Flight School Visit Checklist

Most aspiring pilots walk into a flight school visit as a student. This checklist teaches you to walk in as a customer.
 
Before you sign anything, before you hand over a deposit, before you fall in love with a fleet — you need to know what you're actually evaluating. The questions that save you thousands of dollars are not the ones schools will prompt you to ask. They're the ones you have to know to bring.
 
This checklist walks you through five critical categories:
The Aircraft Fleet — what to look for, what to ask, and what the answers should tell you.
 
Maintenance — how a school maintains its aircraft tells you everything about how it runs everything else.
 
Instructors — credentials matter less than you think. This is what actually matters.
 
The Real Total Cost — because the advertised number is almost never the full picture.
 
Scheduling and Culture — the questions most people never think to ask until it's too late.
 
Each section includes context on what a good answer looks like, what a red flag looks like, and space to take notes so you can compare schools side by side.
Includes a red flags section and an overall impression rating for each school you visit.
 
Print one copy per school. Fill it in. Compare. Then decide.