I would want to know:
- how many hours do they plan on spending with you: a) in the air b) on de-briefing c) planning & groundschool associated with the next flight
- how many sorties per day
- how many students does the instructor have at any one time. if its more than two (full-time), forget it.
- are you paired with another student? Do you back seat each others flights.
- what is the split between sim and aircraft time. Getting back into the aircraft after time in a FNPTII will take some getting used to. The RT & cockpit management is something that is different between the two.
- how much is done in the multi compared to that of the single.
- how long do they schedule you to complete the course? This will impact you if you over-run, or the student before you over-runs. What is their contingency in planning
- is there an exam centre on the airfield. If there isn't you will have to fly to the airfield that has one, which makes your IR test day more expensive.
- does the airfield you train on have ILS and NDB approaches. This will mean that everytime you return to the field, you can practice something. Again, you get 100% value.
- Speak to current students at length. Don't be afraid to ask if they don't like something.
- What's the payment policy. Pay for flights when you've done them.
- Do they have a sim available which you can train on for free. A frasca will do.
- Ask to back seat an IR flight to look at quality of instruction. Also ask to sit in on some FNPT II sessions.
- Ignore the cost for now. Look at the school, results and get a feel for how you think you'll get on.
- Ask them (& students) for hours lost due to aircraft/sim tech problems.
- When you do look at the cost, remember to look at everything, including ME rating, test for MEP, exam fees, 170A, cost of hiring for test.
- You only do IR training once, so make sure you look at quality rather than cheapness.
- Did I say you must base the decision on quality rather than the cost?