Helicopter Flight Information
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Helicopter Flight Information |
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Flight Training InformationHere you will find general information regarding the various subjects you will encounter during flight training. This could be subjects that should be avoided as well as those that are necessary. This section will be updated on a regular basis, and subjects will be added. You may be faced with a very tough decision! There are so many rip-offs, where do you go? I had three very good friends who were the victims of flight school scamming. I have since made it one of my primary goals to keep as many potential students informed in an effort to prevent as much of this scamming as possible. Flight training is expensive and every student deserves a fair shake. I have also met a student or two who were assholes and quite frankly maybe they deserve what they get. Don't become one of them. There are some flags that indicate a school which may be scamming. Be very cautious of any school which hides their programs inside blanket pricing statements and which also gives false indications of cost comparisons to market averages. A quick look on the internet is an easy way to find such schools. Outrageous costs should be a flag as well. Any time your (career pilot) training is going to cost significantly more than $55,000 something is wrong. If it sounds to good to be true, it probably is! Be cautious of in-house financing! Be cautious of signing a contract which will result in you losing your money if the flight school defaults. This is occurring! A large flight school is absolutely no indication that it is a good school. Often times a smaller school will take better care of their students. If you can not complete your training within the allotted time due to school problems such as unavailable aircraft, you are due any unused funds without penalty. Keep in mind however that some times there will be maintenance issues beyond the control of the school and in such cases you owe the school your patience within reason. Such cases are not the norm. Many schools simply put down what they don't offer or what they don't do. This is a part of human nature that the better of us should strive to overcome. One such topic which I frequently find that some schools put down is what they call, 'accelerated training', sometimes referred to as rushing a student through. The fact of the matter is, a student will learn and retain knowledge better if the training is more concentrated and centrally focused on that particular student at that particular time. The reason that training takes longer at larger schools is simply that the student/instructor/aircraft ratio will not permit a more student focused training environment and therefore they simply can not permit the student to take more instructor/aircraft time. Think about this... A new student can fly with the best learning curve; one flight in the morning and one flight in the afternoon with each flight about 1.0 to 1.2 hours in length. A full-day structured environment at full-capacity would then limit each student to 1.5 hours (including preflight time) per half day e.g., you have the aircraft reserved from 7:30 to 9:00 am, and again from 12:00 to 1:30 pm; you begin your preflight at 7:30 (a proper preflight will take 15- to 30-minutes) and you can fly until 9:00 when the next student is set to begin his/her preflight. A tight schedule will keep one aircraft and two instructors busy with 3-students (full-time) per month and per aircraft. The aircraft will fly as much as 160 hours and the students will complete their training in a realistic busy way. Any more students then 3 per month, per aircraft will necessitate students being limited on the number of hours they can fly and will ultimately extend the duration of their training overall. The aircraft can not realistically fly any more than this since there is an absolute flight/hour maintenance hour ratio involved not to mention the fact that there will also be weather days as well. More aircraft does not improve the student/aircraft ratio and as a result does not mean a damn thing when all aircraft are over-booked; a common occurrence especially at large schools. A school can accommodate 6 full-time students per month and per aircraft if they limit each student to 1-flight per day, but then is the student being served? If it will take longer than the following time periods (full-time Students) to complete your training, something is wrong. Keep in mind however that this is assuming a student who takes his/her training seriously and spends all free time at the school studying, taking an active roll in his/her training, and is always ready to fly and promptly accomplishes pre-flights etc.
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