Learning to fly is one of the most exciting and costly opportunities that a person can undertake. In this endeavor, your instructor will be the most influential person in nurturing your desire to fly and you will make a special bond for long time to come. Due to numerous factors, it is very important to do your homework before you sign up with an instructor:

1. Instructors are life savers: Making a mistake in a plane can lead to lot of problems unless the person instructing is qualified and knows how much leeway to give to a novice pilot. Often, the quality of a pilot, especially in the early stages is a reflection of the quality of the person who taught them. During your flight training, instructor will save you and the aircraft from many of your mistakes, possibly fatal. Therefore, you need to be sure that instructor has appropriate experience and knows how to correct the problem, or in extreme cases take over and save both of your lives.
1. Number of students he/she has taught? - You should look for over 5. Try avoiding who don't give you the answer, because then you are the number 1 :-)
2. How many hours of flying experience do you have and when did he get his license? - Look for 500+ hours. Although, there are many good instructors with less number of hours, you should realize that instructors get their license at 250+ hours and if he has done say, 50 hours in last 10 years, then he will not be on top of the game.
2. Good instructor make great pilots: It is vital to find an instructor who demands perfection, but will work with you in order to reach that level. An instructor who is not lenient enough can make young pilots feel self conscious about their abilities and begin to doubt themselves. It is therefore important to find history of their past teaching. Ask him/her following questions:
1. Total pass rate for the students? - You should look for instructors above 75% pass rate. Although, pilot training is easy enough for anyone, there are always few who will start and not complete the training or, give up after failing the first oral exam.
2. Average number of hours taken by all students? - Look for ~55 hrs for private pilot training. If it is +80, then you should walk away as it may be string of bad lucks but most probably, there is some problem with training style.
3. Number of students who passed their pilot exam (oral and practical) in first time - If more than 20% students passed in first time, then he knows what he is doing.
3. Instructors are life long friends: Given number of hours you both will spend in a cockpit, it is absolutely critical to find one who suits your attitude and one you feel will not let you fail. Also, teaching technique is very important. Many instructors opt to teach in a classroom type of environment before taking students up into the air. Others bring students up in the air right at the beginning and teach them how to fly by having them fly. Ask your prospective instructor about how he/she like to teach flying and how do they usually conduct ground training. There are many instructors who will teach 1 hr of ground before doing 1 hr of flying, even though it may not be required. Ask them if you do your homework, will they reduce ground instruction time and get you more flight training time. This will help lower your cost as well as help you find if he/she is flexible and willing to work with you. Also, ask for following information to find out if there are any schedule conflicts:
1. Do they teach full time or part time?
2. Which particular days and time work best for you? - Hopefully, you have enough time to work with you
3. Any upcoming plans, where he/she is planning to leave the country/state for job/travel etc? - This is not a major issue. However, if you are planning to impress your girl friend on a special occassion, you may have to reconsider your plans.
4. Instructors cost money: Ask your instructor about how much they charge per hour. Find out if they have any specials, block rate arrangements etc. For private pilot training, expect to shell out $30-$50 per hour.

Remember, it always takes more time and more money to get your license and a great instructor and friend will go a long way.

Please use PilotOutlook.com's largest online Database of flight instructors to find yourself a great instructor. If you know of a great instructor not in our database, please add him here and help your fellow aviation enthusiasts.