Free Ground training Lincoln, NE

[Tristar]

Hey guys,

For those of you in the Lincoln, NE area who would like a refresher or know someone that is interested in flying, I'm teaching a free Private Pilot ground school course starting next tuesday evening from 7pm-9pm upstairs at the Silverhawk FBO. It continues every tuesday for 12 weeks.

The ground school itself is set up in power point presentations that are designed to coinside with the Cessna pilot kit (resembles King School's courses). It would be a lot easier to follow along if you have it but if you don't, come check it out anyways. Hey, it's free!

Please ask me if you have any questions.

You're also welcome to call us.

Performance Flight Training
(402) 475-8400

 

[tonycondon]

free!

hopefully you can hook a few students with that. maybe i should come up there for a refresher

 

[Tristar]

Carefull tony, I could volunteer you to teach glide ratios!

 

[tonycondon]

i dont know nuthin...

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Does Performance do BFRs?

 

[CJones]

Carefull tony, I could volunteer you to teach glide ratios!

No no no.. You need to have him do weather! That's what he stuck me with last fall.

Actually, it turned out to be good for me. Weather was my least favorite and thus least knowledgeable area, so I was forced to re-learn a lot of the basics.

 

[RotorAndWing]

Hey, it's free!

So how does someone earn a living giving instruction for free?

 

[gkainz]

So how does someone earn a living giving instruction for free?

volume?

 

[kevin47881]

volume?

Perfect response!

Funny as all get out too I might add.

 

[AWACSEng]

How dare you disrespect all of the hard working CFI's in this country by offering services for free? (sarcasm, by the way) Hope you get a full schedule of paying students post-class!

 

[Richard]

If there is a Q&A session I'd go.

 

[Geico266]

Excellant idea T. I have a buddy wanting to study for the test. I'll pass this on.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

I saw the advertisement today in the sports section of the Lincoln Journal Star.

 

[wabower]

OK, here's the real question. Whatever you want to do is free in Lincoln but costs $10,000 in Dallas. Which is the better deal?

PS: Hope you have a full house and pick up some biz, Tris.

 

[B2Soar]

So,---You are not concerned about ticking off people who may be trying to make a living with ground instruction?

Rick

Hey guys,

For those of you in the Lincoln, NE area who would like a refresher or know someone that is interested in flying, I'm teaching a free Private Pilot ground school course starting next tuesday evening from 7pm-9pm upstairs at the Silverhawk FBO. It continues every tuesday for 12 weeks.

The ground school itself is set up in power point presentations that are designed to coinside with the Cessna pilot kit (resembles King School's courses). It would be a lot easier to follow along if you have it but if you don't, come check it out anyways. Hey, it's free!

Please ask me if you have any questions.

You're also welcome to call us.

Performance Flight Training
(402) 475-8400

 

[SkyHog]

So,---You are not concerned about ticking off people who may be trying to make a living with ground instruction?

Rick

If I were her, I wouldn't rightly care if people were getting ****ed off that she's attempting to drum up business by giving away a service that shouldn't be charged for anyway.

To be clear: Flight instruction is something that not everyone can do - it requires skills in both flying and teaching.

Ground instruction is something that anyone can do with a book. I'm glad Tristan is trying to hook some students by giving away a service like this. If anyone's getting ****y about it, they need to get off their duff and get their CFI. What is it, the AGI? Its for lazy folk or special niche folk, not for whining when CFIs do it right.

 

[Greg Bockelman]

drum up business by giving away a service that shouldn't be charged for anyway...

What is it, the AGI? Its for lazy folk or special niche folk, not for whining when CFIs do it right.

HUH???

 

[Cap'n Jack]

So,---You are not concerned about ticking off people who may be trying to make a living with ground instruction?

Rick

• If there is someone in the local area trying to make a living off ground instruction, they are being real quiet about it. Nothing posted in the FBO, no advertisements, no mailings.
• Performance (the flight school she teaches at) does this to get students for flying lessons- as I noted in another post, they advertised it in the newspaper.
• I did my ground school off a Jepp book (like Nick mentioned in his post). I didn't feel the need to pay someone for this service.
• I suspect they also use this as a chance to sell Cessna ground school courses...again, get the hook set for someone to learn to fly.

Who should get my business? The person who asks for it, or the person who expects me to mysteriously appear?

Performance Flight School should get the FAA pilot database listing all pilots from Grand Island to Omaha, see who needs a BFR, and send a polite mailing asking for that business too. I bet Jesse can do it in a few minutes and Tristan will have more business than she could handle.

 

[RotorAndWing]

If I were her, I wouldn't rightly care if people were getting ****ed off that she's attempting to drum up business by giving away a service that shouldn't be charged for anyway.

HUH???

Not worth responding too Greg. It's called "rating envy". Goes hand in hand with "wealth envy".

 

[SkyHog]

Not worth responding too Greg. It's called "rating envy". Goes hand in hand with "wealth envy".

Its not rating envy, its "This is a service that should be free, and if it nets some paying customers for something that should be paid for - that is, Flight Instruction, great."

The only person that could find fault here is a Ground Instructor (like a BGI, AGI or IGI) that isn't already a CFI, and is looking to make money off people that don't realize that the information being taught is already publicly available for free or for cheap.

Can I accuse you of having "Learning-Envy" because you need someone else to teach you things?

 

[SkyHog]

HUH???

Ground Instructors are whiny. Tristan is performing Economics 101: Give away a low value product for free in hopes that others will buy the better product.

And a pat on the back to her, from me for not listening to the whiny ground instructors. They have no business complaining about what a CFI can/can't or should/shouldn't do.

 

[RotorAndWing]

Can I accuse you of having "Learning-Envy" because you need someone else to teach you things?

Guess the college you attended did it for free also. You could just buy the books and do it on your own right?

 

[wabower]

Not at all. Nick didn't have any problem paying the tuition, he used student loans. He just couldn't remember who he paid or when he had to withdraw.

Guess the college you attended did it for free also. You could just buy the books and do it on your own right?

 

[tonycondon]

after 5 or 6 years of instructing, i've found the the ground school is way more valuable than the flight training. the cockpit is just a lousy classroom.

 

[RotorAndWing]

after 5 or 6 years of instructing, i've found the the ground school is way more valuable than the flight training. the cockpit is just a lousy classroom.

Exactly. And also there are two types of ground school. There is the one that will teach you enought to pass the written then there is the one that will teach you the information for the written plus knowledge from an experienced instructor.

If all you are after is to make a 70+ on the written, go with the book only method or the "free ground school". You get what you pay for.

 

[wabower]

It's interesting to see how opinions change at the sim centers as well. The young bucks hate ground school, want to put their hands on the machinery because they think that's where they learn something. The old hands value the ground schools and discussions much more, because they know most of the real learning occurs there.

after 5 or 6 years of instructing, i've found the the ground school is way more valuable than the flight training. the cockpit is just a lousy classroom.

 

[SkyHog]

Exactly. And also there are two types of ground school. There is the one that will teach you enought to pass the written then there is the one that will teach you the information for the written plus knowledge from an experienced instructor.

If all you are after is to make a 70+ on the written, go with the book only method or the "free ground school". You get what you pay for.

I guess my 2 90+% on my Private and my Instrument Written are just the basic knowledge I needed and nothing more .

Equating ground school to college is like equating McDonalds to a real restaurant. I don't expect you to understand the difference.

edit: And, FWIW, yes, I consider College learning to be a self-taught experience since the degree is pretty much worth only the value that you can put on perserverence....that is to say, not one of my college classes ever taught me anything about how to write a computer program, that was all stuff I learned by doing.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Exactly. And also there are two types of ground school. There is the one that will teach you enought to pass the written then there is the one that will teach you the information for the written plus knowledge from an experienced instructor.

If all you are after is to make a 70+ on the written, go with the book only method or the "free ground school". You get what you pay for.

You may wish to refrain from painting all the "free ground schools" with the same brush. Some are good, others are not so good.

Performance also does a free IFR ground school- I'm sure I would have aced the test had I chosen to take it. I took the class to learn a bit more about flying and to see the Performance facility- they are professional. You may wish to check out the course yourself before you decide it is of no value.

 

[Areeda]

To start this response. I and a couple of other instructors in our club teach a for credit ground school at a small university in Pasadena for free.

Tristan - We (I) have a website with practice tests based on the published FAA questions. Jesse has our database including answers and discussions. If he hasn't made a site for you already perhaps you'd like to work with ours. The big thing we offer for the instructor is the ability to look at which questions cause the most problems.

I will also talk to the other instructors, we may be able to share slides.

So,---You are not concerned about ticking off people who may be trying to make a living with ground instruction?
Rick

I don't have a problem with this. We get a lot of people with a bit of interest who find it's worth the effort. Last year we got 14 people to join our club from this and the buzz on campus it created.

"This is a service that should be free, and if it nets some paying customers for something that should be paid for - that is, Flight Instruction, great."

I do want to say that an instructor, no a teacher, that presents publicly available material, in bite size chunks that is organized and flows one topic to the next is providing a service that has value. It sure as hell takes a lot of time and effort.

We provide a CD of public domain (FAA, NTSB, CFR) material that covers everything we discuss. Distilling it down into 10 3 hr sessions, with graphics, and my Siren like presentation that makes ground dwelling mortals need to fly, is worth a couple of bucks.

Ground Instructors are whiny.

So are student, and certificated pilots. What does that mean?

Equating ground school to college is like equating McDonalds to a real restaurant. I don't expect you to understand the difference.

At my college you get 3 credits. You can get the same for some real learning (I deleted all the 3 credit courses I listed).

I beg to differ in the sense you can go to ground school at Mickey D or your can go to Leutece, or you can cook at home. It all depends on what you want, how much effort you put in, and how much you're willing to pay.

Joe

 

[RotorAndWing]

You may wish to refrain from painting all the "free ground schools" with the same brush. Some are good, others are not so good.

My problem with this is I'm a Professional. I went to great lengths to gain my ratings and experience not to mention 35+ years of experience. I don't give away my knowledge "for free" just as I don't expect my doctor or lawyer to give away their knowledge.

I ran a Helicopter flight school and we charged (accordingly) for our ground school. I would have never asked any of my instructors to do the class "for free" since I considered them as Professionals.

I know how hard it is to make a dollar in this business and don't appreciate the "I'll fly for free" or the "I'll work for free" mentality. It degrades the entire profession.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

My problem with this is I'm a Professional. I went to great lengths to gain my ratings and experience not to mention 35+ years of experience. I don't give away my knowledge "for free" just as I don't expect my doctor or lawyer to give away their knowledge.

Welcome to the world. Lots of people are professionals and lost their jobs because someone, someplace, was willing to do the same work more cheaply. I know of thousands of chemists that have lost their jobs because chemists in other parts of the world will work for 1/10 the salary. I worked with many of those that lost their jobs.

Just because you have a problem with it- please don't knock the knowledge of others as you seemed to do with this comment:

If all you are after is to make a 70+ on the written, go with the book only method or the "free ground school". You get what you pay for.

I ran a Helicopter flight school and we charged (accordingly) for our ground school. I would have never asked any of my instructors to do the class "for free" since I considered them as Professionals.

Tristan told you she isn't getting paid for her time? I don't know what arrangement she has with her flight school (also none of my business).

I have gone to customer sites and given free training in spectroscopy /chromatography- this is valuable information that helps the customer use their equipment better and more efficiently. I'm not a professional? I am paid for my time. The information I convey can be used on competitor's equipment as well. However our company is generally perceived as having more knowledge than the competitors. People buy from us in part because of our expertise.

I know how hard it is to make a dollar in this business and don't appreciate the "I'll fly for free" or the "I'll work for free" mentality. It degrades the entire profession.

I'm sure Performance Flight School also knows how hard it is to make a dollar. The OP mentioned the Cessna training package...sold by Performance, so they probably make something there.

If they get some people into flight training, they make more money...CFI time, plane time, etc.

The free ground school is being used as a marketing tool. Performance Flight School is the only one I've seen in Lincoln that does any marketing around here.
Successful marketing works- when I was relocated to South New Jersey, a medical doctor sent me a letter reminding me it was time for my medical. I gave him my business because his office was convenient to me and I didn't have to look for an AME.

When I relocated out here, a CFI sent me a letter asking for my BFR business. He also got the job.

In central NJ, Princeton Flight School was advertising on the local radio for intro flights. It probably worked since they did it for years- when I was in NJ last year they were still doing it. I noticed Princeton airport got a lot less push-back from the local community for upgrading their runway than Solberg, NJ did. Princeton NJ is practically NIMBY ground-zero and I saw no anti-airport signs down there.

Kudos to Performance and Tristan for trying something different. If it works, they'll keep doing it. If not, you don't have to worry because they'll go out of business or try something else.

 

[RotorAndWing]

Welcome to the world. Lots of people are professionals and lost their jobs because someone, someplace, was willing to do the same work more cheaply. I know of thousands of chemists that have lost their jobs because chemists in other parts of the world will work for 1/10 the salary. I worked with many of those that lost their jobs.

Sorry, this is not the same thing, you're comparing apples to bulldozers.

I have gone to customer sites and given free training in spectroscopy /chromatography- this is valuable information that helps the customer use their equipment better and more efficiently. I'm not a professional? I am paid for my time. The information I convey can be used on competitor's equipment as well. However our company is generally perceived as having more knowledge than the competitors. People buy from us in part because of our expertise.

But you are paid for your time as well as your company. Big difference. You or your company is not giving away free product or expertise in the hopes of gaining a customer.

Successful marketing works- when I was relocated to South New Jersey, a medical doctor sent me a letter reminding me it was time for my medical. I gave him my business because his office was convenient to me and I didn't have to look for an AME.

When I relocated out here, a CFI sent me a letter asking for my BFR business. He also got the job.

Did they offer their services for free as a "marketing tool" to get you to use more services from them?

In central NJ, Princeton Flight School was advertising on the local radio for intro flights. It probably worked since they did it for years- when I was in NJ last year they were still doing it. I noticed Princeton airport got a lot less push-back from the local community for upgrading their runway than Solberg, NJ did. Princeton NJ is practically NIMBY ground-zero and I saw no anti-airport signs down there.

Are they giving the intro flights "for free"? Probably not.

Kudos to Performance and Tristan for trying something different. If it works, they'll keep doing it. If not, you don't have to worry because they'll go out of business or try something else.

I'm not worried at all, I've seen this repeated over and over for 35+ years. Even at one point we had a Helicopter Flight School start up nearby and actively tried to recruit my students by offering free groundschool and free flight instruction to come over to them. It was being run by a new CFI that was hungry for flight time.

He lasted all of 2 months.

 

[jesse]

Wow, talk about jumping to conclusions. Tristan is just teaching the class -- Performance has been doing free ground school for a long time. I believe she is even being paid to teach it. In this town of 250,000 people there really is little aviation activity. The number of instructors in Lincoln trying to make a living off of it could be counted on less than half of one hand.

I suspect the lack of aviation activity probably relates to the fact that Lincoln really isn't a city of money. Given the high cost of flight training compared to local income and almost no marketing not much happens. This could change someday .. but there aren't many folks willing to invest in a flight training operation when even the successful ones make almost no money. That is just my opinion -- not her opinion or the opinion of Performance.

 

[Everskyward]

I guess my 2 90+% on my Private and my Instrument Written are just the basic knowledge I needed and nothing more .

Scoring well on a written test means that you are skilled at taking written tests. I was too. I never went to a formal ground school until I showed up at King Air initial. Looking back, that may not have been the best thing. I find that now I agree more with wabower. In fact, I am happier when the class size in ground school is at least 5 or 6 people if not more. I have been in recurrent classes where I was the only customer. You get to leave the building sooner because you go through the material quicker without having to stop for discussion and war stories but I think that's where a lot of the learning takes place.

It's interesting to see how opinions change at the sim centers as well. The young bucks hate ground school, want to put their hands on the machinery because they think that's where they learn something. The old hands value the ground schools and discussions much more, because they know most of the real learning occurs there.

 

[Cap'n Jack]

Sorry, this is not the same thing, you're comparing apples to bulldozers.

It seems like it might be. Someone seems to undercut you and I hear that the product isn't as good. You yourself said "you get what you paid for" implying free is worthless.

But you are paid for your time as well as your company. Big difference.

As I said, you make many assumptions instead of asking questions. Neither of us know what the OP's relationship is with her employer, although Jesse hinted there might be consideration. He is the second best source of info here.

You or your company is not giving away free product or expertise in the hopes of gaining a customer.

Actually, we do. We give training pre-sales to demonstrate why a customer needs an automated piece of lab equipment, even though they have been doing it manually for years. We give free columns to customers to try against the competitor's column (albeit a limited number). Last week I ran an experiment (for free) to demonstrate a compound could be purified using our consumables and equipment- a few hours of my time closed a sale worth much more in dollar value to us.

Did they offer their services for free as a "marketing tool" to get you to use more services from them?

Nope. They did let me know they were around. Free isn't the only way to drum up business; I freely admit that.

Are they giving the intro flights "for free"? Probably not.

Nope. It was a substantial discount though.

I'm not worried at all, I've seen this repeated over and over for 35+ years. Even at one point we had a Helicopter Flight School start up nearby and actively tried to recruit my students by offering free groundschool and free flight instruction to come over to them. It was being run by a new CFI that was hungry for flight time.

He lasted all of 2 months.

And the students thought your school provided more value. Free, in and of itself, does not equate to value. Performance Flight School has been around for a while (at least two years). As they say in the financial services industry, "past performance is no guarantee of future results", but continuing to exist suggests they are doing something right.

 

[Erice]

Wow, talk about jumping to conclusions. Tristan is just teaching the class -- Performance has been doing free ground school for a long time. I believe she is even being paid to teach it.

Good point. Tristan is not giving away her services--her flight school is paying her to market their aviation services. I'm not even sure that completion of this ground school earns the sign-off to take the written test. So I don't see this as taking income away from other CFIs out there trying to earn a living teaching.

This class gets potential students in the door. Even if they net one flight student from their free ground school classes, it seems to me it would repay the Flight School for its highly focused marketing venture.
________
XR80

 

[wabower]

Fortunately for her, she doesn't need big numbers and has a great opportunity to establish herself and a customer base by getting to know the prospects on a first name basis. Now if she can just remember POTATOFIRES or whatever it was, she's good to go.

Wow, talk about jumping to conclusions. Tristan is just teaching the class -- Performance has been doing free ground school for a long time. I believe she is even being paid to teach it. In this town of 250,000 people there really is little aviation activity. The number of instructors in Lincoln trying to make a living off of it could be counted on less than half of one hand.

I suspect the lack of aviation activity probably relates to the fact that Lincoln really isn't a city of money. Given the high cost of flight training compared to local income and almost no marketing not much happens. This could change someday .. but there aren't many folks willing to invest in a flight training operation when even the successful ones make almost no money. That is just my opinion -- not her opinion or the opinion of Performance.

 

[taters]

As an owner of a rental/instruction operation(and even one of those CFI's on that can be counted on half of Jesse's hand) also in the Lincoln market..I am offended by those who slam a fair marketing attempt to promote general aviation given the industry climbs a steeper hill every single day. This is a fair marketing tool by a buisness not an instructor. Sure CFI's/pro.pilots who step over the boundry of competing and start "depleting" by performing free services helps no one and it happens all the time., but this isnt even remotely close to that situation. Free ground school/intro rides etc. are not an uncommon practice in this industry to promote and capture real buisness..flight instruction , aircraft rental , even aircraft sales etc..with tranlates to GA surviving and serving . What really keeps GA going? new pilots!
It is in everyones best interest to see new pilots develped everyday or GA will only be able to tread water for so long. Slamming and putting down the very people/buisness on the front lines is no way to help preserve what you have at stake in aviation.

 

[Skip Miller]

Now if she can just remember POTATOFIRES or whatever it was, she's good to go.

Dammit, Wayne! I've wasted about an hour trying to come up with reasonable pre-flight items for POTATOFIRES and it ain't working.

All: help on this valuable cause!!!

-Skip

 

[flyingcheesehead]

Dammit, Wayne! I've wasted about an hour trying to come up with reasonable pre-flight items for POTATOFIRES and it ain't working.

All: help on this valuable cause!!!

He's poking fun at TOMATO FLAMES, the worthless acronym for remembering Day VFR required equipment...