TJL19

What questions should I be asking?

Basically I've started my search for a flight school in Europe, I've already arranged some visits, online video calls and open days to attend (and honestly I'm still open minded about modular vs integrated). But I'm not 100% sure what kind of questions I should be asking. Especially as these schools usually have a lot of info already on their website.

Anyone have any guidance on what questions to ask and what I should be looking for in a good flight school?

redsnail

How do they handle weather delays? Do they have in house maintenance? Contingency planning? What do you charge for going over the expected hours?
Success rate post training completion.

TJL19

Very useful thank you!

AlwaysWondering

If you visit a school, speak to students already there away from the earshot of staff.
Ask them for a general recommendation of the school. Ask how they are progressing and if it is as planned/ promised. Also ask about the quality of the procedures and flight instructors.
That can often give a lot more information than any open day, presentation or glossy website.

TJL19

This is also great advice thank you very much!

If I don't actually attend a flight school in person do you think it's a good idea to reach out to students on LinkedIn or social media?

VariablePitchP

Probably not. Issue you have is the most prolific social media posters from school tend to be the #Pilot types, by definition. You’ll get an overly warped excited and rosy picture of the school. If you’ve been messed about and had your training pushed back for months and aren’t happy with the instructors you’d be less likely to post the #TraineePilot epaulettes selfie.

Linkedin you see the gushing posts thanking the school for all their hard work and help passing. Presumably to try and get in the good books to get a job somewhere, maybe. It’s the student’s £100K and hard work that’s made them pass, not the school. No different to thanking Tesco for their help and support for you finishing your #Shopping