Robert C Smith, CFII

At the beginning of April, I made the decision to pursue a private pilot license. I love traveling and I figured that having the certificate would allow me to access destinations in a shorter period of time and combine my love for adventure and freedom as well as test my resolve and commitment to a new and arduous hobby.
Every spare weekend and evening that I’ve had has been dedicated to flight training at the Lancaster Airport with my trusty instructor, Bob Smith (Robert C Smith). I found him through the Western New York Flying Club, which is a non-​profit flying club whose goal is to make flying affordable and accessible to all. For $ 100/​month, which covers insurance and maintenance of the planes — you get to access their fleet of four airplanes practically at-​cost for what it would cost you to own them yourself. You’re basically a co-​owner of these planes, along with all the other club members. The result? Much cheaper flying and instruction.
As part of the club, there are a few CFIs — those with a certified flying instructor rating who can help you on your journey to get your license. Bob Smith is one of those. A retired guy who has saved my life in the process of training, now… on at least on a few occasions. What I love about Bob is that he will let you make mistakes pretty ruthlessly as you learn to fly (it is a part of the process!), but he always keeps you safe as he’s able to judge very accurately those moments when it’s absolutely necessary to recover from that mistake. The result? Fast-​paced learning.
I’ve logged about 12 hours of flight time with Bob so far and last week celebrated a milestone of my first landing where he didn’t manipulate the flight controls at all. No, it wasn’t exactly a solo flight, but he didn’t touch a thing. I was super proud of that and I’m grateful to have Bob as my instructor. His rate is $ 50/​hour and you must belong to the club in order to access the trainer (unless you have access to a plane of your own), but joining is pretty simple and painless. It will save you lots of money in the long run as opposed to going to a traditional flight school. Another plus? It’s super flexible as opposed to a flight school. He’s available most weekends and you can schedule a few lessons at your schedule’s convenience.
I wish Bob would utilize a syllabus a bit more. The lessons feel a bit unstructured at times, but they do all come together. At first I was worried that «I wasn’t learning,» but after completing that «unassisted» landing in a Cessna 172, I’m 100% singing my praises for Bob. If you’re considering pursuing a pilot’s license, definitely look into him as one of your options!