Getting in a flight while out of town?

abqtj

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abqtj
I travel a bit for business and have been wondering, would it be possible to get in a flight while in another town?

I'm still a student, with ~65 hours. If I called a flight school when I'm out of town, would they be willing to let me go up with an instructor and do some flying? Not necessarily full-on instruction, but I guess getting another's perspective and techniques might be good. Heck I'm on my 3rd CFI as it is...

Would it hurt my training to do this or benefit me? Or nothing either way?

I hit the Phoenix area quite often, but will be in other parts of the country from time to time too. I just think it would be a fun way to experience different areas for an hour or two while away on business.
 
You shouldn’t have a problem,flight schools can always use the money.
 
About the only place I've had problems doing that is Palo Alto (KPAO), the instructors were busy when I was free.
 
I did it quite a bit when I was still a student. Working on landings is the easiest thing to do with an instructor when you're not familiar with the area, local operations, etc.
 
I'll second what everyone else is writing here. I I would recommend going up also, and flying with another pilot or instructor is usually also helpful to get another perspective on things I find
 
I did this during my training. I hadn’t soloed yet, but felt I was ready and had been flying a 152. I took a flight in Tucson (I live in Florida) in a 172 and learned two things from the experience. I can see out of a 172 much better, and the instructor told me he thought I was ready to solo, which confirmed my suspicion that I needed to try another instructor at home.

Actually, I learned 3 things. The last one is that not all airports are at roughly 0 MSL like they are in Florida.
 
Do it. But be sure to tell them in advance what you're doing.

If you just show up you're going to get the "standard" first hour lesson. Be very clear with them that you are an x hour student, soloed at y hours, etc. Then it will be beneficial.

Flight schools want everybody in the door to be the next 10k sale. But if you tell them that ain't you they'll still take a couple hundred from you.
 
Yes, but it helps to call ahead and schedule, and let them know what you want. Twice I've done this, and both times got the junior instructor (I was a student at the time also) and had an enjoyable experience. Kind of a self-flown aerial sight seeing tour. Do it.
 
I've done this a couple of times over the past two years with Shaun at the Williamsburg Flight Center (while my wife was in training). In fact, he was nice enough to check me out in a 172 and let me go fly it solo for a while. While I was not a student at the time, during our checkout and our IPC the following year we had a few hours of good instruction. I think occasionally it is a positive thing to get a 2nd.. 3rd.. nth opinion from another instructor who maybe has a little different perspective.
 
Okay.. the question is answered. I have been curious how many others first read the title of this thread as:
"Getting in a fight while out of town"

That little ole "L" is important. ;)
 
Okay.. the question is answered. I have been curious how many others first read the title of this thread as:
"Getting in a fight while out of town"

That little ole "L" is important. ;)

I didn't. Nope. :D
 
I do this a lot when traveling. Call them up, make appointment. Hardest part is explaining "No, I'm already a licensed pilot, I just want to fly around for an hour." Calling it a discovery flight (at the low intro price) doesn't seem ethical.

Definitely takes some time explaining "No, not really a lesson. No, not a rental checkout. No, not a discovery flight. Yup, just flying around." If you only want to fly an hour or two, it's (usually) a lot easier than doing their checkout process.

It's great having a local aboard for radio frequencies, airspace issues, and pointing out what to see. I've had great folks with me 2/3 of the time, and never a bad one.
 
I do this a lot when traveling. Call them up, make appointment. Hardest part is explaining "No, I'm already a licensed pilot, I just want to fly around for an hour." Calling it a discovery flight (at the low intro price) doesn't seem ethical.

Definitely takes some time explaining "No, not really a lesson. No, not a rental checkout. No, not a discovery flight. Yup, just flying around." If you only want to fly an hour or two, it's (usually) a lot easier than doing their checkout process.

It's great having a local aboard for radio frequencies, airspace issues, and pointing out what to see. I've had great folks with me 2/3 of the time, and never a bad one.
I tried doing this up in Wyoming a few months ago. Couldn't find anybody that could fit into my schedule, but I like the idea.
 
I've done it as an instructor and had students who did it.

My favorite story was a student who went to visit his family. Took a lesson at a local, small nontowered field, very much unlike the busy class D where we trained. The CFI there offered to solo him.

The story would be better if he accepted the offer.
 
When I visited family in Hungary I gifted a sightseeing flight to my friend for her bday. Turns out our pilot was also a CFI so I asked him to practice some soft field TO/LDs with me (airport being an actual grass strip). The school insisted that - due to liability reasons - I fill in some paperwork like I was an actual student even tough they knew it would be just for the one day. I had a chance to do 14 TO/LDs on a soft field that I could not have practiced anywhere near my home drome here in the West. Thanks to the wind change mid lesson, I could use both ends of the runway. Very educational. (extra special was that the turn from dw to base was right above a huge statue of Lenin :D
But the radio was hilarious. They all spoke Hungarian, which is my mother tongue, but I could not get used to it and had the CFI handle radio. Even tough I understood everything they said, still, it sounded like a different language :D
Interestingly, CFI hourly rate was only $20, but the aircraft was almost $200/h!
 
This is just a proof of the quality of instruction you provide!
Thank you. That's kind.

This student was particularly good. When he passed his private checkride, the DPE told me, "He flies better than you!" I said, "I know."
 
If I called a flight school when I'm out of town, would they be willing to let me go up with an instructor and do some flying? Not necessarily full-on instruction, but I guess getting another's perspective and techniques might be good. Heck I'm on my 3rd CFI as it is...

At bottom, any flight training amounts to renting a plane by the hour and an instructor by the hour. Indeed, there are independent flight instructors, and when you hire one this distinction becomes crystal clear.

It is no different from renting a car by the hour and a driving instructor by the hour. If some people here are sensitive to that statement, pretend that the car is a Ferrari.

This is just a fact despite the desire of a lot of flight schools to fudge the reality with a lot of verbiage about “programs” and attempts to make themselves sound like academic institutions.
 
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