue but I'm sure an enquiry on the Flyer Forum will get you the necessary info so you can order a back copy.

Cusco

[ifitaintboeing]

or you could try here:

FLYER Airportal - Flying Clubs and Flying Schools Directory (http://www.flyer.co.uk/directory/)

ifitaint...

[BackPacker]

The CAA publishes (used to publish?) a document listing all RF, FTOs and such, complete with contact information, the types of licenses they were allowed to train for and so on.

From memory this was called standards document 26. Should not be too hard to find, even though the CAA website itself is a bit of a bitch to navigate. But Google should be able to help you.

[ifitaintboeing]

The CAA documents are:

Registered Facilities
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/lts_srg_RegTrainFacilities_Doc30v31.pdf

and

Flight Training Organisations & Approved Training Organisations
http://www.caa.co.uk/docs/33/srg_lts_Approved%20Schools%20List_Doc31v107June%2012.pdf

[xrayalpha]

To be brutally frank:

Google.

That is why Yellow Pages, the local and national press etc is going under.

No-one goes to the local rag or the Thomson or Yell site to look - they Google.

And if there is a local flying school that doesn't appear when you search for "(Place name) flying school", the chance of it still being in business for long.....

Finally, visit all your local flying schools on the ground and even go for a flight with one or two of them to see which fits in with your preferences. Remember, learning to fly is a big investment - not just in your money (as in buying a car would be) but also in your time (having to commit to so many lessons).

So do lots of research!

ps. What may be missing is a "Trip Advisor" for flying schools, with ratings by all types of customer, from trial lessoners to full students. But the strange thing is, most students build a rapport with their instructors and think they are gods! (maybe the CFI knows different!!)