a rainbow on the way to KPWK
So I went up with CFI Forrest again this past Saturday. Great day for flying, and we covered slow flight and some maneuvers. I did the radio calls with only one mistake, and it wasn’t anything huge. I’m working on the podcast and will post it when it’s ready.
But I got to thinking as I was looking over the coursework.
Windy City Flyers has a pretty complete course schedule, and they build in the ground work for each lesson. It’s not a bad thing, but thus far, for these first two lessons, that’s three hours of CFI time and 1.3 hours of flying time. I know I can do the ground on my own.
I just had a great conversation with Ken over at Stick & Rudder and I liked the things he had to say. They are a not-for-profit club, staffed by guys who love to fly in their 50’s and who aren’t, at least according to Ken, looking to run off to the airlines. They rent 152’s at half the price of 172’s at WCF wet, and their annual membership fee of $500 is prorated at the moment. Forgetting the membership fee, lessons at S&R could cost me $100 less than WCF.
OK. I’ll admit. It sounds like I’m being extremely cheap. But after reading through a number of message boards around the internet, I think there are lots of potential pilots who share my concerns about the price of learning. It makes complete sense for one reason and one reason alone…
The cheaper the lessons, the more I can fly.
So I suppose the moral of this story so far is that I’m still, four months later, shopping for flight schools. Next up on my agenda is a first lesson at Stick & Rudder in a 152 before I schedule any more lessons at WCF.
Tags: cost, lessons, stick & rudder, windy city flyers
Hey Peter - Glad you got another lesson in. I have to say I learned under Part 61 guidelines where I did not follow a set curriculum and also handled ground training on my own and I think that worked out well for me. You just need to be a disciplined self learner. If you are I think that route along with some periodic ground training with your CFI is a good way to go.
I also trained in Cessna 152s and saved a ton by doing that over a more expensive plan (Does WCF have any 152s?). I think you are doing the right thing to check out one more location before committing.