Flight Training on Long Island

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Ant197

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Ant197
Hello All,

New to the site and to aviation. I was hoping for some recommendation on where to start my aviation training in Long Island. I am closer to Republic Airport but willing to drive to MacArthur. Just looking for some real personal experience with schools at both airports and recommendations.

Thanks
Anthony
 
Some shady flight school operators at FRG. It is very busy, especially on weekends. During the week SUNY goes out a bunch of planes at the same time clogging up the pattern, or all coming back at the same time. A lot of corporate jet traffic in and out. You can be short final and they will cancel your landing clearance due to jet traffic. Many, many stupid pilots there that can’t follow simple tower instructions. Probablya big reason the controllers are usually pricks. The big 135 operation talon air is slowly taking over more space of the airport making it less piston friendly, as well as adding more jet traffic. I can’t tell you anything about the flight schools out of ISP, but it is a nicer environment to fly in and out of.

I know this because I do instruct and fly out of FRG for 20 years.
 
Probably easier to do your training at ISP. It’s a lot less busy and you won’t be wasting 0.5 on the ground. If you are set on training at FRG I recommend Nassau Flyers. PM me if you have any questions. I instruct there a few hours a month.
 
Welcome Anthony.

I trained out of KISP. I started training with a flight school but went through 6 CFI's in a little over a year so I bailed. They were all about building hours.
I joined a flying club (Gace Flying Club) and finished my PPL with them. (and the same CFI) They have 4 or 5 CFI's available that are top notch.

Also, I hear a lot of good things from people who train at Heritage. I took my written there and they seem to have a very nice operation.

Training out of a Charlie airport, although a little more difficult in the beginning, will make you a better pilot in the long run.

Good luck with your training
 
Welcome aboard! I trained out of KISP with Heritage. They were amazing at training! I felt completely prepared for my checkride and had top notch instructors through all my training. I took my PPL with them and soloed around 40ish hours and compelled the checkride around 60ish. I certainly reccomend them! A few things that I liked about them were, they assign you to 3 instructors who are all responsible for teaching you. This way, if one is not available, the other 2 can teach you just as well because they have flown with you. They usually give you one lead guy or gal who you will fly with most often but the group approach is also nice since you gain knowledge from multiple perspectives. They also have very experienced senior flight instructors who will verify the work of the more junior instructors right before the checkride. This is important because it guarantees you won't be unprepared of the checkride. Their airplanes are 172's all in great shape with your basic 6 pack of steam gauges with onboard GPS's. I know they are still using many of the same planes I flew with them 5 years ago as I hear them on frequency while I'm flying.

One issue I had with them is they do their scheduling the night before and call you to let you know what time you will fly. While this may have changed( I trained about 5 years ago right before the age of "there is a app for that" began, if they still do it this way, it can lead to some unpredictable schedules. One thing I know has changed is they got a contract about a year after I trained, to provide training for people going to one of the aviation schools. They got so busy that they never had any available planes to fly once I became a renter. That's not a huge knock on them but something to consider.

KISP is a terrific airport to learn out of. It's a class c( when you being training you will understand more why that matters) but it's far easier than KFRG which, from my understanding, is a madhouse with traffic on nice days. Consider this, many planes who train out of KFRG have to fly to other airports to practice patterns and landings. That's all time spent not practicing landings and all time you are spending money on. Also, consider that if you are stuck holding short of the runway number 6 in the conga line, then the engine is running and you are being charged for that time waiting to take off. When I trained at KISP, I never waited to take off for more than 10 minutes and the pattern, while it does get crowded, was never more than what felt manageable to me.
 
I'm at KFRG. Go to KISP for training. As others have stated, you will eat up Hobbs time waiting on the ground and it will really add up. The pattern is usually a mad house and being told to call back and stay outside Class D is not unheard of. The airport is generally over capacity on weekends.
 
Thank you all who responded. I am going to talk to a few places and go take a few discovery flights and see what I think.
 
Ant197 said:
Thank you all who responded. I am going to talk to a few places and go take a few discovery flights and see what I think.
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Living in Queens, I just went through considering Republic and decided to go elsewhere.

The two main flight schools there are into “programs” and up front payments against “discounts”. I found that discussions with them were convoluted and lacking in basic clarity.

Realize that it’s your money and that when you cut through the verbiage, you are essentially renting an airplane and hiring an instructor. In other words, you are renting a car from Hertz and hiring an instructor to learn how to drive.

There are training schools in New Jersey that, depending on where you are located, are as convenient.

Consider Take Flight in the Hudson Valley, which by comparison to the Republic schools gave me clear, straight up answers to questions.

Take Flight won the 2017 AOPA award for best flight school in the northeast. Orange County is an uncontrolled field, which will reduce rental time, yet a few miles from Stewart for controlled experience.

Of course, if you live well into Long Island, looking off the island doesn’t make sense.

At Republic, there’s an independent instructor named Robert Keleti who won the 2017 AOPA award for best instructor in the northeast. Your contract would be with him, and the plane would be rented separately, which may be worth exploring.

I don’t know your finances, but taking "a few discovery flights” is an expensive proposition. They are not the bargain that they are marketed as.

Cheers
 
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If you live in the City, I'd avoid KFRG, and KISP is a bit of a ride depending on where you live. Go to New Jersey. Take a look at the flight schools at Caldwell & Lincoln Park Airports.
 
XCFLYER said:
If you live in the City, I'd avoid KFRG, and KISP is a bit of a ride depending on where you live. Go to New Jersey. Take a look at the flight schools at Caldwell & Lincoln Park Airports.
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I agree. From Manhattan the New Jersey airports make more sense, and KISP is a bit of a haul even from Queens and Brooklyn.

If you like the Hudson Valley, I also think that Orange County is worth considering. When you factor in traffic, it’s a viable alternative when it comes to travel time, and of course there’s a train from Penn Station to Beacon.
 
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Nassau Flyers is simply "you get what you pay for". Pricey, but a good overall, and they have a good syllabus that they follow and sign-off on.

I can't recommend the "other company" I flew with anymore.

Good luck, and don't give up. I had about four instructors in all, all out of my control. One instructor I had to sue in court for leaving me high and dry, as well as Hurricane Sandy interfering the life of another good instructor I had.

It's still well worth it!
 
ErikNYC said:
Nassau Flyers is simply "you get what you pay for". Pricey, but a good overall, and they have a good syllabus that they follow and sign-off on.

I can't recommend the "other company" I flew with anymore.

Good luck, and don't give up. I had about four instructors in all, all out of my control. One instructor I had to sue in court for leaving me high and dry, as well as Hurricane Sandy interfering the life of another good instructor I had.

It's still well worth it!
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Did you sue the CFI for the flight school? And for what reason did you sue?
 
TommyG said:
Did you sue the CFI for the flight school? And for what reason did you sue?
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I actually sued the CFI personally (this wasn't through Nassau Flyers). My buddy and I pre-paid the CFI from another flight school for ground school and an estimated amount of flight instructions (block) needed to finish my PPL. After payment the CFI was lazy, burnt-out, and always late. Three months later he found a job for a regional, which he was prepping for a month before he left, but he kept insisting he wasn't leaving anytime soon when I inquired. The school is at fault as well because they knew his history with students, but we pay the CFI directlyfor their time and not the school.

In the end I received $200 back from the instructor before I sued him. I got tired of calling and waiting, so I went to court with all documents, received a judgement in my favor including interest.

As they say "Never pay too much upfront" for anything in this industry, but the block rate (which wasn't a problem) and instructor fees was a deal, so I thought.
 
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How much does one pay for "unlimited" flight instruction time?
 
paflyer said:
How much does one pay for "unlimited" flight instruction time?
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I think that the idea of a flight instructor offering unlimited flight time should raise some red flags.
 
Rory said:
I think that the idea of a flight instructor offering unlimited flight time should raise some red flags.
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Sorry it wasn't unlimited. It was block time for an estimated amount of flight instructions needed to finish my licence.
 
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