Flight School Scams | 15 ways to avoid them and find a good flight school.

11. Did your training institute urge for additional training?

It is another way flight schools scam their students by pressuring them to take additional training.

A flight school may try to compel additional aircraft ratings, saying it is necessary.

On the contrary, it is another way for flight schools to make more money.

Additional training, which is not always necessary, will cause extra money.

Do not listen to the flight school if they suggest you fly in a new aircraft unless you experience flying in a different cockpit.

I have seen students taking flying lessons in aircraft that never fly twice.

12. Are they selling books and supplies with a higher price tag than usual?

Flight schools will try to sell extra books and supplies to you at a price more than their actual value.

Selling books and supplies for pilots is a business for flight schools.

And if your flight school has a pilot shop where they sell books with a price tag higher than usual, it is better not to buy from them.

There are plenty of options to buy books online.

Visit an online store or amazon.com to find a book that suits your needs.

You don’t have to buy books more than you need right now.

As well as, there is the option of buying used books online as aviation books are usually expensive.

So only choose what you need and order it online instead of buying them from your flight school’s pilot shop.

You can read here which kits are only necessary for your initial flight training >>> Private pilot training kits.

13. Did they ensure you will fly with one flight instructor?

A flight school may promise you that you will fly with only one instructor until the end of your flight training.

However, that will never happen because a flight instructor may not be available for many reasons. Your flight instructor may get a better opportunity to move there suddenly.

So if a flight promises you that you will fly with one instructor till the completion of your course, then it is highly likely they are trying to scam you.

Do not listen to your flight school and fly with different instructors to learn additional skills and techniques from other instructors.

It is ok to fly with one instructor until you get your first solo, but it is better to choose different flight instructors.

14. You are not ready to solo.

Is your flight instructor delaying your first solo flight?

There can be two reasons for that:

• Either you are not ready yet for your first solo;
• OR your instructor is delaying it to fly more with you and log his hours.

If you believe that you are ready for your first solo flight and your instructor is purposely delaying it, it is time you talk to your chief flight instructor.

If that is of concern, you will be assigned another flight instructor, and hopefully, the new instructor will teach you new techniques to improve your landings.

Typically student pilots get their first solo flight between 20-30 hours.

There are also cases where a student pilot gets released for their solo flight at 60 hours.

If you are confident enough for your first solo flight, but your instructor discourages you, you must talk to a higher authority.

15. Are they lying about airplane availability?

Boasting about their large airplane fleet is the most extensive problem in flight schools.

Flight schools will lie to you about the number of flight instructors available and the number of flyable aircraft they have.

Once you enroll, you realize that most of the aircraft you see in the hangar has expired airworthiness.

Only a couple of the aircraft is flying.

A poorly reputed flight school will always lie about aircraft availability to attract more students.

But it is difficult for them to accommodate all the students in the aircraft available for flight.

As a result, your flight training will take longer than expected.

Be aware of this kind of scam. If a school displays multiple operational aircraft, ask them how many have airworthiness.

Conclusion.

Pilot students usually learn about flight school scams once they enroll.

It is often impossible for a newbie to determine whether a flight school is good or bad.

Therefore reading this guide on Top 15 flight school scams can help you massively.

If you figure out any other way that seems like a fraud, then comment below and discuss it here.