There is a huge problem in the flight instruction industry. Three out of 4 students who start training never finish. And I get it, I almost threw in the towel myself. Heres my story…

I was about 30 hours into my training and just finished up a lesson. I was on my way home about a 40 minute drive from the airport I was training at and I was completely defeated. I was ready to give it all up.

I had then trained with 3 or 4 different flight instructors, tried different schools but felt like I was not progressing towards finishing my license. My current instructor was an incredible pilot who had been flying for decades, so I didn’t want to jump to a new instructor who may not have any experience. 

But everytime I came in it was “What’d we do last week?” There was no organization, no method to what we would work on next. No system. 

Once I got home I reflected on the training, and what was going wrong. I wanted to finish my pilot training more than anything else in the world! Then it hit me, I knew somewhere in the regs the FAA had posted the exact requirements I needed to get my license. So I started digging. 

I found it! So now I was able to compare the experience I had acquired to what was actually required for me to take my checkride. 

At this point I put together a checklist and brought it into my next lesson. 

“Next on my list is to do 3 landings to a full stop at a towered airport”

• My instructor responded, “Okay, but today is a really good day for cross winds, have we done a lot of those?”

“Yes, I have those down good!”

• “Okay let’s do one here and if it looks good well go to Lincoln to get you familiar with towered operations”

I nailed the cross wind landing and we were off to a towered airport!

We also managed to knock out some simulated instrument time that I needed!

Had I not stepped up and told my instructor exactly what I needed to do, we probably would have spent the day doing crosswind practice or who knows what…

After taking this approach it was incredible how fast I progressed. 

Before I knew it I found myself making that long drive back home, only this time I had my temporary pilot’s certificate in my pocket!

Unfortunately, many students have an experience almost identical to mine. Most instructors I have come across over my decade in aviation have a very similar approach to my last instructor. 

And that approach is totally broken!

If you want to succeed and you want to be as efficient as possible with your time and money, you absolutely must have a system and know exactly what you need to accomplish to move forward towards your license.

You as the student have to take responsibility for your training and be able to easily hold your instructor accountable to ensure you stay on track. 

This is why we developed the Elite Aviator Training System. It allows you to always know what the next step is. And unlike anything we have seen out there is actually EASY to use, meaning your instructor will actually follow it!

No matter where you decide to train you MUST make sure your instructor either has detailed syllabus or will follow the Active Aviator System.

If you meet with an instructor for a discovery flight to talk about the process and they say “I know what we need to do, or they just verbally explain “well first we will go up and learn controls then work on landings….”  its time to keep shopping for another school. 

Having a system is a requirement for you to spend your money, but in addition you should ask the following questions.

Do you do this full time?

Answer you are looking for: Yes! Students who train with instructors that have a main job and instruct on the side almost always take significantly longer to finish their training. Its often difficult and frustrating to schedule lessons with a CFI who isn’t instructing full time. 

How Many Students Have You Successfully Signed Off?

Answer you are looking for: More than 5. If the instructor has successfully trained more than 5 students you should be in good hands. However if they personally haven’t that may be okay if they are working for a school utilizing a system that has been successfully followed by many students. 

How Many Students Do You Currently Have?

Answer you are looking for: 3-7. More than 7 becomes a lot to handle and may become difficult to schedule. Having at least some other students also training should indicate they are current on instructing and won’t be “figuring it out” as you go. 

These questions are total deal breakers, but again not having a training syllabus should be!

If you want to learn more about our custom training system that we have successfully used to train many pilots before you click the button below to purchase your intro lesson!