Finding The Right Flight School, Flight Instructor and Aviation Mentor - Page 2

by Rod
(Alharithy)

Finding The Right Flight School, Flight Instructor and Aviation Mentor

I was informed by the management of the FBO, that they had a new CFI starting soon and my training would go on with out a hitch.

I flew with my new flight instructor for maybe four to five lessons, and on the last flight he scarred me so bad, that I wanted nothing to do with an airplane for quite some time!

After that he just up and disappeared without any notice.

Now at this point, most of you informed pilots and students are probably thinking this guy is really stupid for putting up with this kind of training.

Not stupid, just blind and ignorant to the facts pertaining to aviation.

Now don’t get me wrong, I know there are some good instructors out there, but even if one was to do his best research, he would be damn fortunate to find a needle in a haystack.

Believe it or not, this is exactly the kind of monkey see monkey do training that most students go through.

They just don’t know that there is a better way, and besides they’re just the student, they believe their instructor knows best.

This is exactly why 60% of all students never finish their PPL.

The FBO was more than eager to assign me a new instructor again to keep the revenue flowing in.

At that point I was very frustrated, I had spent almost six thousand of the ten thousand I borrowed, and still had not even soloed the airplane.

I honestly needed to reassess my school of choice.

I took a month off, and then decided that I was not going to give up, but I was going to seek out a new school.

This time around, I wanted to find a school that really cared about the success of its students.

Most of the schools seemed more interested in pushing a product like they had to fill a sales quota.

They liked to boast on how well their job placement rate looked, or the impressive fleet that was at your disposal.

They also would make claims that you could be flying in the right seat of an airliner with as little as 250 hours, oh yeah for only fifty to eighty grand in flight training fees.

What they do fail to tell you, is that the average starting salary for a rookie pilot is anywhere from fifteen to twenty five thousand a year.

So by the time you have finished all of your training, you won’t even have a sufficient income to help pay back all of that debt.

All of the schools seemed to operate on this same principle, none of them were really to concerned as to the needs or the future of the students.

They could care less as to the reason you wanted to become a pilot, nor did they want you to be educated in the true nature of the pilot mills practices.


These kind of schools only view the student as someone to push through as quickly as possible, so they can keep the profits at high level.

I had really done a lot of research, I just could not find a school that offered a different approach to training pilots, than what was considered the norm.

I was really frustrated with the whole thing, but I really did not want to give up on my dream, so I was ready to concede that maybe there really wasn’t another way, and besides a lot of pilots were trained at these schools.

I found a school out west, they guaranteed zero to CFI in just six weeks, and then you could go to work for the school as an instructor to gain the 1500 hours needed to become eligible for their job placement program.

The total course was 18 months long for $60,000, which did not cover housing, food, or any other expenses. My wife and I talked it over and we decided to drive out and have a look at the school.

The first thing that was brought to our attention, was the fact that we needed to hurry up and get the financial aid packet faxed over to the lending institution, because of course the classes were filling up rapidly and I didn’t want to be left out of this months starting date.

I have to admit that I really felt uncomfortable about the whole thing, but I just couldn’t be honest with myself, I was still convinced that this was my last and only option. The whole time we were there, they never asked me what my aviation goals were or what I hoped to gain from this experience.

What really amazed me was the fact that they only spoke of getting in the aircraft, and nothing concerning the ground school portion of training, to lay a firm foundation. Before we left the school, they informed us that the lending institution should be getting in touch with us very soon, and once the approval went through we could set the start date for training.

I was not overly impressed with the whole experience, but I felt like there really wasn’t another way at this point for me to achieve my goal of becoming a pilot.

The lending institute took much longer than was expected, and after about a three week wait I was not approved for the loan. I was very discouraged , but it was definitely the best thing that could of happened to me.

I was still very determined and I knew there still had to a better way. On that very same day, that better way was looking me square in the face from my computer screen. ATU was that better way!

I immediately contacted the Director and explained my situation, which by the way did not surprise him in the least bit.

He didn’t tell me about how great their fleet was or the job placement rate, nor did he try and sell me on the school.

For the first time, someone asked me why I wanted to be a pilot and where I see myself in the field of aviation.

He actually took the time out of his busy schedule to listen to my goals and ambitions.

The roles were reversed, I needed to convince him that I was serious and I had to prove that I was a worthy student for his time.

He asked me to due some research in the area of interest and then get back in touch with him with my findings.

This was a whole new concept, one in which I had never come across with any of the schools I spoke with.

He wasn’t interested in pushing people through the program just for the sake of filling seats.

You had to sell yourself, you had to prove that you were dedicated.

ATU is not just another flight school, ATU is a place where you don’t just have a flight instructor, you have a true mentor.

ATU is a village, full of like minded people who all have one thing in common. GREATNESS- Ordinary people with an extraordinary amount of vision and determination!

When you belong to the ATU village, you belong to a family dedicated to your success and extremely dedicated to changing the face of aviation!

You will always have support 24-7, which means your never alone, whether your in the class room in the air, or even when you have problems unrelated to aviation. ATU focuses on a strong foundation, which emphasizes an unsurpassed understanding of the fundamentals of flight.

You will know exactly how to successfully fly the aircraft before you actually take your first flight lesson, which eliminates any surprises.

You will learn far more than just becoming a pilot, you will learn how to afford flight training without getting into serious debt.

We will teach you how to earn back your initial investment, but much more.

I now have the strong foundation I was lacking, which has given me the tools needed to be a true pilot in command, plus much more.

When Dr. Bell first asked me that question know one else ever bothered to ask, I really did not have an honest answer, I wasn’t really 100% sure.

I thought it was to be a Corporate pilot, but I can clearly see that my passion lies with educating future pilots and helping them avoid the big, money hungry predators who could careless about your dreams.

I believe that everyone has a purpose, and I now know without a doubt, the answer too those important questions.

To help change the face of aviation.

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