What to pick a flight school based on

When you're getting started with flight training, it's easy to fall into one of the most common mistakes - only looking at the price - since flight training can be a significant investment with comparatively fewer opportunities for scholarships or loans than degree programs, it's common for those starting out to just focus on keeping the overall cost by opting for cheaper flight schools - but this may not always be the wisest, or safest choice.

First, we're going to look at why you shouldn't just take cost as the only consideration when deciding a flight school, and then we'll look at what to actually look for in a good flight school.

Why focusing on just the cost is a bad idea:

1. Low costs have to come from somewhere - flight training is expensive primarily because of aircraft operation/fuel costs, so if the cost seems too good to be true, there are other factors at play. Someone has to foot the bill anyway, and if it's not the student, reduced or lower costs could be because the flight school's aircraft are old. Old aircraft are not necessarily unsafe to fly, HOWEVER, as with anything, moderation is key - if the aircraft are too old, you would be exchanging safety for lower costs, and this becomes dangerous, as each hour you train in an unsafe aircraft, is an hour during which things could go south anytime.

2. The offer may not be genuine - there are organizations which promise flight hours for the lowest cost possible, and some of them may just downright be fraudulent. In order to rule this out, it's always best to make sure that the flight school you're opting for is registered with your country's civil aviation authority. More info on how to verify if a flight school's registered or not will be published soon.

3. Unfavorable training locations - some flight schools or organizations have partnerships with a cheaper flight school in an unfavorable location, what that means is that the flight training will be legitimate - however, the location where the training takes place may be sketchy or even unsafe, and thus, these are best avoided.

4. Hidden costs - some flight schools attempt to attract students via low prices. The student begins their flight training, hoping to complete it in minimal tuition costs, and is instead hit with hidden costs that may or may not have been mentioned to them during the time of application. Some costs to discuss with and make known with your flight school before applying, are: 1. Aircraft Rental insurance costs, 2. Time-building costs (if the hours provided are just Minimums), and 3. GST and Fuel surcharges.

What to look for in a flight school:

1. Aircraft fleet age - the newer/younger the aircraft, the better

2. Aircraft fleet size - more aircraft or a bigger fleet means more aircraft availability - and consequently fewer training delays waiting for an aircraft to become available, however, one exception is if the flight school itself admits very few students to compensate for fewer aircraft. In other words: a.) Fewer aircraft, more students - likely delays in training b.) Fewer aircraft, but also fewer students - little to no delay during training c.) Large fleet - little to no delay during training

3. Aircraft maintenance - how good the fleet is maintained, directly affects the safety of the aircraft and your training

4. Proximity - ideally, a flight school that is closer to you means less commute time for you to and from the flight school. You don't want to be driving hours everyday just to train, and this not only takes up your time but also your energy

5. Safety record and history of the flight school

6. Whether the flight school is registered with your country's civil aviation authority, i.e. the country you're training in. As mentioned previously, more information on how to verify a flight school will be published soon.

Once you have all of these locked down, you can proceed to look at the cost and shortlist flight schools for comparison to find the one that best suits your needs.