How Do I Choose the Best Flight Instructor School?

There are many different types of flight instructor training schools offering various levels of education. Choosing the right flight instructor school will likely determine where you will work throughout your career as an instructor. Before making a final decision to attend a particular school or training facility, take a close look at the level and quality of education offered. The training involved in becoming a flight instructor is extensive and costly, and your choices may be determined by the overall cost and the amount of financial aid available. When considering a flight instructor school, review their facilities and what type of aircraft are available for use in your training.

Regional aviation authorities do not require any post-secondary education for flight instructors, however, some employers may require instructors to have an associate's degree or a bachelor's degree. For example, most major airlines require that their flight instructors have a college degree. If you want to take some college courses or earn a college degree while learning to be a flight instructor, make sure the schools you are considering offer a degree program. Keeping skills up-to-date and staying on top of the latest advances in flight is also required by aviation authorities to maintain a license. The offer of continuing education courses, may be a deciding factor in determining where you decide receive your training.

Financial aid may also be a factor in choosing the best flight instructor school. Getting the right flight training is likely going to be very expensive and may cost as much as $100,000 US Dollars (USD). If you are going to train commercial pilots, the training process involves first earning a private pilot's license, an instrument rating and a commercial pilot's license before training as a flight instructor.The right flight instructor school will likely be the school that provides the most financial aid. Although very competitive, joining the military to train as a pilot and then serving several years active duty will likely pay for most of the cost involved in training to become a flight instructor.

Consider the types of aircraft and the facilities available when choosing a flight instructor school. Each school or training facility will have different types of aircraft. Larger training facilities will likely have more types of large and small aircraft available for training while smaller training facilities may only have a few smaller aircraft. If you are only interested in instructing students to fly smaller aircraft, a smaller school may be a good choice for you. If you are looking at a career in instructing pilots to fly the big jets, you need to choose a training facility with the the most modern aircraft to accommodate your particular flight instructor training requirements.