Which route is best?

[nosehair]

ATP is only there to teach you to pass the ride and nothing more.

....That's what they ALL do, all of the "Big Name" schools, and most smaller schools also. That's all they know how to do. Most pilots/instructors of today have only been taught the PTS....they don't know how or why to do anything else. And that does get you a "ticket"...but then when you go to work as an "Instructor", you won't know anything about actual "instructing". You will only know how to "monkey-see, monkey-do" teach flying.

There are SOME good instructors at big schools, but most are inexperienced time-builders and you would have to go to each school and interview the instructors.

The instructor is the key. Find one who teaches for the joy of teaching, regardless of school size and/or equipment, and you will get the most out of your training.

 

[HMR]

The PTS represents the MINIMUM performance the FAA will accept for a checkride. It's too bad that so many instructors make "the minimum" their goal. They end up training pilots to the lowest acceptable standards. It doesn't stop at the C172 level. It happens at Flight Safety/SimuFlight on type rides in jets as well.

There are SOME good instructors at big schools, but most are inexperienced time-builders and you would have to go to each school and interview the instructors.
The instructor is the key. Find one who teaches for the joy of teaching, regardless of school size and/or equipment, and you will get the most out of your training.

Interviewing instructors is very important. My flight school was near a large Delta and Continental base. I had many active/retired airline captains come in and grill me about training. As a result I got a lot of children/granchildren/friends of airline pilots as students.

I agree that you should find an instructor who enjoys teaching. However, I'm always weary of these guys/gals that have thousands of hours of dual given. I have yet to meet a high time CFI who didn't have some character flaw that kept them from getting a better gig. I know plenty of excellent CFI's who loved teaching and did a great job but used it as a time builder to get to an airline/corporate position.

 

[bobbysamd]

OKC aside

Bricktown is really cool now if you ever get back.

It was pretty industrial/crummy twenty years ago. According to this Bricktown website, the city has put through quite the urban renewal project.

I was never a real fan of South OKC. But Richard Jones' Pit Barbecue was located there.

I spent my "teeth cutting" years at OUN.

Max Westheimer is nice airport. Non-federal tower. I believe it could have been a former Navy training field.

People will disagree, but I think that OKC is a near-perfect training environment. The one-mile sections and half-mile fence lines, friendly and accomodating TRACON and the variety of IAPs aside, there is such a variety of wx during all four seasons, so the opportunities are there to really learn wx. There are plenty of low ceiling days with warm clouds, especially in the fall, so there are opportunities to fly and shoot approaches in safe actual. Many airports, with Downtown Airpark and NE Expressway being two interesting airports. Relatively inexpensive cost of living. With the Monroney Center being only a drive away, better opportunities to straighten out any medical hassles. Finally, Oklahoma has a rich aviation tradition worth learning.

Once more, for these reasons, Airman, or any other school in Oklahoma, such as Spartan, or the college flight programs such as S.E. Oklahoma State, are worth considering for flight training.

 

[TDTURBO]

WMU has an excellent flight school for a lot of the same reasons.