I have read all seven pages of the thread started by Greg. For the most part I understand where he is coming from. He got a lot of advice and comments. Everything from encouragement to a kick in the azz.
Though this is mostly addressed to Greg I am sure many will have a comment.
Greg, it MAY help to understand what instructing is and is not. You have already discovered it is a stepping stone for many to be able to build hours at somebody's elses expense. Also, it requires very little knowledge or experience to be an instructor. (Settle down guys, this is not all instructors and many instructors are very experienced and very knowledgeable). An instructor could easily have less than 300 hours TOTAL time with maybe less than than 30 cross country and close to 100 of the 300 could be dual received. Point is don't expect too much from your instructor. Some would argue that the requirements for the instructor ratings should be much higher. But, that is another thread for which I have already been accused of bashing instructors.
Some have said learning to fly is hard. That is takes a lot of didication, skills and so on. At the PP level I respectfully disagree. Let's think about the difference in what is hard to learn and what is not. Minimum standards for the PP is 20 hours of instruction and 20 hours of practice and pass a multiple choice written. Yes some take longer and I will address that in a minute. Would you guys really say that something that the governing agency says takes 20 hours of instruction is hard? Really? Now heart surgery is hard, learning to fly a small simple plane to PP standards is not hard. As far as actual hours needed, I know life happens. Training gets interupted, family emergencies, loss of job, and many other things can extend the hours needed but, that does not change the basic premise that only a few hours of training are needed to get your private. I looked up my original log book. I had 5.6 hours when I soloed, when I took my check ride I had 21.3 hours total of dual and 43.1 total. That was a long time ago and I suspect there is more to learn today. I have not instructed any in 15 years so I know things are different but, not that different. I will concede another 30% in hours needed today compared to when I got my private. A side note when I soloed I was paying $13 / hour for a C150...wet and $8/hour for the instructor who only charged hobbs time for instructing.
So, Greg, you may be running into instructors who are instructing to build hours and do not care how long it takes you to learn. You do need to try and avoid those. But remember it is not rocket science and you are not training to be a heart surgeon. Heck, I bet it takes more than 20 hours to teach a person who has never been in a car how to drive.
My personal oppinion and one that will get me flamed on this forum is that you should set down with any potential instructor, ask him point blank about the required hours. If he does not expect to solo you in less than 10 hours and expect to have you ready for a check ride with no more than 33 hours dual I would move on. Of course, some schools build more time into the program for economic reasons and you can not fly once a month and expect this either. I am talking about the individual instructor perhaps with his own airplane and you commit to lessons twice a week. Expectations will have to be modified to fit your particular situation.
As I said above, this is not rocket science, you will know very little about flying when you finish. You will or should meet the minimum standards set forth by the FAA to get a little piece of plastic saying you are a private pilot.
I know watching the money being burnt and not getting the instruction you think you should get is hard. I don't remember if you are wanting to fly as a profession or not. If not, you need to accept that a private certificate has no practical purpose and is very expensive to not only get but to maintain. And if you should actually want to use it for recreation then it gets obscenely expensive. I am not saying to not get your private, it can and should be a lot of fun.
Being so young you have not experienced the dissapointments in life that many here have. I think this explains some of the negative comments you have gotten. In the grand scheme many of us know you are experiencing a minor set back. Remember on any forum, you are getting advice from everybody from experienced pilots (perhaps with an instructor rating) to student pilots who know no more than you do. Sometimes it is hard to tell who is who.
I would urge you to contact a couple of the instructors on POA by PM, email, or perhaps a phone call. I think there are some here that actually are dedicated to teaching and their advice could be quite useful.
The best of luck!!
Though this is mostly addressed to Greg I am sure many will have a comment.
Greg, it MAY help to understand what instructing is and is not. You have already discovered it is a stepping stone for many to be able to build hours at somebody's elses expense. Also, it requires very little knowledge or experience to be an instructor. (Settle down guys, this is not all instructors and many instructors are very experienced and very knowledgeable). An instructor could easily have less than 300 hours TOTAL time with maybe less than than 30 cross country and close to 100 of the 300 could be dual received. Point is don't expect too much from your instructor. Some would argue that the requirements for the instructor ratings should be much higher. But, that is another thread for which I have already been accused of bashing instructors.
Some have said learning to fly is hard. That is takes a lot of didication, skills and so on. At the PP level I respectfully disagree. Let's think about the difference in what is hard to learn and what is not. Minimum standards for the PP is 20 hours of instruction and 20 hours of practice and pass a multiple choice written. Yes some take longer and I will address that in a minute. Would you guys really say that something that the governing agency says takes 20 hours of instruction is hard? Really? Now heart surgery is hard, learning to fly a small simple plane to PP standards is not hard. As far as actual hours needed, I know life happens. Training gets interupted, family emergencies, loss of job, and many other things can extend the hours needed but, that does not change the basic premise that only a few hours of training are needed to get your private. I looked up my original log book. I had 5.6 hours when I soloed, when I took my check ride I had 21.3 hours total of dual and 43.1 total. That was a long time ago and I suspect there is more to learn today. I have not instructed any in 15 years so I know things are different but, not that different. I will concede another 30% in hours needed today compared to when I got my private. A side note when I soloed I was paying $13 / hour for a C150...wet and $8/hour for the instructor who only charged hobbs time for instructing.
So, Greg, you may be running into instructors who are instructing to build hours and do not care how long it takes you to learn. You do need to try and avoid those. But remember it is not rocket science and you are not training to be a heart surgeon. Heck, I bet it takes more than 20 hours to teach a person who has never been in a car how to drive.
My personal oppinion and one that will get me flamed on this forum is that you should set down with any potential instructor, ask him point blank about the required hours. If he does not expect to solo you in less than 10 hours and expect to have you ready for a check ride with no more than 33 hours dual I would move on. Of course, some schools build more time into the program for economic reasons and you can not fly once a month and expect this either. I am talking about the individual instructor perhaps with his own airplane and you commit to lessons twice a week. Expectations will have to be modified to fit your particular situation.
As I said above, this is not rocket science, you will know very little about flying when you finish. You will or should meet the minimum standards set forth by the FAA to get a little piece of plastic saying you are a private pilot.
I know watching the money being burnt and not getting the instruction you think you should get is hard. I don't remember if you are wanting to fly as a profession or not. If not, you need to accept that a private certificate has no practical purpose and is very expensive to not only get but to maintain. And if you should actually want to use it for recreation then it gets obscenely expensive. I am not saying to not get your private, it can and should be a lot of fun.
Being so young you have not experienced the dissapointments in life that many here have. I think this explains some of the negative comments you have gotten. In the grand scheme many of us know you are experiencing a minor set back. Remember on any forum, you are getting advice from everybody from experienced pilots (perhaps with an instructor rating) to student pilots who know no more than you do. Sometimes it is hard to tell who is who.
I would urge you to contact a couple of the instructors on POA by PM, email, or perhaps a phone call. I think there are some here that actually are dedicated to teaching and their advice could be quite useful.
The best of luck!!