My 14-day Private Pilot Training

Tony:

I entered your program with 1.3 hours of demo-ride flight time and exited 2 weeks later as a private pilot, despite many weather challenges! IMO the accelerated approach is the best way to get a license –from cost, time efficiency, and learning perspectives. Immersive daily flying and instruction was invaluable.

The best part of the experience was my instructor, Greg. I can’t say enough positive things about him, but I’ll try. He obviously loves aviation and perhaps, more importantly, teaching. He isn’t in it to build hours but to create competent pilots, e.g. he also supports and teaches aviation at local high schools and colleges. While I purposely sought out an experienced CFI with a lot of time in the saddle (as compared to younger CFIs trying to build time), I hadn’t given much thought to Greg’s military pilot experience, which turned out to be extremely beneficial, especially to me. He brought a level of discipline and process which were exactly the foundation I needed to build good habits. Greg had plenty of real-world anecdotes from personal experience that helped me focus on the most important priorities in the cockpit. And while the weather made for many early morning and late afternoon flights, Greg committed the time to see it through. As a result, we spent a lot of time together, and I still liked him in the end!

Two other things that were beneficial. One was just hanging around the hanger with your other CFI’s. Mike and Ruben were always ready to answer questions and provide advice and moreover helped moving aircraft around/ordering fuel/etc. — they went above and beyond. Second, my check ride had to get rescheduled because of weather-related training delays. I don’t think this would have been accommodated without Greg’s / AFIT’s relationship with the DPE, as they are very busy and tightly scheduled.

Lastly, I can’t understate the value of having a dedicated aeroplane provider and partner. They worked hard to ensure a suitable plane was available for training. I’d looked at a number of different traditional local options – 1 CFI/1 plane, to flight schools (scheduling hell) – and having a dedicated instructor with a pool of aeroplanes is the best way to go.

Regards,
Kley Parkhurst, SVP-Corporate Development