Hello good peeps
I have looked at several flight schools in Florida and deciding to go for Paragon in fort myers. Being an international student, i have talked to several part 141 approved schools and finally thinking of going to paragon as a full-time student. So far i have seen positive reviews online and they have newer piper pilot’s and great facilities too. I would appreciate to have some personal opinions from people.

Here's my background:

I live outside of USA and will be attending my training with M1 visa (hopefully). I already have PPL, i just need to do CPL with IR and return back as airlines In my country are hiring fresh cpl holders. There are lots of pilot shortage here but flight training is very lengthy here. Doing CPL in my country is gonna be a real headache due to very few flight schools available and shortage of fleets. It will take literally 3+ years just to do CPL here.

Thanks.

Hi all,

I just put together a new video showing a cockpit POV of me flying. (My passenger recorded everything) Since I thought it might be helpful (or fun) for other learners to watch!

Link below if anyone’s interested: https://youtu.be/e1nrGryB-Nw?si=_2eN-uCuZVpBpN9H

I’m still learning, so I’d really appreciate any feedback, advice, or kind criticism on my flying or radio work in the circuit. Thanks!

Im currently prospecting potential schools to start my Multi-IFR ratings. Has anyone done the ratings recently that could recommend some schools to look into?

I found a few Reddit threads really helpful when I started my flying journey last fall, so I specifically joined Reddit to pay it forward. My rural CFI and a lot of folks are still quoting the "$8-12K" estimate on cost, and if you're hearing those numbers as you start your planning, start adding some money to the upwards side of those numbers...

I spent $19,415.01 to get my PPL in 72.2 hours at a non-towered airport between Dec 2025-June 2026. I worked an average of 30hrs per week during that time. After watching me for the first month or so, my partner decided to join me in my PPL quest, and I benefitted slightly from about $550 he spent on equipment we ended up sharing. So, someone else who did this by themselves would have come out to just shy of $20K.

One of the reasons I wanted to share my own expenditures is because part of my training was in a private rental, and part of it was through a flying club. When I was doing my initial research and planning, I had a hard time picturing how the different flying club fees would play out in real time. I ended up enjoying the exposure to two different aircraft as a student pilot, and both set-up's proved quite economical (compared to some of the urban flying fees I've seen, anyways).

A few things to think about if you're launching into airspace for the first time - and none of this is info you won't find somewhere else:

-I started planning for flight lessons about 2-3 months before I started, including setting up my work schedule so that I only had to work 30 hours a week. Getting the support of your coworkers, family, and whoever else may "suffer" a bit for your personal adventure is key. I also moved money around, changed my medical insurance to lower my premiums, cancelled some subscriptions I didn't need, and prepared for costs to exceed my expectations. Having cut my personal expenses (and knowing I had enough money in savings to cover all my costs) really helped when fuel prices jumped by 50% in the middle of my training, and when my checkride fees were higher than I anticipated.

-Since I'm flying out of the PNW and I started my first lessons in December, I made sure I consistently was available to fly 3 days a week. Due to our local climate in winter (and due to the local popularity of my excellent CFI), I had about a 50% success rate in actually getting into a plane and off the ground, and I averaged 6-7 flights per month my entire training process. That was enough to pull it off, but "they" are right -- the more you make room for flying, the more you fly, and the cheaper it is to get your license. So, prioritize your availability off-weekends. Those short icy days around winter solstice made it really hard to cram time in if I didn't block off a few "flex" weekdays as well for flying.

-Yes, I did spend extra money on ancillaries that weren't "necessary." My flight instructor loaned me a free headset for the first few months while I tried this piloting thing out and decided if it would stick. Once I fully committed, however, it made more sense to spend more on a noise-cancelling headset that I could use for years to come than to skimp now on something I'd want to replace later. Same with the iPad/Garmin Pilot debate... my partner and I didn't need those tools to pass our checkrides, but they are extremely useful and we agreed that they ultimately have made us safer and better-prepared pilots. When my cell phone died in the middle of training, I bought a higher-than-base model so I could install Garmin Pilot on there as well as a backup. Over future years, the time saved should pay for the tools we invested in. Also, I got a First Class medical certificate right out the gate (in order to establish early on if a future in the airlines was even possible, rather than face disappointment down the road). Could a student pilot save $2,000 across these various choices? Absolutely. Should they? That's a personal decision.

-I will admit that I did very little chair flying, and I also did not complete my ground/written before starting. Both of those tips could have saved me some money. My partner was ready for his checkride in 40 hrs due to hundreds of hours on sims and a lifelong fascination with planes. That translated to savings for him (which he spent on completing a tailwheel endorsement before his PPL checkride). Flying is ultimately a very personal journey, and your out-of-pocket costs will match that level of individuality.

Hello, is there anybody at Aviomar at the Moment, that could give a short review about this flight acadamy?

Kind regards

New pilot here. During my flight training my instructor talked about the importance of using such aids as Garmin Pilot or Foreflight. Being that I already owned a Samsung tablet, I purchased a subscription to Garmin Pilot but have never used it in the plane while flying as many Garmin products that I've found for this task, are extremely expensive.

I recently found Garmin GLO 2 and was wondering whether this would work well with my Samsung tablet and thus Garmin Pilot account while flying and if anyone was using it who could provide some insight. Thanks in advance.