Flight Instruction/CFI/School Recommendations for Atlanta

T

Tommy Stoner

Filing Flight Plan
Joined
Jun 6, 2019
Messages
8
Location
Smyrna, GA
Display Name
Display name:
Tommy
I'm looking for any recommendations for a CFI or feedback on the schools for my private pilot's license in Atlanta. I live on the west side in Smyrna and I'm about equidistant from KRYY and KDPK when there isn't peak traffic; i.e. weekends. I've looked at the local flight schools, done some flights and had some discussions but it seems like scheduling is/will be an issue. I've singed up at one school and have had two cancellations from instructor conflicts and two from weather. Rescheduling calls were always, "can you fly Thursday at 1PM?" type calls (which I can't normally do). I work a full time professional corporate job, so I need some flexibility and my flight time will be mainly on weekends in the winter and when the hours of light increase, early mornings and evenings. With that, I would need Saturday and Sunday options vice only Saturday which a lot of the schools seem to only do. I read about finding an independent CFI but don't have much info on that route.

Any feedback on the schools here in the ATL area would be good to compare with what I've found in my efforts. Also, any recommendations or contacts for other CFIs would be great.
 
What flight school did you end up attending?
 
I can route you to a searchable list of CFIs in Georgia with around 40 in the Atlanta area, all with contact info. LMK if you're interested.
 
For me, I'm good thank you. I'm just now finishing up at Superior Flight School at McCollum; started in April.
 
write-stuff said:
I can route you to a searchable list of CFIs in Georgia with around 40 in the Atlanta area, all with contact info. LMK if you're interested.
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I would absolutely be interested in the CFI list. I can IM you my email. Let me know how you want to connect.
 
Tommy Stoner said:
I would absolutely be interested in the CFI list. I can IM you my email. Let me know how you want to connect.
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It's free at GroundSchool.com. You do have to have an account (to prevent bots from mining names and email addresses), but it only takes a moment to sign up. After you register, click the "Find a CFI" menu link at the top right. Then select Georgia and you'll get the entire state, sorted by city. Each instructor includes contact info. Best of luck to you.
www.GroundSchool.com
 
Tommy Stoner said:
I've looked at the local flight schools, done some flights and had some discussions but it seems like scheduling is/will be an issue. I've singed up at one school and have had two cancellations from instructor conflicts and two from weather. Rescheduling calls were always, "can you fly Thursday at 1PM?" type calls (which I can't normally do). I work a full time professional corporate job, so I need some flexibility and my flight time will be mainly on weekends in the winter and when the hours of light increase, early mornings and evenings. With that, I would need Saturday and Sunday options vice only Saturday which a lot of the schools seem to only do. I read about finding an independent CFI but don't have much info on that route.
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With a very limited availability you are going to run into that at times. The weather is the weather. That's why I started my instrument rating soon after getting my private pilot cert. Some rather benign weather can cancel a VFR flight.

I work a corporate job and made time during the week as well as the weekend. A little harder in the winter, but if I had a light morning or afternoon I'd plan a flight with the CFI and a plane if they were available. A place such as Superior has several 172 planes, so often one or more is available.

Plan ahead, book more flights than you want knowing that the weather will cancel some of them. If it doesn't, slow down on your bookings if it's burning through money too fast. So, book both Saturday and Sunday. If you get two in, great. If just one, fine. Still, look to see when you can go mid-week too, if you can.
 
M2C on picking a flight school. Notice I said flight school and not just CFI. For me, it has to be the entire package of CFI, plane, organization, etc.

My background: I started training in LOU in early 2018, but had to stop because of a job change to ATL. Restarted almost 1 year later to the day. I too work in a corporate job and need to fly after work or on Saturdays.

When I picked my school here in ATL (Superior Flight), I interviewed 3 of them at Kennasaw (McCollum KRYY). What I was looking for - in order of importance:

Size of Resources - Planes: More than 1 time in LOU I had to cancel a flight because the plane was down. I picked where I ended up with because they have a relatively large fleet of 172's. The other options at KRYY had either 1 plane, or a few they split between here and Peachtree.

Size of Resources - Instructors: I picked a place that had a good number of CFI's. That way I would have a better chance of finding a CFI that I would fit best with. I asked the
chief pilot about the different CFI's they had, what my learning style was like, and he offered 2 or 3 choices.

Available Hours: I needed something that I could do after work and Saturdays. (Now that we're into this time of year - shorter days and upcoming clock change - that option will not really be open as much. Will have to leave work early / flex time to do make that work).

Cost: The school I picked was competitive in price, especially vs one other option at KRYY

School Stability: Has the school been around a while? Does the school keep up with the facilities, or is it run down? That tells me how well the school is run, if they are financially smart enough to keep the lights on, etc.

Appearance of Airplanes: I don't care if the plane looks like it is new. I do care that there are not placards all over the panel showing that half of the instruments don't work, safety wire is where it needs to be, windshields aren't cracked, etc.

CFI lifespan: How long will your CFI be there? If the CFI is 20 hours away from leaving to get a job with the airlines, then I'll look for another. Found one that had a decent expiration date.

Not directly answering your question, but I'm taking the liberty of answering a slightly different question that IMHO is a better way to look at it.

Good luck!
 
Do they still have the Tiger, and the taildragger conversion 150?
 
Tiger yes, have not seen a tail dragger 150.
 
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