Alumni feedback can be very useful when selecting a pilot school because former students can share their real experience with training, scheduling, instructors, aircraft availability, costs, and delays. However, students should compare feedback from several learners instead of relying on one personal experience.
Some important questions to ask past students include:
Training quality: Ask whether ground classes and flight training were organised and consistent.
Instructor support: Find out whether instructors gave regular feedback and explained mistakes clearly.
Flight scheduling: Ask how easily students could get regular flying slots and whether long gaps between flights were common.
Aircraft availability: Ask whether aircraft were usually available or whether maintenance caused frequent cancellations.
Training delays: Find out why students experienced delays and how the school handled them.
Total training time: Ask how long students actually took to complete their planned training compared with the original estimate.
Additional costs: Ask about extra flying hours, simulator charges, landing fees, accommodation, examination expenses, or other costs that students had to pay.
Communication: Ask whether the administration clearly explained schedules, fees, progress, and changes.
Student progress: Ask how the school monitored flying performance and whether students received regular progress updates.
Career guidance: Ask whether the school provided useful guidance about licensing, further training, and career preparation.
Safety culture: Ask whether students felt that instructors and management followed proper procedures and encouraged safe flying practices.
Overall experience: Ask what the alumni would have wanted to know before joining the school.
Students should also verify the school's official approval and current status rather than depending only on alumni comments. DGCA maintains information related to Flying Training Organisations, and its current website also provides FTO-related information and rankings.
The best approach is to speak with multiple current and former students, look for repeated patterns, and then compare those findings with the school's written fee structure, training plan, aircraft fleet, instructor availability, and official DGCA information. This gives students a more complete picture before making a major financial commitment.