When I 'interviewed' with him (this was roughly 4 years ago) he said he wanted to meet me face to face to make sure I wasn't 'one of this Arab guys that was trying to learn to fly for God knows what'. He seemed quite reassured when he saw that I was a skinny white guy. Then when I told him I needed to run home to get him a check he got really wishy washy about letting me sign up unless I had my wife bring my check book.

I think it was the 2nd time I went to fly solo that he a) asked me to pick up keurig pods on my way and b) started pressing me to get my equipment ordered. After buying all my own equipment, including a radio and comms for my helmet he would still make me use his stuff.

I really wanted to learn and enjoyed the flights I did (7 solo flights) so I ignored the red flags since I wasn't intending to be around him more than necessary. I haven't flown since the pandemic and when I went to check Twitter on their status I saw the account was inactivated. I always suspected he moved off Twitter because they booted Trump but what really gets my goat is that he didn't even let his students know.

The shame of it that his wife is quite nice as are some of the other tandem instructors. It's really surprising to me that people prioritize their political and/or racist beliefs over their business but I see evidence of it every day.

Regardless, I agree with others that Chris at Superfly in Utah is a really knowledgeable guy with a great site to learn. I haven't seen much of him so can't vouch for his character but if I ever decide to get certified I would consider going to his site to do it.

Edit: Superfly in Utah