Flying school- How to make the right choice!!

flying school

Introduction

Flying is an expensive trade to be in. You have to spend a fortune to become a pilot, but that also means any mistake you make can prove very expensive. One of the biggest mistake people make while pursuing this trade is in choosing a flying school. These days you can see ads everywhere, come fly with us, cheap rates etc, but in between the age of gimmicks how do you choose the right school for yourself. I have had many friends and colleagues who got cheated by these flying schools. I don’t want you to be next open the list of a fake flying school. So, I’m here to give you some guidance towards finding the right school for yourself.


1. Credibility of a flying school

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Let it be a flying school in India or Abroad, how do you check its credibility??. So in every country there is a controlling organisation for aviation like DGCA in India, FAA in the US, TCCA in Canada and so on. All these authorities have websites of their own, like in case of India, DGCA has www.dgca.gov.in .

If you go to their website, you can find a list of flying schools that are approved by the aviation controlling organisation. So here we go, you have a list of approved flying schools from every country you can choose from. Let me also tell you that there are schools that are not approved or are pending approval, they might offer you cheaper rates, but I urge you to not fall into their trap.

2. Research on your flying school

Before even thinking of going to flight school, research everything about the field like the requirements, regulations, syllabus etc. Every step you take in flying training is expensive, so research a lot before making any move. List out a few approved schools, research on them thoroughly, write to them. You can also try and get in touch with the students who are training there or who have completed their training to get an outlook of the school.

3. Check out the Fleet/ Manpower of the flying school

The fleet is basically the number and type of aircrafts that are available in the training organisation. By manpower, I mean the number of instructors and engineering staff available per aircraft. how is this important? If you do not have enough instructors, your training will be too slow. The more time you spend, the more money you spend. So before you finalise on any school, do checkout the fleet and manpower per aircraft and if possible go there and confirm.



4. Number of Student at present in the flying school

Don’t forget to find out how many students are studying in the school at that point of time. Though, many students going there means the training is good, but it also means training might be slow. So if there are more number of students, and less number of aircrafts/instructors, it means your training will be very slow. Also, find out from students currently in training about the time taken for every stage of flying training. Research, Research, Research!!!

5. The Fees

abundance bank banking banknotes

The fees in every flight school varies with the type of aircraft, the region where the school is, fuel prices etc. Some schools charge high for ground training, some charge high for accommodation if your taking it. So you have to list the schools you plan to go in, ask the school for their complete price chart, compare it with other schools. List out the pros, cons and charge differences of the schools.

Save every penny and cut corners if you can. Every penny saved is a penny earned.

6. EMI structure

So this is a subheading under the Fee section only, but lets not be blind towards the fact that the fee is the most important part in flying training. Some schools force you to deposit full payment, some give you options of payment in 4-6 instalments. You should also ask if prices will increase with instalments, as in many schools, with the number of instalments the price per flying hour increases as well. In many cases, you can also pay by the hour, which means you pay for an hour of flying and then fly. In this case, prices will be higher but its more affordable.



7. Deposits

Many schools ask for a deposit of a huge amount before you begin your flying training. Im strictly against this policy of flying schools, as there’s no guarantee in case of any school, if it shuts down inadvertently you will end up losing the deposit amount. So do ask about this before you join a school.

Conclusion

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So these were the factors I took into consideration while choosing a flight school. I would like to again remind you to be careful and research before taking any steps in flying training, as mistakes can prove expensive.

If you have any further doubts feel free to contact us.

Thankyou for reading. Happy Landings




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