My flight school sells you mandatory “jet transition course” where they teach you “how to Fly” an A320. You had to complete the course during your IFR training and you needed to pay it ahead before starting your PPL. It costs almost $6000 and all you ended up with was cheap diploma that said “you had satisfactorily completed the course” and that’s it! That’s the moment that you realize you paid $6000 for a course that is not valid anywhere.

Unfortunately a lot of areas you only have 1 flight school option

Oh man, literally all your points are spot on and also shamefully my previous flight school will try to pull that off on literally all their customers, I quit after getting harassed by the owner because I told the students the truth.

As a former CFI I can say buyer beware. One of the best ways to insure you have a good CFI is to look up the phone number of a DPE (designated pilot examiner). Ask around and find the busiest pilot examiner in your area. Then call him up and ask him who the best students he’s seen are coming from. Don’t assume your school/CFI is legit just because you have an experienced instructor. Some of the worst abuses of students and their pocketbooks I have seen have been the “old expert” pilot. Ask your CFI how many checkrides he’s had in the last year. If the number is less than 5 you’re probably not getting your money’s worth. Do you want to be some new instructors Guinie pig? Ask to talk to some of their prior students. Ask them how many hours they had at Checkride. Ask the CFI if they have ever had a failure. Some of the best pilots out there are also some of the worst CFIs. Don’t assume a young kid is a bad CFI. Many of them will get you done faster and better than an “old expert”. Because they know the process. It’s best if you can fly with several CFIs during the process. Don’t go looking for a cheap instructor. This is an area where you don’t want to skimp.

I'd add having a different flight instructor is good for learning. Holes in the first repertoire can be bridged by the second instructor in the same way phase cross-checks are terrific.

If you want to go to a good flight school, ask the instructor that’s doing the discovery flight how much they make and do they get paid per hour or flight hour. Some schools only pay 25hr but they pay 25hr for grounds and flight hours where most of them can work 8-10hrs everyday. Others pay as little as 18hr only when the plane is on! If the school pays 35-45hr to the instructor your getting good training (the CFI salary will not reflect on what you pay!) I’ve been to both mom n pop schools and one of the most expensive schools in the states. The most expensive one paid the least but charged students the most. The small mom n pop was the least expensive and paid their instructors the most lol.

this video makes a very good point. I've been to about 5 different school; about to finish my PPL (finally!). School is a factor, but also if they have a chief instructor or not. School operating under part 61 are not required to have a chief flight instructor (I think, just part 141 are required), which can have CFI do whatever they want with each students (for example dropping you mid training because another student has started and uses their own plane, or similar unfair reasons). One school I was with had the owner acting as a "chief instructor". That was a really bad situation for any student because he's obviously biased (they don't have "any issues" with CFI, only "bad students" so you can't essentially discuss issues you have with a particular CFI). The owner is in business to make a profit, not to help any student. So I got thrown many different CFI at that school and ended up spending thousands of dollars for wasted training (CFI with no interest in you learning, little or wrong feedback). "Practice more your landing next week" or simply saying "use more rudder" is very poor feedback after you just spent $500 for a session. They also tried to convince me not to rent the cessna 152 ($99/h) but a more expensive DA40 instead ($200/h) by rendering less critical instruments inoperable on the 152 before my sessions, such as the turn coordinator or the attitude indicator couple of times on me, or the fuel sump cup missing, me walking to the hangar looking for the oil I needed. This obviously discouraged me while making me spend more money/time than I should overall. What you want in a school is a good reputation, multiple airplanes (I'd say 4 at least) of the type you want to use and a maintenance crew of their own so each squawk list is always taken care of in a timely manner. The schedule question is probably more tied to the CFI availability and the risk that your CFI bails on you, so better not to linger more than a couple months and to fly multiple times a week.

I’m an instructor at my flying club and they just raised the prices for instruction but they didn’t raise the pay for the instructors. I have had nothing but terrible experiences at my 141 collegiate flight school I trained at and the flight school I’m now working at. To get a degree they force every pilot to become a CFI but they only have one person to teach it so it took me 3 semesters to get it done. Of course I failed my checkride first time around because I was only able to fly once a week at most. They were pushing a deadline over my head and told me to schedule with the DPE that’s known for failing everyone because if I didn’t, I would have to repeat and pay for the training again.

My instructor is all about getting things done in the way that works the best for the student, which I think is pretty nice to have

Almost 2 years and 15k later, my son had 50 hours in and still short of requirements. I don’t know why it took me so long to bail on that school. Found a freelance CFI that is outstanding. Got him ready for his check ride in 2 weeks.

My first flight school had me fly with 6 different instructors. Great from the standpoint of learning different things, BUT each one would basically have me start over. Other than log book (which they never looked at), there was no record of what I had done right or wrong. Between that and the shoddy maintenance got me to leave. My current school is awesome!

Its definitely scary that some instructors will pass anyone. I was watching a flight training video the other day, where a CFI was working with his student to polish his landings before going for his first solo. They worked great together and the student was both receptive to instruction and got better with each touch and go. But while hes trying to learn, there another pilot in the air that has no clue where he is and tower has no clue where he is either. Sky is clear by the way. The other pilot keeps calling final, at three miles, then at five miles, yes in THAT order! Tower cant find him and he cant say or describe where he is. When they finally figured out where that plane was, he was on the oppiste side of the airport from where he said he was, on a completely different heading than what he said and not even in the pattern. It was never confirmed in the video but it was believed to be a student on their first solo. Imagine how dangerous that could have quickly became. It didnt seem like the pilot was disoriented, more so like he was 100% clueless. Eventually the CFI had to take the controls and valuable time from his student because they had to avoid an aircraft that no one could find.

My flight school was Aerotech. They are at KLNS. Matt, the owner is awesome. The school was very straight forward. No gimmicks. I never had issues with planes. I had my personal instructor, Dave Marino, He was fun, very clever and great at teaching. They discouraged you from buying more junk or training than you need or want. They asked me if I wanted IFR. I said no.. They said Ok.

I'm usually terrible on book work, but ground school was no issue. maybe being a mechanic helped. made it easy for me to visualize how everything works without having to look at it in person.

I did an intro flight with a school and the instructor seemed like a nice dude. When asked if I was gonna start training with them, I said maybe, that I was gonna check out the other school nearby. The response was, "You can go check them out too... but their helicopters are really old and poorly maintained. Heard a lot of bad things about them." It almost worked at turning me away from checking out the other school, but luckily it didn't. I went to the other one and the instructor was awesome, the airport was a way better training environment, and I ended up getting my PPL there fairly quickly. When I asked that place how they felt about the first school I went to (didn't relay what they said) the answer was, "Oh yeah, those are great people over there, the airport is just a little more difficult to train at." So yeah, make sure you shop around and talk to all the schools in your area no matter what they may say about each other. If one is bad mouthing a different one, it may be true, but always give it a look yourself.

Excellent video! definitely wish videos like this were around when I started my license.

On the supplied and equipment, especially with headphones, you should be able to shop around and, with inflation being what it is, everyone is jacking up prices, so when somebody tells you only 'X" will work, wave the BS flag and tell them you plan on shopping. If that affects the "hustle," go find another school. Great video, by the way. My flight training was exclusively military so if I wanted something "extra," damn right I shopped for it.

This is where I'm at in my process right now so this video was an awesome find! Thank you for putting this out there.

It’s tricky finding ratings for a lot of schools, at least outside the US. I’m currently struggling because my school has left me without many flights. The difficulty is that it wasn’t an issue during the PPL phase, and I only got a sense of the problem when getting to further ratings like NVFR and MEIR and suddenly I can’t get the time I need. (They have taken on too many students recently, leading to a dramatic reduction in aircraft availability. They also suffered a few incidents and accidents that grounded some aircraft.) Unfortunately I’ve noticed that some students are cagey about being honest because they’re afraid there could be repercussions for speaking their mind. Great points in the video, though. It’s definitely worth investigating and asking all the questions you can about these points before committing to such a large investment

As someone who's considering exploring different options in getting certified; I had no idea what to look for in any capacity... this was incredibly helpful. Thank you!

Wow! It's been awhile since I've seen Nathan. He looks great. You two raised so many good points. Thanks.

Agree with almost everything. Definitely about the "promise" scams, the unnecessary supplies, the overdoing ground (know an instructor that would make kids memorize 1500 flashcards for their instrument), having a primary instructor, and most importantly availability of planes/instructor vs the ratio of students. That last point is huge in determining whether a student will be drug along based on "proficiency" before the checkride. Which in itself is a conversation on it's own, how "proficient" you need to be before a checkride. But one major element I disagree with in the video is the push to pursue an instrument license. I am a STRONG advocate to receive your instrument rating, anything beyond that is whatever, and I get the PPL does require some instrument training (why they can be safety pilots and recreational cant). However most private pilots have no understanding of instrument procedures whatsoever, and can often times when flying into airports interfere with someone shooting an approach to a runway. A private pilot landing on runway 12 wont realize what a King Air 360 means when they say "10 mile final ILS 30", then factor in the better piloting and other safety of trusting instruments that go along with it, it's a great rating to pursue.

Great information!

Also ask if instructors get some type of incentive. At my school instructors get an incentive depending on how many hours they work in a pay period. This makes instructors take advantage of the student by pumping up their pre/post time with their students.

So thankful you addressed this subject. My experience unfortunately with instructors from academy's (sorry 😔) is this belittling effect that the instructor does to the student and I have seen it be so prevalent that I can only figure it's because they were belittled in their instruction and they feel that is how you teach. Getting your ppl , instrument and commercial is very expensive, so what the instructor really needs to learn is how to properly Teach and how to inspire the student which belittling does not. One technique that I really wish all instructors would do is after the student does a maneuver or pattern work and landing for the instructor to show the student how They perform the maneuver or pattern work much like what a coach would do with a player. The student can really learn a lot by watching and listening. In addition , my recommendation for students is to have the mindset that you are the pilot in command. You fly the plane. If you are constantly listening to the instructor and adjusting to what the instructor says then the instructor is flying the plane not you. Tell your instructor to be quiet, take notes and when you are on the ground THEN the instructor can go over your flight. Thanks again for going over this subject that no school addresses.

Got my PPL at greenville aviation out of KGMU. Definitely recommend them. Almost done my IR there at the moment as well

What airplane is that behind you? Beautiful! Wholeheartedly agree with what you say. I have my PPL now, but my instructor was great! Stage checks are performed with a different instructor. I did my ground school online, but my instructor encouraged me to ask questions, which was great.

Shoot, I'm glad I found this video, for no reason other than figuring out what that call sign is floating around east DFW. I keep hearing "Briss", "Triss", "Trust", "Bruss", etc. hitting my home airport and HQZ. Now I know it's "THRUST"! Finally, the unscratchable itch has been scratched...

At the end of the day find a instructor that cares about you and your education. Look out for the 1475 hour instructor that are all about the hours for ATP.

Cloudy days sold me on getting my instrument rating and I would have welcomed *any* push from instructors to get it!

I'm training in the UK and after watching this I realise I'm in a good flight school although massively struggling with the books

This is eye opening. I mean I'm paying a really good price at a really good school so I never knew about these scams. That is crazy.

I'm training at K28A. Not my first choice but the prices are unbeatable. Otherwise I'd be training at Concord NC. I pay as I go, mortgage, car payments, and life prevents every day flying. Thankfully I haven't experienced any of the red flags mentioned in this video.

While everyone learns a different way, I would say that typically, you should be flying solo at around 15-20 hours and unless you take your sweet time and you fly very sporadically, there’s absolutely nothing that prevents you from getting your PPL with 40 hours. If a school delays your solo and they won’t sign you off to get your PPL and try to sell you more dual hours, you should be looking for another school.

I had a nightmare with my flight school during my PPL thanks to an inexperienced instructor. Luckily made it through.

When I was searching for a flight school earlier this year I first inquired about the one near me. They hit all the red flags from this video. They operate both 141 and 61; being they're associated with a school, but I only wanted the 61 side. The biggest factor for me dropping them after one ground lesson was the mandatory 54 hours of ground instruction....for part 61.... Good thing I was only out $170 ($100 was the enrollment fee, after I profusely refused their PPL "starter package" of $400) and not close to $20k if I decided to get my PPL with them.

Hey Thrust Flight! Looking to up my game and go for IFR - CSEL - CMEL - CFI - hopefully airlines ;) What about YOU vs the others, such as American Flyers @ ADS, or ATP @ both ADS + TKI?

there is no guarantee, got "guaranteed an instructor job after training but covid hit, and understandably circumstances changed but they were very quick to rescind their guarantee when students started returning and I couldn't work for their call and beckoning, even with 30hrs a week which i could make available to at least get my supervision done .

I did the worst landing of my life with Liz (woops). Lol she probably remembers me from that alone! 😅

Another one is not necessarily a scam,but can be a trap: we give you x% off,if you pay the whole package in advance. DON'T.

Great video . Enjoyed it . 14 days guaranteed 😅. I did my own ground . Bought my own plane, do all my annuals , IA signs them off. One man FBO here

Some of your points were very valid, students should be able to shop anywhere for supplies, and most of the needed books you can download free from the FAA website. The real issue is that most flight schools will sell the students the materials and then not show the student WHY they are necessary The students never crack the books open and never learn the material because no one explained to them how to use them or what information is essential. I have never, In 15 years of owning a flight school, seen a flight school do to much ground instruction with a student... the idea itself is ridiculous.... most schools don't do enough ... we have students come to us all the time from other flights schools saying they were told to watch sporties or they can get the information from youtube. Although both can be very useful resources neither is a substitute for one on one training with a qualified instructor. Lastly, I could not believe you actually said you did not do well on your written test after talking about ground school.... you should have done more before you took the tests... you should have been more prepared. I agree with you about flying with multiple instructors, bad idea to get stuck on one.

🤚🏼 my first school closed, the 2nd school charged up front. They got their money but instead of 8 hours flight and 8 ground, I was getting 2-3 flight, zero ground. I left after $10k and finished at a great school

What specifically are the guarantees offered by your school?

Unfortunately I haven’t seen much quality out of the zero to hero programs throughout my time flying and being a check airman. Especially if it’s a “zero to airlines” program. If that individual leaves 121 for corporate or 135 they struggle immensely from my experience.

I wish this video was around when I started as a flight student. I definitely feel I got scammed by my 141 school. Nothing I can do now I'm almost at the end after 6 years but if I could do it over it definitely wouldn't be where I'm at. But it's been frustrating, not just for me. The program looks good at the beginning because they promote 0 to MEI in 4 years. Some of my colleagues and I are in year 6 and still haven't graduated because of the licenses. I've known people who took 3 years to get their PPL done. My average here is 4 flights a month, so it was no surprise my CPL has taken eternity. And then the three instructor courses to come, I'm not optimistic about this.

Goodwill has a lot of used pilot headsets available through their website. Is it worth buying one of these rather than a new headset?

I thinks both of you should have your own youtube channel, talkshow format

I went to 4 different flight schools during my training. Two of them were a joke. I think a lot of flight schools don't really care about students, unfortunately.

How do you feel about schools that may or may not bash other local schools? Red flag or is that normal?

My ground school was a flat fee for 140 hours of PPL ground school. What sucked is the ground portion of my flight training basically covered everything I had just gone over in ground school. Very repetitive and painful.

They lied too. Having multiple instructors DOESN’T reduce the time or money, it actually prolongs it because they all teach differently and you may be able to tell them where you are in your training so far but they really don’t know exactly where your at and how much of it you have been catching on too. Having multiple instructors will cause a lot of REdoing multiple lessons

i went to an aero college. was told by the recruiter that they will accept my gi bill, needed an additional 30k secured it with sallie mae. started application process about 4 months into the training i got notified that my request for gi bill was denied as they do not pay for technical colleges (at that time 2012) 2 months later i got booted from the program for insufficient funds. have not been able to fly since, struggling with depression from not being in the air, gained weight, struggling to earn enough income to just get me back in the air. but as soon as i left the Nat guard, sallie mae bumped my interest to the max .... be very careful when applying and be sure that what is offered is honest and if your going to use gi bill dont take the schools word for it

On the flight school side ... If they hired a new instructor they will not know that he or she is a poor flight instructor untill they have students.

how would pc flight sim knowledge help with flying an actual airplane

if the flight school offers u job they do it coz they pay u less then u take in an other school bice trik 4 less expensive instractor

2 hour flight with one hour of ground? Every time? That’s awesome if that’s true. I can’t express enough how many 2 hour flights with just 10 min of ground which was basically, fill out logbook, get signature, have a nice day, and then the instructor was off to the next flight.

As a student im going to add......ASK FOR A ROADMAP ON WHAT YOU WILL BE DOING, explain that even tho most ppl take 80 hrs to get their license. You want to train like you will get yours in 40 hours. My instructor who is now with the airlines basically bullcrapped me out of 30 hrs of nothing but traffic pattern laps. Yes i can take off, and land perfectly now and ive solod. BUT by 30 hrs you should have practiced all maneuvers as well, like stalls etc. 30 hrs and i hadnt touched stalls, steep turns, ground reference, nothing, just pattern. But at around 10 hrs i realized my instructor wasnt even teaching anymore. He would just get in the plane and say alright you ready to do some pattern?? And just silently sit there or use his phone the entire time, then say, "well hey man you're doing so good i have nothing to say." That means move on to the next thing.....also make sure your instructor is telling you pitch and bank numbers. Like 25 deg. Of pitch for stalls, 30 degrees is a steep turn. Not just saying pull more more more or more bank etc and being cryptic. Your avionics has numbers for a reason.....i have a couple videos on my page with me flying. Eventually i want to start my own "nonprofit" flight school simply to be dedicated to teaching properly. Because Jesus man, im lucky to have a full motion with virtual reality simulator at my house, im basically teaching myself. And if thrust reads this....train me up and ill work for free under contract and no im not going to the airlines 100% g.a here...worth a shot lol

Im on my 13th CFI because they all keep leaving or get slammed with other students and then overbooked where you cant get much time in. Im at the final stage of trying to get Cross Country Dual/Solo done and FAA Test and then finally checkride. Struggling to get these final pieces done.

You guys literally described adf flight school😂😂

Dont always trust a flight schools social media presence or reviews, theres a flight school at an airport i frequent and they produce terrible unsafe pilots but their social media shows differently. This school is only able to pass students because they have a DPE that hands out certificates like candy. Fortunately this DPE recently got his certification pulled. I feel bad for their students because they dont know any better and theyve been sucked in by a flashy fleet of planes and a well crafted social media.

Stay away from Spartan in Oklahoma! Scammer alert!!

you misspelled "out" in the title

i’m scamming my flight school.

If it's ATP then yes they are scamming you!

When flight school is 100k, it’s already a scam. It’s for those who are born in money but still have to get a job.

I recommend MZeroA, he’s phenomenal! Most schools in my area (SoCal) are very good. But no place or instructor is perfect either. Just do your homework and pick the best you can. Here they literally tell us the opposite. I visited and did a lesson with all the schools first. They told me the opposite. Saying I don’t need most of that stuff they sell and then just actually gave me the bare bones and sending me emails with all the free downloads for those books. (Ie. They get it). Doesn’t seem to be about money here. They are actually very good schools and instructors and are passionate about it and care. They even all tell you there’s no guarantee when you will get certified. And say most people take 60-80 hrs to finish it. Even instructors told me they took like 80/90 hrs. So that was a good sign!