How to Find the Best Flight School

You are likely to have several choices for a flight school/flight club. I am sure you have heard horror stories of students being quoted $8000 for a private pilot license and paying $20,000. Or a student who's instructors keep leaving for the airlines causing them to switch to new instructors and redo expensive lessons. Or a student who's flight school's aircraft are always in maintenance and they can never schedule the plane when they are free. So how do you avoid picking a school like this? How do you really know if a school will be cheaper than another? Let's talk about how to find the best flight school for you!

Flight school quotes are unrealistic

The first thing you need to remember is that schools will keep their quotes low and based off of the FAA minimum hour requirements. They DO NOT tell you that these are unrealistic quotes. They don’t tell you that you have a 99.9% chance of paying more than their quote. They get away with these low quotes legally by saying it’s up to you and depends on how long you take and how hard you’ll work. While this is true and it does depend on how long it takes you… it’s also true that how long it takes you depends on the school!

I am here to tell you that even the hardest-working student pilots will likely take longer than the FAA minimums. Especially ones that work full-time or have other full-time responsibilities. The FAA minimums are just that, they are minimums. They are assuming an extreme case where someone spends their full attention and time on receiving a license and is the most quality of pilot students. The next thing you need to know is that the quotes do not include everything that you will be paying for! Some of the costs not included in the quote are things like:

• Equipment
• Medical Certificate
• FAA Exams
• Transportation
• And if you are attending and living AT a flight school:
• Housing
• Food
• Insurance

Researching the Best Flight Schools

Don’t just look at Google and find the closest flight school. You need to do your research because it may end up saving you $1000’s… I know it would have saved me at least $7000. So instead, here are the basic steps to creating a short list of 2-3 schools to decide between:

• Find as many schools as you can on Google that you would be able to commute to on a daily basis
• Write down each school's google reviews and search for any negative articles on each school
• Eliminate any with very bad reviews or negative articles
• Go to each school’s website and get the following information:
• # of aircraft
• Type of aircraft
• Age of Aircraft
• # of instructors
• Phone number
• Curriculum
• Student Requirements
• Address
• Choose the 2-3 schools that offer you the best combination of commute time, # of aircraft, # of instructions, and minimal student requirements
• More student requirements can be a good thing as well. It could make you a safer pilot by the time you get your license. It is up to you to balance this against more cost

Now that you have 2-3 schools picked out, set aside some time to visit the office of each one of these schools. Write down the following questions (and leave room for answers) and take them with you when you visit each of the schools.

• How many aircraft do you normally have operating?
• How many flight instructors do you normally have staffed?
• How many students on average do you normally have?

*All three of these relate to how easy or hard it will be for you to schedule and reschedule flights. Remember, a school can have lower hourly rates if it has more students but more students will make it harder for you to schedule flights. You want to look for a ratio of 4-1-1 or lower (3-1-1, 2-1-1, etc.) of students to aircraft to instructor. This will result in consistent flying for you, a minimum amount of cancellations, the ability to have backup flights, which leads to consistent progress in your skills, without the need to review things over and over again. This will save you money in the long run

• Do you employ your mechanics full time or are they on call?

*If a plane flies more then it means more students are flying on it and a mechanic is needed more often to keep it maintained and is likely employed full time. However, if the flight school has a lot of aircraft with a smaller amount of students per aircraft the mechanic still might be needed on a continual basis. So if they have a full time mechanic, weigh that against the student to aircraft ratio. If the mechanic is not employed full time this may be due to a low student to aircraft ratio which is good but also means if a problem occurs the mechanic has to be called and may not be available right away and the aircraft is grounded longer.

• Do you get your fuel at cost or at retail price?

*The difference between wholesale fuel and retail fuel could be as much as $1.00 per gallon. This will drastically change the amount the flight school pays for fuel and changes the amount it costs them to operate an aircraft for an hour.

• What is your lesson by lesson curriculum? Is the school Part 61 or Part 141? Can I have a copy of the FAA approved Training Course Outline (TCO)?
• What are your requirements for a solo endorsement and what are the requirements to stay endorsed?

*Do they have more lessons or more requirements that are not required by the FAA or not taught at other flight schools? You may like the added lessons but remember it will cost you more money. Pay particular attention to the requirements for solo endorsements. For Part 141 schools the FAA pays more attention to the type of training that is taking place and requires that a training course outline (TCO) be approved. The FAA TCO is an extension of the FAA regulations because it was approved by the FAA. This means that it is law that you follow that syllabus and use the listed materials to accomplish that (books, training sources, etc.). This may add requirements that are not found at a Part 61 school. You should ask yourself whether or not you care if the school is Part 141. All the same criteria is in Part 61 but yet you have more flexibility on the timing and pace of your training as well as you are not required to complete stage checks in a Part 61 school.

*The FAA regulations on TCOs also state that you have to have these materials when you sign in for official enrollment. Flight schools make you believe that THEY have to provide you with the materials so they will “include” the materials in your ground school costs at a marked up price when really they got the materials for much cheaper. The FAA rules say nothing about where you get the materials from… they only say that you must have the right materials listed in the TCO when you enroll. This allows you the opportunity to go on Amazon or a second-hand store and find these materials for much cheaper. Then, ask the school to take the cost of the materials out of your ground school cost.

• What happens if my instructor or an aircraft causes an interruption in my training such that I have to re-do lessons? Do you give free make-up flights for things like this?

*This needs to be discussed and determined up front in some sort of a contract. This may be hard to get but if you can, get it in writing. To me it only makes sense that you should be compensated when your training is interrupted and it’s not your fault.

• How old are all your instructors?
• Do any of your instructors want to become a commercial pilot?
• Do you have a standardized syllabus for all your instructors to teach?

*These 3 questions relate to flight instructor turn-over. You don’t want your flight instructor bailing on you in the middle of your training. Older instructors are more settled and less likely to move on. Younger instructors have ambition for more and are likely building hours while they instruct to eventually become a commercial pilot. Sometimes, these things happen and you can’t help it. That’s why you should also make sure they have a standard syllabus between all their instructors so that if you do get a new instructor in the middle of your training there will be minimum interruptions during the transition.

• Are the solo cross-countries per-determined or is there flexibility?
• What are your hourly rates?
• Do you have member dues?
• Do you give aircraft rental discounts for members?

Write down the answers as you receive them. If they cannot answer the question for you at that time, ask them if they can get back to you with an answer by calling you later. If they can’t answer your questions then they are hiding something and not worth your time.

Know the Flight School's Requirements

The FAA requirements are written such that they may be interpreted differently from flight school to flight school. If a flight school is a Part 141 school and requires an FAA-approved Training Course outline or TCO (see here for more about differences between Part 141 and 61)… then whatever is in the approved TCO is an extension of FAA law. Depending on how the school interpreted the FAA regulations and what was approved in the TCO, the school may have additional regulations that add cost to your training compared to a school that interpreted the regulations differently.

For example: “Part 61.87 Solo requirements for student pilots” has a sentence that states “A student must demonstrate satisfactory aeronautical knowledge on a knowledge test that meets the requirements of this paragraph.” It then goes on to list the subjects to be addressed and who will administer and review your test with (your instructor)… BUT nowhere does it have a time limit of when this test could have taken place. A school (like the one I trained at) might put in their TCO that their students have to take and review the ground school written test with their instructor and then review this material every 90 days. They added the 90-day requirement all on their own! But since it is in the TCO, it is now an extension of FAA law.

On top of these additions to FAA requirements, Part 141 schools also require you to pass multiple stage checks along the way which usually come with both a knowledge and a flight test to prove you are ready to continue. All the additional requirements of a Part 141 school are exactly what makes Part 61 schools so popular. And remember, every single Part 141 school is also a Part 61 and they are allowed to take students as a Part 61. They may tell you they cannot, but they could... if they wanted to. They usually do not want to... because they make more money forcing students to meet additional requirements, buy their books, and take their ground school. Again, this is why Part Time Pilot recommends training under Part 61 unless you are doing an accelerated, full-time training program to become an airline pilot as quickly as possible where cost is not a problem to you.

Knowing your requirements will allow you to pick a school that doesn’t overdo it on these requirements. Additional requirements make it especially tough on students who are not training full-time. It will naturally take students a longer amount of time between stages of their training and they will risk running out of currency several times. More requirements will just add more flights and more money.

Deciding on a Flight School

The first thing you want to do is create a realistic quote of each of your final flight schools. Do not trust the quote they give you and make your own instead by gathering the information for each school. We broke down step by step how to make your own quote to know exactly what you will be paying at each school, if you missed it you can catch it here. Plug in the actual aircraft and flight instructor rates. Plug in the correct ground school rate. Determine which equipment and materials you will want to purchase, what prices you can get them at and which ones you can get for free. You will now have your own, personal quote that you can compare to the quotes that your final schools gave you.

The quotes you are given from the school are likely going to be different so don’t completely kick a school out of the running if it’s largely off from your quote. But you can consider their honesty in your decision if you would like (I would). Next, use the following criteria to determine the final flight school for yourself. Rate each of your final 3 schools 1 through 3 for each of the criteria and add up each schools score to determine a final school. Or, if you think some of these criteria are more important than others then you can make up your own scoring system:

• Your Quote/Cost
• The school’s student to aircraft ratio
• Another extremely important aspect is the availability of the aircraft. If there is a large student to aircraft ratio, it could become difficult to schedule aircraft on the days you are available.
• When you throw in the weather factor, this can make things extremely difficult. For example, when I was flying in Seattle, it was rare during the spring and fall to find days when the weather was clear and flying was allowed for students. But it was also hard to predict which days these would be to ensure you were scheduled in a plane. AND… if you waited for days when you knew the forecast would be good, the planes would be reserved super-fast.
• A good way to determine this is to know how many aircraft the club has versus how many students they have. If they have 1 student per aircraft then chances are you will be able to schedule an aircraft if you plan ahead
• Another way to determine this is to ask to see the club's schedule for the next week or two. If it’s booked to the brim, this may indicate it will be tough to schedule aircraft.
• Amount of additional requirements
• Example: I flew at a club in Seattle before moving to San Diego and flying at a club in San Diego. In Seattle, the club was very laid back and my training was going rather smoothly. I was soloing in no time. Once I moved to San Diego, I not only had to re-fly a ton of lessons, but I realized that the club I chose had a ton of additional requirements. Quizzes, extra flights and extra currency requirements that I was not prepared for and ended up costing me a lot of unexpected money.
• Experience and vibe of the instructor
• Another thing that I experienced firsthand was having several different instructors (4 in fact). They all had their pros and cons but there were definitely some I would rather fly with and who I learned better from than others. One instructor would yell at me constantly, making my flying lessons a living stress test. Another would essentially fall asleep while I flew (he was like 80 years old). You have to find someone who fits for you and what makes you feel comfortable and in a good environment to learn.
• You can ask to meet different instructors before you choose a flying club. You can even get their numbers and call them and chat with them and at some clubs you can even do a reduced price intro flight with an instructor to see how you like flying with them
• Distance and Time to Flight School
• The time it takes, the traffic and the miles it takes to get to your flight school will have an impact on both your wallet and your time. Picking a flight school close to your home or work can help save you a lot of time and money.

If signing a contract at a flight school, make 100% sure that the contract is not one-sided. Inside the contract, you will find additional currency requirements that are not required by the FAA like the one I spoke of with the 13 quizzes above. You can look for a school with less stringent requirements. If the contract does not also have details on what happens if they cannot provide you with an instructor or an aircraft at any point in time, then this contract is already one-sided. You should look for another school or try to negotiate this into the contract.

Most contracts are designed for the school to never have to pay you back any money. If there is nothing in the contract about what happens in the scenario where an instructor or aircraft is unavailable then you can negotiate a certain amount of free flights or discounts following to get you back on track with your training because of the delay they caused you. In my opinion, if the school causes you to not fly for one week then they owe you a free flight, instructor included.