Here's my offering - for what it's worth...
The best advice I can give is:
- Go and talk to ALL the instructors you are considering. First impressions are important - also you don't want to make sure you are going to be comfortable where you are doing your "ground work".
- Consider what your availability is. I was severely limited in the places I could train by the fact I was limited to weekends.
- Don't forget weather. If you are more than an hour from the airfield you could end up having to set out in the morning before you know if you will be able to fly.
When I started out on the (3 year) journey to get my CPL and FI rating I fully intended to do the FIC with Eva at
The Pilot Centre. (Meeting my wife and moving to Kent kinda changed the logistics of that one - so I used an FIE local to my new home). I state this so you can make your own accurate assessment of my views.
I was a member at
The Pilot Centre for 5 years and never failed to be impressed by Eva.
I hope that, one day, I can match her ability to:
- Identify a pilots problem
- Diagnose the cause
- Transfer the appropriate knowledge, in a suitable way for the student, to resolve the problem
Specific examples:
- 200 hour PPL who could "grease" (almost) every landing - but was not happy because he knew the wheels were touching the runway before he wanted. ONE circuit was all it took Eva to sort it out!!!
- Pre-solo PPL who had been let down by other schools (including almost 50 hours from a US school in his book) and not gone solo. It didn't take Eva long to identify the issues and get him off alone.
In addition I did speak, at some (for them probably excessive) length, to FI candidates who were doing / had done the course with Eva - without exception the feedback was positive. One point that was made by many was the fact Eva actually took the time to cover the ground school - apparently many FI courses "are economical in this area".
OC619
P.S. I was the 200 hour PPL!!
(Edited to correct punctuation - that's how sad I am)