Policies

Scheduling by club members should be done via the MyFBO website. When scheduling you should insure that you schedule all needed resources, which might include both myself and an aircraft. After the first few lessons (where a student is not ready to preflight an aircraft without assistance and oversight) it is requested that you schedule the aircraft 30 minutes before our start time. This is to allow you to get the aircraft ready and not waste time for which you will be charged (see the next item). The best way to accomplish this is with a technique called staggered reservations, which achieve the exact result desired. Click on that link to see documentation regarding how to stagger a reservation.

I consider myself to be "on the clock" at the start of our scheduled time. I’ll encourage students to book the aircraft earlier than me (30 minutes isn’t a bad idea, see the previous item) so the preflight can be accomplished prior to our scheduled time. Charges will cease when we are actually done. If we finish early you will not be charged for the remainder of the scheduled time. Everyone should arrive prepared and ready to get to work. If I am late, you will of course not be charged for any time I was not there ready to work with you. I try to avoid ever being late, but we are all imperfect, even me.

During early training I prefer that students schedule in 3-hour blocks, if possible. This gives us ample time to have pre-flight briefings as well as post-flight discussions, and still not cause us to be tight on time. Once we have the early phases of training behind us then dual sessions can be adjusted as makes sense (shorter for local lessons, but obviously longer for any cross country flights).

In the event a student is going to be late, or if they are not going make a scheduled session at all, I request that an effort be made to notify me. I realize that "life happens", and if I receive reasonably adequate notice it falls into the category of "no harm, no foul". If cancellations or late arrivals become chronic, we’ll talk. However, in the absence of notification I will consider a session automatically canceled once the student is 30 minutes late. This will be viewed as a no-show and the student will be responsible for paying for the entire block of scheduled time.

I require that lessons be scheduled at least 24 hours in advance. If the advance notice is less than that I reserve the right to decline the reservation. That said, if you have a desire to schedule a session without that amount of advance notice …​ it never hurts to ask. I may agree, but I don’t feel obligated to do so. If you are attempting to schedule on short notice, it must be the case that I have responded and agreed to the session before you should consider me scheduled. If you don’t hear from me …​. don’t assume we are meeting.

I schedule regular time off, and will from time to time schedule "vacations" from teaching for various reasons (Sun-n-Fun, Oshkosh, family time, etc.). If you have a strong need to schedule with me during a time that is marked as time off on MyFBO, feel free to inquire about scheduling. I can, at times, be flexible. But, as above, I don’t feel obligated to accept a reservation during times marked time off.

When instructors sign off students for solo cross-country flights they are saying, in essence, that the student is fully qualified to operate independently as a pilot. This means not only do they have the skills to manipulate the aircraft but they also have the knowledge to do so safely. The FAA makes candidates prove this by passing the FAA written exam, and I require that the FAA written be completed prior to solo X/C flights. Other training can continue, but solo X/C flights will not happen without a completed written.