What should you consider before choosing your flying training organisation?

Let's face it, you're about to give someone a significant amount of money for this task, so just like buying a new car, you want to make sure you get not only what you pay for, but what you want! Here's our top ten tips on things to consider!

1. Do your research

Take your time and don’t jump into the training organisation that’s closest to you. You should not only use the telephone to see how they treat their customers, but you should also visit in person as well. You’ll be seeing a lot of these people so make sure you “click” with them. If it doesn’t feel right, then it probably isn’t right (for you). It may well be better to spend time travelling a little further afield to get what you are looking for (and there's no fault in that – often the “drive” to the airfield for your flying lesson gives you the time required to get your head into the right space and to forget the hassle of the day-job you just left in the office 5 minutes ago). Were you met with a friendly smile by someone who took the time to listen to you and chat to you? Is it a happy and light atmosphere?

2. Airfield Facilities

You’ll be spending a bit of time at your training organisation so make sure they have suitable facilities for all of your needs that you probably don’t know of yet. For example, a space for you to do flight planning (a large table), online access to information that you’ll need, a quiet briefing room so you can receive uninterrupted pre-flight and post-flight briefings from your instructor. We live in the UK, and with that comes… weather! So ask what happens in the winter months – does the grass runway get so wet that flying is sometimes suspended for days or weeks at a time? What sort of emergency cover does the airfield employ – and more importantly, are you happy with that as a customer?

3. How much will it cost?

This probably shouldn’t be your first question, although it will be high up the list here! Be careful about how some organisations advertise their prices. They may well say “Get a PPL for £7,000”, but in the small print it will say that this is only the case if you achieve the required standard in the minimum time – and that may well be for a licence that you don’t actually want (see item 5 below). You’ll find that any additional training required to achieve the standard required may come at a premium price. Bear in mind that it’s highly unlikely that you’ll achieve the required standard in the minimum hours (irrespective of the course). For example, a PART-FCL PPL(A) has a minimum of 45 required hours. The national average is closer to 60. You also need to factor in that there are often other “hidden” expenses. Ask about landing fees, medicals, equipment required, and membership fees that may not be included in the price!

4. Beware of “Deals”

Some companies may offer “deals” by giving you a cheaper hourly rate if you deposit a lump sum at the commencement of the course. If you’re offered this, the answer is pretty simple – don’t. Many people have had fingers and wallets burnt when organisations simply stop trading. Despite what people think, it’s incredibly difficult to operate a viable business in the world of General Aviation, and the down-fall can often be sudden and unexpected. If it seems too good to be true compared to other organisations offerings, it probably is.

5. Whats the course?

Be careful here. There are multiple types of Pilots Licence you can obtain, each with their own little caveats. This area of concern is tied into the “cost, price and advertising” aspect that an organisation might be using. Be sure you know which Pilots Licence you want to achieve (e.g. LAPL or PPL or NPPL etc). The prices for each will be different because each have different hourly requirements. Do your homework on this front before you visit any training organisation because they may well try to temp you into a licence that either you don’t want, or that will cost you more money than advertised to achieve what you need. For example, a LAPL licence only requires a minimum of 30 hours training (bear in mind that word ”minimum” here)! However, you can’t fly abroad on that licence, and nor can you add any instrument or instructor qualifications to it either. And after you’ve passed your Licence Skills Test (LST) with an examiner, you’ll need to do another 10 hours by yourself before you can take passengers. Oh, and don’t forget you probably won’t have reached the required standard for test after 30 hours in any event. Compare that to a full PPL at 45 hours, you pass the LST, and then you can take flying whoever you want straight away, plus you can go abroad, and you can add instrument and instructor ratings to it! Horses for courses though, a LAPL might well be what you are after - but YOU need to decide what YOU want or need!

6. How often can I fly?

There’s a pretty simple formula that goes like this; the more often you fly, the less hours it will take to achieve your licence. So ask your training organisation about lesson availability in general. It’s no good planning on doing 4 hours a week (for example) if they only have two instructors in for a couple of days and they are booked up for the next 6 months. The same goes for aeroplanes. We cover both of these aspects in a bit more detail below.

7. Bookings and Cancellations

Ask how the booking process works. Is it a system that you get access to so you can make your choices and changes, or are you left to the whims of the “front desk” that do things for you and do “what they think is best”. Ask about cancellations – especially late cancellations that may well (legitimately) incur a “no show” fee. Organisations should be up front and honest about this with black and white rules so everyone is aware of the limitations and thresholds involved.

8. Instructors

Now it gets personal! Your organisation should have a good mix of instructors. Most instructors work set days, so depending on what day of the week you choose to fly, you’ll have a limited choice of which instructors to use. Bottom line is you ought to have one main instructor. Don’t spread yourself thinly amongst multiple instructors. With the best will in the world, even with a good standardisation policy, there are as many ways to teach someone to fly as there are ways to skin a cat. And having consistency in the method will help you achieve your goal quicker. That’s not to say you shouldn’t occasionally fly with a different instructor when yours is on holiday or ill though. Equally, when you first start out on your piloting journey, if it transpires you’re just not “getting along” with your instructor – then change! You are the cash-paying customer! Obviously this means that your chosen organisation needs to have a suitable number of instructors for the days you wish to fly! Any good organisation (and indeed good instructor) will also recognise when their instructional technique on a given exercise is just not “getting through” to you. In that case you should expect them to suggest a lesson or two with another suggested instructor who might just say “all the same words in a different order” that means the penny then drops for you, and you go back and happily carry on!

Don't forget that instruction is also required for the theoretical knowledge exams that you will also need to pass. Many instructors shy away from teaching the theory subjects associated with learning to fly. Ask the question about what that organisation uses or recommends. You'll find many will endorse Easy PPL Ground School, and you won't find a better organisation to get you through those exams!

9. Aircraft

You can tell a lot about an organisation from the state of their aircraft! The level of maintenance, care and attention soon manifest themselves. Another important consideration is the mix of different aircraft types that an organisation has. When you learn to fly you really need to fly in the same TYPE of aircraft for each lesson (note, the same type, not the same aircraft). So if an organisation has a “right mix” of types (e.g. one Cessna 152, one Cessna 172, one PA28, one Robin HR200) then you need to be a bit careful. Aircraft have to go into maintenance regularly, they also go wrong and need fixing (like all things). And if there is only one aircraft of that type, that’s going to be a problem. Don’t be fobbed off by being told “all aircraft are the same and your licence lets you fly any of them”. Whilst that’s (nearly) true, chopping and changing aircraft during learning to fly is going to cost you more hours and more money (and probably more frustration too).

10. Training Records and Progress checks

Take a look at a typical student training record and ask how the organisation tracks your progress against the flying syllabus. Ask if instructors are told to not only report on progress of the lesson but also to state what the next lesson is to be. That alleviates any confusion on progress if you need to change instructor (either temporarily or permanently). Ask what progress checks are included and what thresholds are used to monitor that progress (e.g. not achieved first solo by 20 hours). These thresholds are a requirement for an organisation to protect both the student and the organisation, but you’d be surprised how many organisations don’t implement them.


So there you have it. There's probably more questions of your own that you'll need answering when you meet your training organisations, but we think the list above is a good starting point!

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