Student Expectations
If you have met or flown with me you have probably realized the dedication and enjoyment I have for flight
instruction. 2008 marks the 4th year I have worked as a full time flight instructor, and the ninth year I have
worked in general aviation. I do this for a career. I am not here to build time and move on like many
instructors. As you know the aviation industry is lacking pilots. That starts with the airlines and trickles all the
way down to flight instructors. With this consideration my schedule has quite a demand on it. In order to
make my schedule and your training work as efficiently as possible I need the cooperation of my students to
help benefit all those involved.
Arrive on time and be prepared
As the Boy Scout Motto goes “Be prepared.” This means that you need to plan well in advance to show up to
each lesson as well prepared as possible. This includes all proper planning, studying and preparation that
are required at home. If you don’t know what to study or prepare please contact me and find out. Arrive at
the flight school well in advance. This will give you plenty of time to preflight the plane and attain a weather
briefing if required. Keep in mind that the aircraft will almost always be available 20-30 minutes prior to the
planned schedule. Allow time for fuel, window cleaning and adding oil if necessary. If at all possible have the
plane ready by the time we have scheduled.
Please always come prepared for any associated ground lessons as well. Have your studying completed or
be prepared to go over it with me on the ground. I recommend each student to bring all, yes I said all, of
their books to every lesson. If you have too many books to carry around, consider having two bags. Keep
one bag that will go to the plane with you and another for ground school. Leave it in your car if we don’t
need it. If the weather won’t permit flying there is almost always a way we can utilize the time doing ground
work. My schedule is very busy and I try to spend the maximum amount of time with each student. If I have
to wait for you to prepare we will be wasting your valuable training time. Any required flight planning can be
competed several hours in advance. Try to have what is required completed with an hour or two to spare.
Flight planning always takes longer than expected. keep in mind you are only asked to do the planning that
you are comfortable with. If we need to it will be covered on the ground proir to flight. I would suggest that all
students come to each lesson 20-30 minutes prior to our scheduled meeting time, and even more for cross
country flights.
Respect my time, I will respect yours.
Flight training is my career and at the end of the day I have bills to pay just like everyone else. When you
make a schedule you are expected to keep it, I will do the same for you. If you need to change or cancel a
schedule please give me as much notice as possible. If you cancel a flight with less than 24 hour notice you
will be expected to pay a no show charge. This will be my hourly rate for the full amount of time we had
scheduled. Your boss doesn’t call you and tell you to not come in to work, and that you won’t be getting
paid. Please, don’t do it to me. If for any reason I need to cancel on you with less than 24 hours I will credit
you that amount of time on our next lesson. Please always consider the IMSAFE checklist and be reasonable
with cancellations. If you are going to be late please call me and let me know. If I don’t see or hear from you
15 minutes after we have a schedule it will be considered a no show. Finally, if you do need to cancel the
only acceptable way to do this is by phone. Don’t email or text me, I cannot guarantee I will receive those in a
timely manner.
I normally work Monday thru Fridays and rarely work weekends or holidays. I occasionally make exceptions
to this on a case by case basis.
Contacting me
If you are one of my students you have both my personal phone number and email address. Emails work
great for non urgent messages and communications. For anything else please call. If I don’t answer leave
me a detailed message. I don’t get missed calls or texts on my phone when I am flying so don’t expect me to
call back if you didn’t leave a message. Unless it is urgent please call during normal business hours
(Monday thru Friday) and I will extend the same courtesy to you. Lastly as one of my students you can
always call at any hour if you have a pressing question while out flying. I would rather have you call at 2am
with a question, than have the FAA and NTSB calling me at 3am.
If you have any questions please contact me.
Thanks for you consideration,
Cody Pierce
