Questions to ask a flying school
 

Meeting them for the first time in a few days. Before committing to a certain school I'd like to ask them questions. Can anyone think what would be best to ask them apart from the obvious regarding costs, landing fees etc?

Thanks

Ash

Instructors
How many Instructors do you have?
What are their background (Career Instructors v Airline wannabes building hours)?
Can I book a particular instructor each time?

Aircraft
What kind of aircraft do you offer? (2/4 seat, High/Low wing)
Are the aircraft maintained on site?
Can I book a particular aircraft each time?

Student Life
Is there a breifing area/study room where students have acess to?
How many students do you have?
What is slot availability like (Weekday & Weekend)?

Costs
Is the hourly rate inclusive of home landing fees? (Inc. T&G)
How much is the annual fee?

Those are some questions which I can think of off the top of my head - there are many many others I'm sure. However, in my inexperienced opinion, the choice of school is not as critical as the choice of instructor. Meet the instructor first! Find out how you get on with him/her. First impressions count. As I mentioned before, though this is only my personal view, you would do well to find a career instructor rather than one waiting for a RHS with FR/EZY! They will be more passionate about your training. Your relationship with your instructor will be strained at some point during your course - if you can barely stand each other from the outset it may well end in tears somewhere mid training and you could find your flight training in limbo while you find somewhere else.

Of course, be diplomatic when you go investigating you have to make sure they like you too! Of course, the answers to most of those questions can be found with a little digging online and through word of mouth.

Good Luck

They're great! Especially the briefing area and instructor background, I never would of thought of those.

I'd like to ask a lot of questions because in the past I've rushed into things for sheer stubborn mindedness, and as GA will be one of those hobbies which I can't cock up at (the other being technical diving) I'm trying to get as much information as possible to make sure I'm doing it right.

Someone told me once about wreck diving preparations, shortcuts can be improvised, but if you plan a shortcut, you can never back up and go the long way round.

Everything Ryan says is valid except that, by all means, be polite, be civil but there's no need for diplomacy.

These chaps are competing for your business and you don't need to be obseqious.
Make it clear that you've or are, checking elsewhere and that you won't stand for any nonsense. You are the customer and there are still a small number of flying clubs and training organisations arrogant enough to forget this.
The other very important thing is, regardless of what discount they offer for you paying up front, never, ever do so - even if using a method covered by the Consumer protection Act, the recovery process is long and painful.

As I say, aside from that, Ryan has it just about spot on.

Statistically that might be correct, but instructors, like most people, are a pretty varied bunch. Some of the airline wannabees just love to fly, and the airlines are the only way they can afford to do it, and the FI job is the way to get the hours to get the airline job, but they still love to fly and they can still get pretty motivated about their students.

I had an instructor like that. It's possible I took longer to learn because of his inexperience, but overall I enjoyed the course, I got there in the end, I still enjoy flying, and we stayed in touch, even after he got the airline job.

Polite I think si the word. Wouldn't want to be rubbing up against people the wrong way when I may end up spending a far amount of time with them in a confined space!

Money up front, the way I was planning to do it, living within 15/20 minutes from two airfields which are the main ones I'm looking at, is just popping in to book my next lesson and paying then for the hour/two hours. So not much money up in advance. However, any "no don't do that" along with reasons are welcome and appreciated.

Can I just say everyone on this forum is extremely helpful, moreso than any other. Several people have even taken the time to PM me reccommended schools close by, one recently which was extremely useful.

Agreed. There will always be some exceptions and it would be foolish to conclude just because an instructor aspires to one day do some airline flying that they are unsuitable to SEP instructing. Which is why I recommend sitting down having a chat with your potential instructor to see what the rapport is like and take it from there. However, (at the risk of pissing alot of people off) the majority of 'Airline wannabe' instructors find instructing as a nessecary evil to build hours and when the call comes are away quick sticks often leaving their students to pick up the pieces and carry on. Dare I even go so far as to say most such instructors come from an integrated background and their knowledge of SEP GA flying is minimal at best.... ops!

But yes, there are exceptions and one would be prudent to do their research first.

Edit to add;
Give it time :}

Everyone will tell you, never put the money up front.

Although some schools including the one i learnt at will have a discount if you whack a substantial amount on 'charge' unless its up above the 5-10% mark its not worth it. Find out how much you have to deposit to get this discount.

Do not do it up front, have at least 5-6 lessions before you put any large sums down, then your not tied to a school that doesn't suit.

Check a few things about how they charge, is it by hobbs meter, or is it time from startup. on some airfeilds espicailly busy ones this could have a big effect on the hourly bill! my school charged by the hobbs hour plus 0.1 for taxiing. Most schools charge a 'wet' rate which is an all up rate for instructor, Aircraft and Fuel, be wary if you have to pay for these as 'additonal' costs

Check things like landing and airways fee's, those should be a factor in deciding the hourly costs. do you pay for each touch and go or do you pay for the first then get the next X free?

Ask them what the actual number of flying hours were logged by the last 5 students to go from zero to PPL. This will

1) See how organized the school is. If they have good training records they should be able to tell you very quickly

2) Give you an idea of the actual costs of the training. Virtually no one finishes their PPL in the exact government proscribed minimum time. A caveat though, total time is influenced by how busy the airport is, and how far the practice area is. So a low average completion time by one school over another is not necessarily an indication of poorer performance, and the other factors and goegraphical convience may make a slightly longer time to completion worth it.

How good or bad your instruction is, is largely determiend by the competance and attitude and enthusiasm of your instructor. The best way to get a feel for different instructor styles is to book a "trial" or "introductory" lesson at a couple of different schools. Make sure you tell the instructor that you are not just another Joe who was given a flight voucher by his wife, but isn't really interested in flying, rather you are trying out different schools to see which one best suits you.