I came to Rainier bright-eyed, excited and with the average (according to Pilot Institute) cost of getting a private pilots license in my pocket with some cushion (15k). I was taken for a ride. Half way through I switched instructors because mine left for an airline (common) but did not get to pick my new instructor even though I was working with my current one to transition smoothly. I was promptly told my new instructor was selected for a reason. The reason? He needed students, not necessarily because we were a good match. I had to pay for two flights to "demonstrate my skills" for this new instructor which was upwards of $400. Then started the cycle of getting recommended for a stage check, failing a stage check (which costs more to get evaluated), to have more practice flights to then have to pay for the stage check again. They had me by the balls and they knew it, I was constantly reminded I could not switch flight schools because I was training on the 162 and hardly any other school had that so to leave, I would have to start on a completely new aircraft.
I persevered but not without leaving at 77.9 hours and $19,000 later, not including ground school cost and membership fees. Also, to place it in the perspective, I chose the 162 because it was cheaper to rent by the hour than the 172. If I had trained on that, I would be well upper 20k, pushing 30k.
It's the little things that added money, not just the repeated failures. I was often the first flight of the day but would often have to wait 10-15 minutes to get my plane fueled up (which gets added onto paying for instructor ground time). For the second half of my training I had no clue where I was in the syllabus and didn't get a lot of structure from my instructor. Mostly just, " we're going to work on what you need to improve" (okay, but like what lesson are we on?) I think the lack of structure is what really let my hours (and money) tick up.
I've been with Rainier since the beginning of my flight journey(over a year now) and would not recommend their ground school unless you are purely using it as an endorsement to test. I had to do a supplementary online ground school to get taught the material in order to be confident I would pass my FAA written.
Now, before you just write off this review I'll be transparent. I, as a student was also working full time and going to school full time so I was balancing a lot. Flying 1-2 times a week and then upped it to 3 times a week once I continuously failed my stage checks. However, I whole-heartedly believe I was strung along, financially and in my training.
What's good about Rainier? I really thought my first instructor, Doug, was amazing, he came with a plan, was flexible with scheduling, and had a teaching style that wasn't taking the yoke from your hand and saying no that's wrong. (I did stage 1 & 2 with him)
My second instructor was perhaps more strict but very knowledgeable. He helped me get the numbers and maneuvers in standards without guesswork. I really thought getting recommended by him for my stage checks would leave me a strong student but all my failures were at the tail end( I did 3 & 4 with him). Towards the end, my poor instructor was so overloaded with students you would have to schedule 3-4 weeks in advance (fingers crossed) to schedule a lesson or directly coordinate with him to shift his schedule. He worked from 8 am-6pm every work day back to back with students. The problem with that is that if I came across a failure then I would have to wait the time for a lesson, which I then would lose proficiency, to fly with my instructor, and then get re-recommended. I often booked more than a month in advance on practice flights, just to be sure I could fly. I was at the flight school for over a year and it took tremendous amount of determination to not get discourage and throw in the towel with all the hurdles Rainier kept throwing at me.
I purposely waited until I was out of the school(w/o my PPL) to write this review because I was unsure if leaving it would place me in a bigger cycle Of being stuck and strung along for more money. I look at all the great reviews on Google and can't help but think all these older men have DEEP pockets and ample amounts of free time. So if this is not you, I would recommend another flight school.
I never did get scheduled for my FAA exam and was told to keep coming in regularly to maintain proficiency with no end in sight. No timeline. So I decided to leave. What's next for me? Switching flight schools to get trained on the 172. I expect I'll leave with a certificate in hand having spent no more money than Rainier would have gotten if I would have stayed the additional 2,3,4 months? to stay proficient and test. Rainier simply does not care about their students and I've gotten to the point where the patience has ran dry with the cycle of being stuck and strung along for more money read more