“You are the "CEO" of your training, so you can start and stop with anyone whenever you want. It's your money after all!”
So I had my first class with Graham. Lovely man.
But this class is not for me.
To begin with I really like Graham’s stated learning methodology of not just what the rules are but why they exist, not just what we need to memorize but why we need to memorize it, not just what the knowledge is to pass the test, but why we need to know it. That’s always been how I’ve learned. I’ve annoyed plenty of teachers by asking “but why?”
However, that was not the experience out of the gate. The man had us underlining key words in the legal flight regulations but then moving on to the next paragraph when it could have been so much simpler, straightforward, and less confusing. And for a beginning to fly course there was a lot of implicit “you’ve probably heard this” without further explanation of what he assumed we’d heard. If I had to ask for clarification on everything he said that assumed we already partially knew it the class would have been an extra hour.
Secondly, I joined this class because people said the class sizes were small and Graham takes the time to answer all your questions, that’s great.
But when I walked in there were 3 times more people in the classroom than it could accommodate so I ended up in a folding chair along the wall with my notebook in my lap for 3 hours.
Thirdly, nail in the coffin. I need clarity and organization from the group I’m going to learn to fly with. I am litigious and orderly when things are important and on some level I need my flight school to be as well. Not rigid and severe, but at least organized and clear.
Even though he outlined to me the materials needed for class as the 2025 FAR/AIM manual, a VFR Sectional Chart for San Francisco valid till Feb 20th, as well as an E6B Flight Computer and Sectional Plotter it wasn’t until the middle of the first class that he revealed the extra books we’d need to invest in.
He listed 4 ADDITIONAL texts we needed to acquire and one of them was only made and printed (and sold) by AeroDynamic. Fine. I’ll get whatever I need because I’m serious about this as a career.
After class I waited to speak with the one person working the front desk. Obviously there were a lot of people with questions. After the pair of gentlemen asking about booking CFI’s and aircraft is another gentleman with a lengthy question. Then he asks “can I get one of those Private Pilot handbooks”
“We only have one physical copy”
“Is there no digital asset?”
“No we just print these ourselves, but we have one copy, do you want it?”
He buys the last copy, what I’ve been waiting 10-15 minutes to ask about. I’m told they’re printing more and that they “should” be available before our next class.
This text is apparently important for the course. The last ground school was in October. They knew this would be a heavily attended course and yet no one put in the print order until right before the session started.
When I worked food service I said “if you want to know how clean the kitchen is, look at the bathrooms. The same people clean both spaces.” Obviously there’s a different level of attention but it gives you some idea. What I see here is a “seat-of-the-pants” approach. And when it comes to flying, that’s exactly the kind of reactionary, lack of planning, casual approach I want to avoid.
I dropped the course as soon as I could and went with my back up choice.
While this other ground school is not in person it IS with the club I wanted to do my flying with and they have an actual clubhouse with a lounge where I can sit-down, hang out, study, and talk to people passing through.
The instructor got back to me very quickly and gave me a thorough overview of what she expects. I’m VERY excited about this course which starts immediately after my birthday.
I have to thank Graham, especially for helping me see what I want and need in my training. But also for the confidence to withdraw and go through all the steps to collect my refund for the untaken classes. In his own words:
“You are the "CEO" of your training, so you can start and stop with anyone whenever you want. It's your money after all!”
Thanks Graham, you’re right.
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