Seeking Advice On PPL Schools In Atlanta/North Georgia Area

ATL-Steve

ATL-Steve

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ATL-Steve
Hello all. I found this forum last night and have spent several hours reading various threads. Lots of good info in here. Hopefully I'll be able to contribute something soon.

If I'm out of line asking this question, let me know. But I'm looking for referrals to good PPL schools/instructors. I live about 20 miles north of PDK but a quick google search shows tons of little airports around me. Some further research shows that the price of various PPL schools varies tremendously. For a newbie like me it's a little overwhelming. I certainly don't want to spend more money than I need but at the same time I'm well aware of "you get what you pay for". And for something that's gonna put me a mile+ above my current elevation I'm thinking that I probably want top-notch training. :)

So, does anyone have any advice about any specific airports/schools/specific instructors with whom they have recent experience?

Thank you very much for your input.

Steve
 
I returned to aviation after a 25+ year hiatus. I called a number of schools in the area and found Superior Flight School at Cobb County to be...superior. Customer oriented, variety of aircraft, I got a BFR in a Grumman Tiger, followed by an IPC in a Cessna 172, and refreshed my tail wheel skills in a Decathlon. Go see them, you won't be disappointed.
 
deltafox said:
I returned to aviation after a 25+ year hiatus. I called a number of schools in the area and found Superior Flight School at Cobb County to be...superior. Customer oriented, variety of aircraft, I got a BFR in a Grumman Tiger, followed by an IPC in a Cessna 172, and refreshed my tail wheel skills in a Decathlon. Go see them, you won't be disappointed.
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And if you're into cooking, Superior is where Alton Brown learned to fly, and is working on his Commercial
 
You have three choices at LZU, Advanced Aviation and The Flight School of Gwinnett and ATP. My PP and IR work was done at the The Flight School of Gwinnett. If you go to PDK you can count on it costing more as the meter will tick away while you taxi, wait to take off, etc since it is much busier.
 
Include me in the votes for Superior Flight School out of KRYY in Kennesaw. I did my private training there and really enjoyed it. That was a few years back and I think some of the instructors have come and gone, but I'm sure the quality is still good. The same chief pilots and senior pilots are still there. It's far from the "academy" feel of some of the formal 141-type places and much more of a friendly environment with good people, good planes, good maintenance, etc.

Edit -- at the moment they have a whole slew of 172 G1000's, plenty of steam gauge 172S's, a T182T, a 182RG, an older 182, 3 older 172's, a tailwheel 150, and a Tiger. Oh, and a helicopter too, if that's your thing. I don't know of a lot of good flight schools that can give you G1000, high performance, complex, helicopter, tailwheel, and a full motion simulator at one facility!
 
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I recomend Superior too, but perhaps I am biased because I have taught there for the last ten years. I do feel that it is a quality school with good people and planes.

I teach there part time, my full time job is flying charters out of PDK.

Our web site is www.superiorflight.com

Stop by any time and someone will be able to show you around and tell you what we are about and answer your questions. Given prior notice, I can meet you there myself.

Feel free to PM me or email me at dtheisen@superiorflight.com

Good luck with your decision,
 
I want to post a thank you to those who gave me advice. It can definitely get confusing. I ended up going with The Flight School of Gwinnett. It was the first one I visited so maybe that wasn't the best move but everything sounded good enough and it's close to my house so I went with it.

I did my first lesson/flight, yesterday. I was/am 100% overwhelmed so I'm going to hit the books and try to be prepared as best I can for lesson #2. :confused:

Thanks again.

Steve
 
ATL-Steve said:
I want to post a thank you to those who gave me advice. It can definitely get confusing. I ended up going with The Flight School of Gwinnett. It was the first one I visited so maybe that wasn't the best move but everything sounded good enough and it's close to my house so I went with it.

I did my first lesson/flight, yesterday. I was/am 100% overwhelmed so I'm going to hit the books and try to be prepared as best I can for lesson #2. :confused:

Thanks again.

Steve
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Congratulations on your first lesson/flight and I suspect it was all a bit overwhelming. It will get better, trust us. For your information we have a group of folks that all trained there that meet every Thursday around 5:00 pm and then go somewhere for dinner around 6:00pm. You are more than welcome to join us (I'm currently on an every other week schedule myself) any Thursday. We also have a little group on Facebook. If you'd like to a part of that PM me. Make sure that you meet Jack at some point. He's probably forgotten more about flying than most of us know.
 
ATL-Steve said:
I want to post a thank you to those who gave me advice. It can definitely get confusing. I ended up going with The Flight School of Gwinnett. It was the first one I visited so maybe that wasn't the best move but everything sounded good enough and it's close to my house so I went with it.

I did my first lesson/flight, yesterday. I was/am 100% overwhelmed so I'm going to hit the books and try to be prepared as best I can for lesson #2. :confused:

Thanks again.

Steve
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My first flight was so chaotic, I was completely drained afterwards. That thing felt like it was bouncing all over the sky. We had almost no wind, but it felt like I was flying in a 50 kt crosswind! My instructor later told me it was pilot-induced turbulence:wink2:
 
EppyGA said:
Congratulations on your first lesson/flight and I suspect it was all a bit overwhelming. It will get better, trust us. For your information we have a group of folks that all trained there that meet every Thursday around 5:00 pm and then go somewhere for dinner around 6:00pm. You are more than welcome to join us (I'm currently on an every other week schedule myself) any Thursday. We also have a little group on Facebook. If you'd like to a part of that PM me. Make sure that you meet Jack at some point. He's probably forgotten more about flying than most of us know.
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That sounds great. I'm going to take you up on that sometime soon.
I already met Jack. Great guy. I look forward to learning from him as well.
I'll PM you about the FB group.

cleared4theoption said:
My first flight was so chaotic, I was completely drained afterwards. That thing felt like it was bouncing all over the sky. We had almost no wind, but it felt like I was flying in a 50 kt crosswind! My instructor later told me it was pilot-induced turbulence:wink2:
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Yeah, I was pretty frazzled. In my head I imagined a great big shiny new plane. So the 172p, while a very fine plane, was not what my brain had prepared me for. :)
 
ATL-Steve said:
Yeah, I was pretty frazzled. In my head I imagined a great big shiny new plane. So the 172p, while a very fine plane, was not what my brain had prepared me for. :)
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They do have a nice Archer also that is just a few more $$ than the P model 172's. It was at Jackson County for awhile and I've got a few hours in it.
 
Glad you found a school that works for you. Good luck with your training and have fun!
 
I'm another ATL area poa guy. I'm at Covington 9A1. At some point you'll probably fly down there for some touch and goes. If you ever touch and stop, mine's the last hanger on the west end of the runway. Come on in.
 
Any airport in area with on field restaurant and no ramp fees. Suggestions? KWDR has Spitfire Grill. KLZU has The Restaurant. Others?
 
Lance F said:
Any airport in area with on field restaurant and no ramp fees. Suggestions? KWDR has Spitfire Grill. KLZU has The Restaurant. Others?
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KLZU - The Flying Machine

KRYY - Elevation Chophouse
 
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Lemme know about a meeting if you're allowing noobs. :)

I've got exactly 0.9 hours of flight training so maybe I can pick up some additional things that'll save me some hours before my testing. :)
 
Lance F said:
I'm another ATL area poa guy. I'm at Covington 9A1. At some point you'll probably fly down there for some touch and goes. If you ever touch and stop, mine's the last hanger on the west end of the runway. Come on in.
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I bought my 182 from a couple guys at Covington in Sept 2010. It was in the first hangar on the right coming in the gate, I think. :rolleyes: An older guy had bought it new and had a partner when I bought it from them. N735UD. ;)
 
N747JB said:
I bought my 182 from a couple guys at Covington in Sept 2010. It was in the first hangar on the right coming in the gate, I think. :rolleyes: An older guy had bought it new and had a partner when I bought it from them. N735UD. ;)
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I've flown that airplane. Have fun with it!

And for a M&G everybody is welcome 1 hour or 40,000 hours! Actually zero hours is ok too:D

There's another thread going that I hope leads to a get together.
 
ATL-Steve said:
I want to post a thank you to those who gave me advice. It can definitely get confusing. I ended up going with The Flight School of Gwinnett. It was the first one I visited so maybe that wasn't the best move but everything sounded good enough and it's close to my house so I went with it.

I did my first lesson/flight, yesterday. I was/am 100% overwhelmed so I'm going to hit the books and try to be prepared as best I can for lesson #2. :confused:

Thanks again.

Steve
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Congratulations! I did my PP training at TFS way back in 1995, when it was housed in a trailer! I'll have to look in my logbook and see if any planes I trained in are still on the line. I think at least one or two are.
 
Lance F said:
There's another thread going that I hope leads to a get together.
Click to expand...

I'm not seeing another thread, though I am worn out and don't feel like searching much - I'm in the process of moving. I'm interested. I live in Flowery Branch, and I'm a member of EAA 690 at KLZU. I don't think I'd call myself a noob, as I was in EAA 4 years before moving and dropping out for a couple years, then rejoined here in December, but I do only have 3.0 hours logged (from 2007).

<EDIT> NVM - I found it. I had been looking in Hangar Talk.
 
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