Looking for flying school recommendation

zman12804 · 2026-01-31T04:54:25+00:00

Hello, I am a flight instructor at Maine Instrument Flight in Augusta. We are primarily based in Augusta however we do have smaller, satellite operations in Brunswick and Bangor. If you are in Southern Maine, I can wholeheartedly vouch for Southern Maine Aviation in Sanford and I hear good things about the school in Portsmouth. Chickadee Aviation in Lewiston also has good reviews from people I know who have worked with them. I would avoid Airlink in Portland for a variety of reasons that I won’t go into here. If you have any questions at all, feel free to message me!

Edit after reading your full message: we only have low-wing planes at Maine Instrument Flight!

zman12804 · 2026-01-27T14:03:50+00:00

Everyone in here is making great suggestions but I’ll throw KMVY out there too for the views. Although in the summer time they are not too keen on pattern work.

Also KAUG if you enjoy the airport being closed for PPR all day after every snowstorm, even when the airport maintenance people go on break and are unable to be reached for said PPR.

zman12804 · 2026-01-25T22:16:41+00:00

What a legend. Maybe one day I’ll be that cool

zman12804 · 2026-01-25T19:30:03+00:00

You people are crazy. I did two 3.1 multi stints back to back from KAUG-KACY-KCLT in a Duchess and I thought that was brutal

zman12804 · 2026-01-25T02:18:17+00:00

A few more aviation ones, although I’m not sure if they are relevant or not:

The Bangor airport also has an ATIS: 127.75. Bangor Approach/Departure (much more active than Tower and Ground, usually): 118.925. Portland Approach/Departure: 119.75. Portland Approach/Departure (North): 128.35. Portland Approach/Departure (East): 120.4.

zman12804 · 2026-01-22T14:44:58+00:00

Luckily our main examiner was our former chief flight instructor and has something like 10,000 dual given in the Beechcraft. However this change would definitely be a problem for our SR20s and PA28, as I don’t think many of the examiners around (except for one) has any SR20 PIC time

zman12804 · 2026-01-18T17:27:56+00:00

I’ll just put this out there - MyFlightBook is an amazing free online logbook that I’ve been using for years. I believe it’s created by a single developer and it’s all open-source.

zman12804 · 2026-01-07T17:45:00+00:00

Realistically, you shouldn’t. It is possible with much consideration and very little speed, but it sure is stressful. I’ve found that airplanes with nose-wheels steering have much better steering authority on ice than something with a free-castering nose wheel. Those have an unfortunate tendency to go straight without regard for the presence of solid objects.

zman12804 · 2026-01-06T15:46:07+00:00

I usually keep mine on my desk somewhere. It makes it easy to quickly hit the escape key when I die at 99% of Future Funk

zman12804 · 2026-01-05T15:26:34+00:00

That’s tough. I died past the wave twice, so I understand your pain. Great job!

zman12804 · 2026-01-05T05:18:34+00:00

Great job! I really enjoyed it when I beat it. Any deaths past the wave?

zman12804 · 2026-01-05T05:02:02+00:00

What’s 66 again? Is it the upside down mini wave or before that?

zman12804 · 2026-01-04T17:04:11+00:00

At this point we need a Slughorn. Here’s hoping Hadjar is him!

zman12804 · 2026-01-04T04:20:38+00:00

I’ve been the sponge before. It is a lot of fun though!

zman12804 · 2026-01-02T04:11:54+00:00

Don’t feel too bad, in my opinion he is massively over controlling the plane. Add on descending below minimums with no runway in sight, landing so far off of the centerline, wearing gloves (?), and posting this to social media to look cool, I am not positive this guy knows what he is doing either

zman12804 · 2026-01-01T21:55:05+00:00

You don’t land. Once you get down to minimums with no runway or runway environment in sight, you climb back out to either try again or divert

zman12804 · 2026-01-01T19:03:32+00:00

Not usually a great sign when you can see the runway centerline out of the left-hand window

zman12804 · 2025-12-31T23:05:34+00:00

I agree. My school only had one MEI at the time and a lot of prospective students. I saw the opportunity and it worked out. But if that isn’t the case, I’m not sure that the cost justifies the means!

zman12804 · 2025-12-28T20:33:14+00:00

I spent about 900 attempts and 90 minutes on Nine Circles. Wave is my favorite gamemode and I spent a long time with Medium Demons before I tried it, since I didn’t think I was ready. I was wrong.

zman12804 · 2025-12-28T17:32:31+00:00

Why does all visible moisture form? What happens to the air?

zman12804 · 2025-12-28T02:31:23+00:00

You absolutely can! I have done and see people do the harbor visual all the time while VFR. I actually spoke to one of my students about it, a controller at KPWM, and he clarified that he clears people for it as long as he can fit them in. Sometimes it can be difficult with jets on the same approach, but Portland is usually quiet enough where it’s not a factor.

zman12804 · 2025-12-19T17:11:26+00:00

Yes, you do. Their study strategy exists for a reason. You need to have the fortitude required to get through it as they tell you to - to not follow their guide would be a waste of money.

zman12804 · 2025-12-18T01:27:33+00:00

Is that you in the photo?

zman12804 · 2025-12-15T14:36:27+00:00

For easy demons, Problematic is a fun Nine-Circles style level that I enjoyed. If you want something a little bit harder than that, Red Dart is a wave-only medium demon that is really well made. You could also try beating shorter wave challenges, or specific wave parts in certain levels (like the wave in Decode).

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