Kenny Keller (Coffee with Kenny, day 176) answers a member's complaint that their flight school won't allow students to rent helicopters after earning a private pilot license due to insurance restrictions. Kenny explains this practice is not uncommon, shares personal anecdotes about insurance costs and competing schools, advises students to check rental policies before enrolling and to consider switching schools if rentals are important, and notes that personal renters insurance won't let you rent a school's aircraft. He closes with promotional links and upcoming topics.
Questions this video answers
Day 176 (Coffee with Kenny).
$18,500 per year.
No — he states a renter's policy won't help if the school's insurance doesn't cover private-pilot rentals.
Chapters
Hey, welcome to day 176. Coffee with Kenny. Yep. Drink coffee again on a summer day. That's right. Just can't. Just gotta do it. Right. This kind of reminds me staring down the channel, trying to keep this thing moving. Look at my phone. Check out the member question here. Hogsmember student gets ppl. Now they decide they won't rent to students. WTF question mark. He got my attention right off the bat, right? And this reminds me of when I, when I was a young cop in my 20s. We all smoked, we all drank coffee, we all drove fast and we used to joke about driving to, you know, drinking coffee, smoking cigarettes, lights and siren, talking on the radio all the same time. That was a long time ago, Right. Things have changed in 30 years. But also makes me think of being in a helicopter in class Bravo airspace, talking on three radios and trying to fly the helicopter all the same time and, you know, take care of the people in the aircraft with you. So anyway, this question from this member and I shouldn't giggle because he's, he was frustrated, but I, I just, I'm giggling over the his title and I'm giggling over what he said, but I understand his frustration and basically said, you know, been very happy with the school and CFI so far. And he goes on to tell me how one of the other students that's there a little further along than him got promised he could rent that they didn't have any renters insurance, but when he got his ppl they would. And he's about 10 hours in, he said everything's going good. And then he said this other student got his ppl and now they won't rent to him because they don't have insurance to let somebody rent, which isn't totally uncommon. There are flight schools out there that do this. They'll insure you to for the dual training and they'll insure you to solo, but then you cannot rent the helicopter to go fly as a private pilot. So not completely unheard of. When I was doing it, I had a competitor that had an instrument and 45 minutes from where I'm at. And his policy allow people to solo, or I mean it, let them to solo but did not allow them to rent. He just said, I'm not spending the money because he would save money as an insurance policy. And in turn I would at that time in the aircraft that I had. But I also went bankrupt trying to run my own school too. Right? So on the flip side of that, insurance is hands down freaking expensive. All Right. So in a way, I guess I can understand why flight school would do it. Now, from a student perspective, it makes no sense, right? From a student perspective, you're going, why in the hell are you going to. You're going to take my money and you're let me get my license, but you're not going to let me fly your helicopter as a private pilot. It's not totally uncommon. Some schools do that. So that's something that you as the applicant or student fly to school. Make sure you check this out and find out about this before, before you get into this because this could be a big disappointment for you later. So he goes on to say the new student gets his license and they find out he can't rent the helo. WTF again, he says. So this puts me in a position, why finish or support this school if I put my time and money into getting my ppl then can't run a helo. Of course someday everybody wants to fly a Hilo, but. Or wants to buy a helo and have their own eventually. But you know, that's probably not going to happen for most people, which I don't recommend it. It's still better to just pay somebody else. Unless you got buttloads of money to throw away. Just rent. That's my opinion. Would anyone get a ppl if they can't rent locally? How do you even keep your currency? Hey, again, this is what some schools do. Got any wisdom or advice? Would like to stay at this school if they could get their act together. Should I get my own renters insurance? Well, if they're not going to insure you to rent the helicopter, renters insurance isn't going to do you any good. So I mean, I just don't see where. If their aircraft is not insured through their policy for a private policy, just go rent for fun. A renter's policy is not going to do you any good. I have a great CFI and he feels terrible anyway. You know, all I can say is it happens. So. So this is something that you need to look into. You need to find out whether your school is going to rent you or not when you get your private pilot license. I understand the frustration and I understand why you would be frustrated. And in the email he says there's another school down 20 minutes down the road. Go down to the other school. I mean, that's all I can tell you. To have another school only 20 minutes away. That's a pretty easy answer to me. When I was flying, I would drive two hours One way to a lesson and that was going to one, you know, city to go to another flight school at the flight I'd have to drive two hours somewhere else. So just to have another school that close 20 minutes away, man, I would just go check out that other school because I don't personally think it's going to be. It's going to be worth battling the school trying to get them to change their insurance policy. They're probably not going to happen and they're probably saving quite a bit. I'll throw this number at you. My very first flight school I had where I owned one aircraft. My insurance was $18,500 a year. Think back to flight school. Look how much money they got to make just to pay their insurance and then their fuel and then their maintenance. So I guess I want to end with sometimes schools do that and that's just the way it is. So that's just something you got to look into. Day 167 or 176 Coffee with Kenny Brought another one. Good one to you. Hope that helps. Like and subscribe for the daily video. Lots more to come. Questions are still coming in. Lots of good ones. Things we haven't covered yet. I'm getting ready to cover stirring the pot. I got an email from a member. It was his CFI is telling me he's moving the control around and he goes, I don't think I am. And I've got some insight on that one too. So that might even be tomorrow. All right, I'm gonna wrap this up so like subscribe. You can go to belong down below to take care of. Take care of. Take our 24 hour test drive for helicopter ground school. Go down below. Check that out. For our private commercial CFI and instrument monthly courses. You can take the whole course for 24 hour test flight. We also have links down below for our Amazon best selling books. Both of those books are down below. Top 10 checkride tips I did with Taz Christman 2018 Flight Instructor of the year. And then my book Helicopter Checkride. You can get either one of those books. We have whole piles of them. We purchased them, we send them to you for just shipping and handling. So come back and see us on day 177. Here we go. It.
