where is a Good CFI Flight School

surfsupbud

surfsupbud

New Member
I'm looking for a good CFI Flight School? Low cost, Quality,and fast.
Please provide me some of your experience and suggestions.

Cheers
 
Call Arlynn McMahon at Aerotech in Lexington, KY. Good ground program, good flight training, good airplanes. Tell em Louie from NYC sent you! She occasionally writes for Flight Training magazine.
 
surfsupbud said:
I'm looking for a good CFI Flight School? Low cost, Quality,and fast.
Click to expand...

I think you can find any two of these three easily. Finding all three of them, well...

Having been a CFI for 6 yrs now, I'll tell you to focus on Quality, Quality, Quality! What you really need is training that will prepare you for your first 100 hours of flight instruction until you have enough experience that it will become your guide.

Also, more than any other rating, the CFI rating is largely dependent on how much self study you do. You need to spend hundreds of hours reading, studying, thinking, and learning to be a teacher of flight in addition to whatever syllabus your school will put you through. You can turn a poor CFI school into a good experience if you are prepared. What you really need from a school is an experienced CFI who can teach you the tricks of the trade that aren't tested in the PTS.

When I was working on my initial CFI, my instructor had been a CFI for 20 yrs. He knew what was important for me as a newly minted instructor. I met him 4 hrs every Sat for 6 months. Prior to that, I had studied 5 hrs per week for 12 months. By the time I passed my check ride, I was ready to be a teacher as well as pass the check ride.

2.5 yrs later, I went to a 5-day factory for my CFII/MEI. My instructor there had 300 hrs given and knew the gouge on the DPE, but couldn't teach me how to be a teacher. (I ended up giving him a lesson in ME aerodynamics.) If I had gone to the factory for my initial training, I would have had a very challenging first couple of years working as a CFI.

If you want quality, you will have to sacrifice for it. It will cost you both time and money, but I can't recommend that route strongly enough.

Blue skies,
Rob
 
Nihon_Ni said:
I think you can find any two of these three easily. Finding all three of them, well...

Having been a CFI for 6 yrs now, I'll tell you to focus on Quality, Quality, Quality! What you really need is training that will prepare you for your first 100 hours of flight instruction until you have enough experience that it will become your guide.

Also, more than any other rating, the CFI rating is largely dependent on how much self study you do. You need to spend hundreds of hours reading, studying, thinking, and learning to be a teacher of flight in addition to whatever syllabus your school will put you through. You can turn a poor CFI school into a good experience if you are prepared. What you really need from a school is an experienced CFI who can teach you the tricks of the trade that aren't tested in the PTS.

When I was working on my initial CFI, my instructor had been a CFI for 20 yrs. He knew what was important for me as a newly minted instructor. I met him 4 hrs every Sat for 6 months. Prior to that, I had studied 5 hrs per week for 12 months. By the time I passed my check ride, I was ready to be a teacher as well as pass the check ride.

2.5 yrs later, I went to a 5-day factory for my CFII/MEI. My instructor there had 300 hrs given and knew the gouge on the DPE, but couldn't teach me how to be a teacher. (I ended up giving him a lesson in ME aerodynamics.) If I had gone to the factory for my initial training, I would have had a very challenging first couple of years working as a CFI.

If you want quality, you will have to sacrifice for it. It will cost you both time and money, but I can't recommend that route strongly enough.

Blue skies,
Rob
Click to expand...

:yeahthat:

Take your time and study on your own a lot. Being unprepared for that first few hundred hours will most likely make one dislike instructing and they will typically not take the effort to improve.

Honestly I have found that a lot of the older, more experienced instructors for the CFI certificate are WAY cheaper than the quick and dirty programs. You will get a lot more from them than a program that is designed to spit you out; ready or not in 10 days or whatever.
 
We run this exact program at Career Pilot School. You can do either just the CFI, or CFI, CFII, and MEI. As has already be said, this is about focusing on QUALITY, not time or cost (though those are, of course, also important). Our program is not the cheapest way to go about getting your CFIs, but you will leave as a quality flight instructor.

Here is the link to our program:

http://careerpilotschool.com/programs/aviation-educator-course

http://careerpilotschool.com/programs/certified-flight-instructor-course

Also worth noting- we have a 100% first time pass rate with the FSO for our CFI initial.
 
Louie1975 said:
Call Arlynn McMahon at Aerotech in Lexington, KY. Good ground program, good flight training, good airplanes. Tell em Louie from NYC sent you! She occasionally writes for Flight Training magazine.
Click to expand...

avoid that place at all costs. they are self proclaimed, and righteous. they WILL get in your wallet
 
surfsupbud said:
I'm looking for a good CFI Flight School? Low cost, Quality,and fast.
Please provide me some of your experience and suggestions.

Cheers
Click to expand...

There is none.


It always comes down to the student (you). If you don't have your stuff together it's going to cost you no matter where you go.

That being said, pay attention to the above posts. That is all
 
Find a school that is in to teaching and not into putting out a guarantee time frame B.S. price/time thing. As has been said by our Japan breatheren find a good instructor/school that is all about the teaching and could care less about training you in a minimum amount of time. Don't get me wrong, don't get screwed either. But it is kinda up to you. We get numerous people that come to our school to do the CFI but can't fly themselves out of a cardboard box. They may take a bit longer.
 
Unless you're in some part of the country with a bizarre dearth of airports, odds are you can get it done close to home. Your CFI rating is about your dedication as much as anything else, and most CFIs will be happy to work as much as you want to pay them to.

Don't move across the country to get your CFI rating unless it's somewhere you'd also like to teach. While CFI jobs continue to be relatively easy to come by, your best and easiest option is often the place that trained you. If you can find a somewhere close to home that has an atmosphere you'd like to be a part of as an instructor, that's probably where you should get your rating(s).
 
ILS37R said:
Unless you're in some part of the country with a bizarre dearth of airports, odds are you can get it done close to home. Your CFI rating is about your dedication as much as anything else, and most CFIs will be happy to work as much as you want to pay them to.

Don't move across the country to get your CFI rating unless it's somewhere you'd also like to teach. While CFI jobs continue to be relatively easy to come by, your best and easiest option is often the place that trained you. If you can find a somewhere close to home that has an atmosphere you'd like to be a part of as an instructor, that's probably where you should get your rating(s).
Click to expand...

That is the best advice you can get!
 
I did the American Flyers CFI academy in Florida. They advertise 30 days/$2995 but don't plan on leaving there on the 30th day or just spending $2995. I spent 38 days there (gotta schedule with a DPE and it can take a few days if you are in a busy flight training area). Also I spent about $4500 for CFI/CFII. Even though it seems everyone who goes to an American Flyers CFI academy spends more time and money then they advertise the program was good and I learned a lot from very knowledgeable instructors. The instructors and management were all professional. Your mileage may vary from location to location though.
 
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