★☆☆☆☆
1 out of 5
10 months ago
Rarely do I leave reviews, but thought my experience warranted leaving a warning. I am an independent CFII that lives a couple hours away and wanted to increase my skillset by getting my Tailwheel endorsement with Western.
I reached out to Josh and was excited at the prospect of achieving a life-long goal of mine, but this is when he showed his true colors. After he realized I was a cfi he called me back and told me he would not train me due to me being “competition.”
This kind of mindset is the last thing you’d want as a student because as soon as they see you as a threat you’ll be kicked to the curb. I was hoping to establish a positive relationship and network within the aviation community but was left with a bitter taste in my mouth. I am in no way entitled to receive their service and they are well within their rights to refuse it to me, but if they see a single independent CFI as a threat to their business then there are glaring signals about insecurities the president has about adequate/competent training.
For students looking to get their PPL and beyond I recommend you shop around and be very careful about who you do business with. Aviation is a difficult industry with high barriers to entry and information can be difficult to obtain. With those barriers to entry come the possibility of getting taken advantage of and 90% of the time it’s the student that gets swindled.
Thomas Smartt
