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One of the most important aspects of a flight school is not the aircraft or the tuition costs—it’s the quality of the instruction that you get from real-world pilots. The best flight instructors do far more than just impart book knowledge about how to fly (although they do that too). They help you understand all the nuances of how to understand and control your aircraft to remain safe and excel in your schooling. Here are some ways you can identify if a flight training school has quality instructors.
The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) requires that you work one-on-one with a pilot who is designated as a Certified Flight Instructor (CFI). That designation lets you know that the person has not only some of his or her own flying experience, but has gone through all the proper training courses to identify the specific standards that they need to evaluate future pilots.
While the training courses and certification are critical, the best flight instructors also have a wide range of experience flying on their own before they become instructors. Some of them will have a background in commercial or corporate aviation prior to becoming an instructor, while others might go through training specifically with the goal of being an instructor upon graduation. Either way, ask about how many flying hours and how much actual experience they have in the air before you decide on which training school is right for you.
You are going to spend quite a bit of time with your instructor, so make sure he or she is someone you get along with on a personal level. You don’t have to become best friends and hang out on the weekends and holidays, but you do need to be able to work together and communicate well to get the most out of your flight school.
When you are operating an aircraft, there is a lot going on. You need to know that your instructor is a person who pays extreme attention to detail. First, they need to make sure you thoroughly cover the syllabus before you ever get near an aircraft. Next, they need to pay attention to detail in their pre-flight preparation and their post-flight feedback. If you ever have an instructor that skips these two critical teaching opportunities, it should be a red flag.
You will need to schedule a specific number of hours with your instructor(s) to get a pilot’s license, so make sure that the school you select has instructors available during the days and hours when you can fly.
To learn more about the qualified instructors and quality flight training programs at FLT Academy, contact us today.