Picking the right flight school for you and your career is a critical step toward becoming a professional pilot. Many schools will churn through students without providing the care and attention to provide each student with the best start in their career. Beyond the basic skills and knowledge that any school should provide, the best schools will impart lessons from real experience and put students in situations where it is safe for them to make mistakes. These great schools will provide opportunities for students to develop their problem-solving skills in realistic scenarios that challenge the basic lessons they’ve learnt.
It’s all well and good for me to describe what a great flight school should be doing, but how do you tell if a school is good or not? Of course, there are basic considerations like location, cost and enrolment availability, but what should you care about beyond that?
Teachers
Like any school, a flight school is at a minimum the sum of its teachers’ experience. This means that a good flight school must at least have good flight instructors if they want to be anywhere near the best. If the flight school understands this, then they will also invest in training for these instructors, so that’s a good place to start. Find out what experience the flight schools’ instructors have and how much training they get from the flight school. If the instructors don’t get a chance to train with other instructors and more senior pilots several times per year, then the flight school may not be worth your time or money.
Curriculum
A good flight school will understand that the best way to go about providing a consistent quality of education is to have a well-planned and executed curriculum. Aviation regulators set out basic requirements to be met, but flight schools usually determine how to achieve the end result. This means that there can be a big difference in the quality of pilots produced between casual flight schools that take a ‘figure it out as we go along’ approach and more organised, curriculum-based flight schools.
Some flight schools also offer qualifications beyond standard pilot qualifications. Depending on where you are in the world, you may have options for Certificate, Diploma and even Bachelors-degree qualifications in conjunction with a pilot licence. In order to gain certification to deliver these qualifications, flight schools are audited to the same level as other educational institutions. This ensures a more systematic and consistent approach to pilot training, which benefits students at these schools greatly.
Experience
Unlike normal schools that employ people who are qualified to teach, flight schools often employ experienced pilots from the industry as instructors. These flight schools have the ability to teach real-world scenarios and more complex flying techniques that may not be part of a curriculum but contribute greatly to the quality of the pilot produced. Some schools also complete commercial flying work, which means students can get exposure to actual flying operations and the planning of such work before graduating. This makes these new pilots much more employable than those with no exposure to commercial work since they understand the basics before getting their first job.
Aircraft
It goes without saying that no one wants to learn to fly in aircraft that are falling to pieces, but beyond the quality of the aircraft, the type of aircraft can also play a role in what jobs are available to you when you graduate. Aircraft, like any type of vehicle used for commercial purposes, can get a bit scratched up through constant wear and tear, but if an aircraft looks very worn or poorly maintained this is usually a good sign that the operation doesn't look after their aircraft and may not be your best option for training.
In terms of what type of aircraft is best to train on, initially, it matters less, but as you get closer to graduating you will want to think about doing some flying time in an aircraft you can be employed to fly. This will save your first employer the cost of training you on that aircraft type and put you in a good position to get your first job.
It won't necessarily be obvious whether a flight school excels in the areas described above, but if you are able to get a sense of how they compare to other available schools in your area, then you might be able to pick the best of the lot.
As always - Fly your own track!
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