now I may have to pull the trigger on this one!

R

rs013

Filing Flight Plan
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Rob13
I wrote a post asking about the 2h intro to flying deal I came across the other day. The general consensus was that the deal was decent to good and I was seriously considering it ...

but I got this offer today:
http://www.livingsocial.com/deals/523204-12-week-private-pilot-class-and-flight-lesson

Can anyone validate this for me? I understand speaking to my friend that the school will setup a group class schedule and you have to make it to all of the classes which may not be easy but the deal seems to be worth it even under this inconvenience.

Thanks for your help in advance.
 
Depends on how you learn. If you can learn from a book, it's a terrible deal. If you can learn from a DVD, it's an OK deal, but DVDs can be repeated. If you can only learn in a classroom, it's pretty much what it costs.

I've never seen a $400+ ground school class in the Bay Area. Even Dan Dyer over at SQL (who charges a premium for most of the stuff he does) was half that last time I looked. Ocean Air in Watsonville was doing this for $100 including the written test last year (if you take it from them). You can also get it at a few community colleges in the region (I think Evergreen still does it). These guys are including a 40 minute flight (which isn't long enough IMO), but that doesn't seem to quite make up the difference.

I don't like these guys' marketing. It doesn't seem entirely above-board to me. It seems to depend upon the consumer not knowing what's around. That's not illegal, but it isn't entirely ethical either.

For comparison, the source material for ground school is FREE as PDF on the FAA website (and they aren't bad), and there are good textbooks derived from that for around $60. Formal ground school is NOT REQUIRED. Your CFI can approve a home study course.
 
I wouldnt do this you can get all the ground training for less than 100 from gleim online course. I mean unless you wanted to be in aclass room and more involved..
 
I like it. I can learn from a book or a DVD, but I am not always disciplined enough to sit down and do it. I would actually buy and study the books plus go to the ground school. In my case the extra costs would not be part of the equation.

Jim
 
I read the Jeppesen book cover to cover and answered all the questions. Then got the ASA test questions and went through that about 3 times. Unless you need a structured environment, you can do all the studying at home. The deal isn't bad for ground school. Make sure there's not a 600 bucks worth of textbooks that you'll need buy.
 
Hmm, I did not realize attending the school for the written exam is not mandatory. I need to get the books and see the effort involved as making yourself attend school forces you to a consistent and disciplined commitment - this may be worth the $195 on its own.
 
I had to use the KING SCHOOL videos. I was a noob, my flight school required them, and i didnt know better. THEY SUCK. I used the free/cheap FAA text books, and some other sources. I ended up clicking through the king schools and ****ed at having spent 300+ dollars.
 
I went the community college route. I am sure I could have done it on my own, but it was good having someone to ask questions (instructor) and other people in the class to talk about flying with. It met once a week, so the study pace worked well with my work schedule and kept me on track. I met a couple people I am still friends with today.
 
rs013 said:
I wrote a post asking about the 2h intro to flying deal I came across the other day. The general consensus was that the deal was decent to good and I was seriously considering it ...

but I got this offer today:
http://www.livingsocial.com/deals/523204-12-week-private-pilot-class-and-flight-lesson

Can anyone validate this for me? I understand speaking to my friend that the school will setup a group class schedule and you have to make it to all of the classes which may not be easy but the deal seems to be worth it even under this inconvenience.

Thanks for your help in advance.
Click to expand...


All that is is ground school, that's not a requirement, you can do all that independently. If you want to do their 12 week course, fine, not a bad price if the instruction is good, your local Community College might have a deal as well. You can also down load all the instructional texts for every FAA exam in PDF from the FAA website for free and start reading when it's convenient for you. There are also software and web based groundschool packages as well as video. It really just depends on what you want and what way of assimilating information works best for you.

Your priority at this point is to find the CFI you want to work with and ask them all these things because you want to minimally have the materials that dovetail with their instructional method.
 
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Isn't there a ground school requirement for part 141? I wouldn't know about this since I did 61, but that may be something to consider. Otherwise, I would spend my money on the flight training itself. With about 10 hours on my own and the Jeppesen Private Pilot materials, I was able to get a 95 on the written (Just took it today!). Plus, there are a ton of great sites online that offer free instruction for the written. The one I used was www.mypilottests.com which requires a free sign in, but is really easy to use for test prep. I did like having the physical books from Jeppesen though, and the ground school might require you to buy books--I would look into that. Overall, spend the cash on flight time. You'll need quite a bit of it.
 
I watched the King Schools Private Pilot DVDs which I got for free, I used Jeppesen Flite School Private Pilot which I also got for free, and a $20 Gleim private pilot test guide to do a practice test with my instructor.
 
ebykowsky said:
Isn't there a ground school requirement for part 141?
Click to expand...
There is. I suppose a 141 certificate holder could in theory apply for 141.57 special course approval for a flight-only PP course for those who have already passed the written, but I've never seen one. Unless the advertised courses is conducted under Part 141 (which for a number of reasons I doubt), after you'd have to take the advertised course and pass the written, you'd still have to take 141 school's approved ground training course.

In any event, since a typical rate for flight training is about $150/hr including the instructor, about $100 of that $195 will be eaten by the intro ride. Furthermore, a typical package of books for a PP course will be close to $100 (assuming you get books with this ground school, which the linked add does not say are included). Add it all up, and it amounts to a free 12-week ground school if you buy the books and an intro ride, which seems to me a pretty good deal for the trainee as long as the books are included.

OTOH, it doesn't should like there is any money in it the ground school instructor unless the class is at least a dozen and the books are extra.
 
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