Ask if about accommodation, if it is included or not and how much is it. If it is not included, ask to know what the other students do for accommodation and how much it costs them and how they get to school and back.
Also, one thing you should also ask is about the instrument training and if the base airport has instrument approaches. Some of the smaller airports don't have instrument approaches so you lose some time flying back and forth from other airports and not being able to do an instrument approach on your way back in.
If the school charges one set price, ask what the costs are if you go over the minimums prescribed in the course.
One of your questions was about quantity of aircraft. You should ask about student to plane ratio and student to instructor ratio. If they have three planes but only three students, no problem. If they have seven planes, but 70 students and three instructors, that might be a problem. Ask the students if they feel that the flying training is going really slow or if the pace is just right. I have been to schools that were frustratingly slow, and others that went as fast as I was willing to go. Also, don't be afraid of old Planes. I would much rather fly a 30 year old Cessna that was well maintained instead of a 5 year old one that wasn't maintained properly. New planes typically cost more, and the student ends up paying twice the cost for training just because the plane is new and has fancy avionics. (don't get me wrong, I like fancy new avionics and leather seats, but I'm not rich).
I would not put too much stock in a school telling you about the job hire rate of their students. I would take the stastitic with a bit of skepticism as some schools have been known to exaggerate the numbers.
Last edited by zondaracer; 21st Sep 2011 at 21:45.