So you can get better prepared. I started at a major flight school June 12th. I'm in the VFP course right now (before going to instruments) which is a Private pilot proficiency course as well as learning EVERYTHING this school requires (their flight standards, their standard communications), their airspace, the surrounding airspace, the weather here, as well as how to actually get in manuevers between dodging other aircraft, not busting airspaces, (when you are not used to having to worry much about it when most of the flying was done in class G), scud running clouds, dealing with 90% humidity, cancelled flights due to weather, and preparing for your oral and stage check all in 6 lessons, make it 5, the 6th is the stage check and oral. My ground instructor told us the course was designed to be overwhelming. If you have decided on a school, PLEASE, if you can "get" the time BEFORE you go to the school of your choice, make sure you are absolutely proficient, then improve on that BEFORE you get to the major school. Even if you think you're pretty darn good for your rating, when you get there you may realize that is not nearly good enough, or you probably will do great if you REALLY ARE good and have been flying often. If it has been awhile since you have flown or looked at the PTS for the last rating you received, STUDY to beyond knowledge proficiency as well as beyond PTS for flight. If you have these two to above PTS for your rating you will do OK because then you can handle all the other things that are required and just concentrate on how the major flight school wants things done. Get a sectional of the area of the flight school you choose WELL ahead of time. If you had time & money to stay proficient, had a good instructor for your rating, fly often and can teach your rating to someone else you will do very well. I will use myself as an example only because I want to help someone else NOT make the same mistakes I have as disheartening as it is to talk about.
I hadn't flown for about 2 years, hadn't really looked at the FAR's or books in just about the same time period. I had so much to do in order to get myself to a position where I could actually "GO" that I had VERY LITTLE time between the time I finally got to leave my state and the time I enrolled to fly. I leave behind 5 kids, and two grandchildren, 2 of my kids are still at home with my husband. It's hard to leave your kids when your are a Dad but it's twice as hard when you're a Mom. After I got my business properly cared for while I'm away, I had only 2 days before I left the state to take the annual standarization written, make & model annual written, 6 one hour videos to watch (required by the aero club where I am a member before I could fly), get my Biennial Flight Review, and night currency. I did pretty good I thought for not having flown for so long, ( I only had 90 hours TT at this time) but had no time to get myself VERY proficent and be able to ace an FAA written knowledge test (without it actually having to be done again). Once I arrived at the school, numerous things happened you can't forsee that I had to push back my enrollment date by 3 weeks. I finally got settled in regarding my living arrangements and had a little bit of time to study and I decided since I needed to get proficent anyway, that I'd add single engine sea to my license. I passed the FAA checkride after 5 hours of flight & ground instruction and thought I'd be ready for the flight school. Even still, I decided to enroll 5 days early and pay for a couple flights to get to know the local area and practice landings on the ground instead of the water. The flights went well. The flight instructor I had for those two flights is the best instructor I've ever had. I was feeling pretty darn confident except for brushing up on airspace and weather since neither was much of a factor in the Southwest area from where I hail. My first flight school VFP lesson actually went well with my new instructor. ( a different instructor from my two orientation practice flights) Even got a compliment that my steep turns were better than some CFI's he's flown with, and received several "above averages" as grades. Wow, now I'm feeling even more confident. Ground school for four days was overwhelming for me. Book after book of this flight school's standarization, and in depth info you need to know & memorize for the oral and stage checkride. I figured I'd get through it OK because my flying was going pretty well so I thought I'd concentrate on standz and study up on all the"detail" knowledge you forget when you haven't used it in awhile. Second VFP lesson my instructor was off so he set me up with another instructor for that flight. This CFII for some reason told me a bunch of negative things about the school and what she claimed they "really" expect which totally eroded my confidence and pi$#ed me off because I thought I had been lied to. I found out the next day what was said to me is claimed to be BS, and probably is, but what was done is done and I can only say each lesson after that has been worse than the one before. Things I nailed on the first lesson started going downhill and on lesson three I'm receiving an UNSAT because I'm so frustrated I can't even pull off a decient landing that I could have done perfectly all day long before. These flights cost me $200 + each so far. It sucks to pay for going downhill. I just can't understand it. I need to find out what's going on, what I'm doing or not doing that things have gotten to this point in such a short period of time. My dream was to get here, excel through and get to the airlines. My family & I have had to do so much to make this happen, I was so gun-ho, blessed to have this opportunity, to now shaking my head wondering what is going on and dreading going to the next flight. My admisson officer has been great, most of the flight school employess have been wonderful, I just don't know how to deal with my situation right now but I will repeat, if you want to go to a major flight school, if you think you're pretty good, you'd better get yourself "even better" way ahead of enrollment time. Lesson three over and I now ask myself whether I should disenroll, spend less time, money, & frustration "perfecting" my rating elsewhere then enroll in my second choice of flight schools truly prepared or stick it out here and "figure out" my current trend within 3 more lessons. Any suggestions, other than one making me feel worse than I already do, of course, would be welcomed.
I hadn't flown for about 2 years, hadn't really looked at the FAR's or books in just about the same time period. I had so much to do in order to get myself to a position where I could actually "GO" that I had VERY LITTLE time between the time I finally got to leave my state and the time I enrolled to fly. I leave behind 5 kids, and two grandchildren, 2 of my kids are still at home with my husband. It's hard to leave your kids when your are a Dad but it's twice as hard when you're a Mom. After I got my business properly cared for while I'm away, I had only 2 days before I left the state to take the annual standarization written, make & model annual written, 6 one hour videos to watch (required by the aero club where I am a member before I could fly), get my Biennial Flight Review, and night currency. I did pretty good I thought for not having flown for so long, ( I only had 90 hours TT at this time) but had no time to get myself VERY proficent and be able to ace an FAA written knowledge test (without it actually having to be done again). Once I arrived at the school, numerous things happened you can't forsee that I had to push back my enrollment date by 3 weeks. I finally got settled in regarding my living arrangements and had a little bit of time to study and I decided since I needed to get proficent anyway, that I'd add single engine sea to my license. I passed the FAA checkride after 5 hours of flight & ground instruction and thought I'd be ready for the flight school. Even still, I decided to enroll 5 days early and pay for a couple flights to get to know the local area and practice landings on the ground instead of the water. The flights went well. The flight instructor I had for those two flights is the best instructor I've ever had. I was feeling pretty darn confident except for brushing up on airspace and weather since neither was much of a factor in the Southwest area from where I hail. My first flight school VFP lesson actually went well with my new instructor. ( a different instructor from my two orientation practice flights) Even got a compliment that my steep turns were better than some CFI's he's flown with, and received several "above averages" as grades. Wow, now I'm feeling even more confident. Ground school for four days was overwhelming for me. Book after book of this flight school's standarization, and in depth info you need to know & memorize for the oral and stage checkride. I figured I'd get through it OK because my flying was going pretty well so I thought I'd concentrate on standz and study up on all the"detail" knowledge you forget when you haven't used it in awhile. Second VFP lesson my instructor was off so he set me up with another instructor for that flight. This CFII for some reason told me a bunch of negative things about the school and what she claimed they "really" expect which totally eroded my confidence and pi$#ed me off because I thought I had been lied to. I found out the next day what was said to me is claimed to be BS, and probably is, but what was done is done and I can only say each lesson after that has been worse than the one before. Things I nailed on the first lesson started going downhill and on lesson three I'm receiving an UNSAT because I'm so frustrated I can't even pull off a decient landing that I could have done perfectly all day long before. These flights cost me $200 + each so far. It sucks to pay for going downhill. I just can't understand it. I need to find out what's going on, what I'm doing or not doing that things have gotten to this point in such a short period of time. My dream was to get here, excel through and get to the airlines. My family & I have had to do so much to make this happen, I was so gun-ho, blessed to have this opportunity, to now shaking my head wondering what is going on and dreading going to the next flight. My admisson officer has been great, most of the flight school employess have been wonderful, I just don't know how to deal with my situation right now but I will repeat, if you want to go to a major flight school, if you think you're pretty good, you'd better get yourself "even better" way ahead of enrollment time. Lesson three over and I now ask myself whether I should disenroll, spend less time, money, & frustration "perfecting" my rating elsewhere then enroll in my second choice of flight schools truly prepared or stick it out here and "figure out" my current trend within 3 more lessons. Any suggestions, other than one making me feel worse than I already do, of course, would be welcomed.