hydroflyer
Well-known member
- Joined
- Feb 16, 2003
- Posts
- 254
I also agree that now may be the time to take the training a little slower and get the opportunity to see as much weather and flying environments as possible. Other things you will see that way is all of the possible job opportunities there are out there for flying. Originally I had the goal of major airline, but now it is to just have fun and see where it all leads. I believe I will have more fun flying a variety of smaller planes then leaping to a large jet (that even includes an RJ) where the autopilot dominates at this time.
There are a couple of areas that have not been touched on that I thought I would include for you to help your decision. Maintenance is a huge issue! Make sure where you end up has quality maintenance. Talk to the current students about that issue. Some good signs would be that you have access to aircraft logs upon request without any hassle. Inspections every 100 hours are required for instruction, and some places will even do a 50 hour service. Don't just judge an airplane by its paint however, check the inside of some of the airplanes in the fleet and see how many "inoperative" stickers there are. It may not be a good sign to see a lot, a few may be typical, depending on the size of the fleet and how long the sticker has been there. Poor maintenance could mean airplanes breaking down constantly, cancelled flight lessons and more money due to making up lessons and stretching out the training. It is also nice to have the peace of mind that you are flying in a well maintained airplane. Often you could see a pretty paint covering a poor airplane. A few extra dollars one place may charge for good maintenance is worth it!
Another thing to check on is instructors. If an instructor leaves, how hard is it to change instructors? Do they teach in similar fashions? What happens if your instructor is sick? At a 141 school I taught at, we were all "standardized" meaning we taught things in the same format, however the approaches could be different. For example, we all taught the steps for setting up and perfoming a maneuver the same way, so if a student swapped instructors, they wouldn't start to perform a maneuver and be told that "it is all wrong" or something to that effect. If a student had a problem with a certain maneuver or landing or something and could not "get over the hump" so to speak, then they could go up with another instructor and see if that would help. Often all it took was a fresh look from another instructor and a different phrase to change everything. That alone could keep the learning going.
If you do decide to go professional, a great way to study and prepare for the CFI, as well as any certificate and rating along the way, is to make a list of all of the questions you are quizzed with by your instructor and then rather than write the answers down on the list, just write WHERE the answers are. You can use the list as a study guide, and then eventually use it to help quiz your students.
There are a couple of areas that have not been touched on that I thought I would include for you to help your decision. Maintenance is a huge issue! Make sure where you end up has quality maintenance. Talk to the current students about that issue. Some good signs would be that you have access to aircraft logs upon request without any hassle. Inspections every 100 hours are required for instruction, and some places will even do a 50 hour service. Don't just judge an airplane by its paint however, check the inside of some of the airplanes in the fleet and see how many "inoperative" stickers there are. It may not be a good sign to see a lot, a few may be typical, depending on the size of the fleet and how long the sticker has been there. Poor maintenance could mean airplanes breaking down constantly, cancelled flight lessons and more money due to making up lessons and stretching out the training. It is also nice to have the peace of mind that you are flying in a well maintained airplane. Often you could see a pretty paint covering a poor airplane. A few extra dollars one place may charge for good maintenance is worth it!
Another thing to check on is instructors. If an instructor leaves, how hard is it to change instructors? Do they teach in similar fashions? What happens if your instructor is sick? At a 141 school I taught at, we were all "standardized" meaning we taught things in the same format, however the approaches could be different. For example, we all taught the steps for setting up and perfoming a maneuver the same way, so if a student swapped instructors, they wouldn't start to perform a maneuver and be told that "it is all wrong" or something to that effect. If a student had a problem with a certain maneuver or landing or something and could not "get over the hump" so to speak, then they could go up with another instructor and see if that would help. Often all it took was a fresh look from another instructor and a different phrase to change everything. That alone could keep the learning going.
If you do decide to go professional, a great way to study and prepare for the CFI, as well as any certificate and rating along the way, is to make a list of all of the questions you are quizzed with by your instructor and then rather than write the answers down on the list, just write WHERE the answers are. You can use the list as a study guide, and then eventually use it to help quiz your students.
