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| - I am a private pilot with 240 hours of experience. Several months ago I checked out in Southwest Flight Center's C172 plane and had a successful experience. The CFI, Mark B., was professional and an excellent pilot and instructor. He signed me off, and I was able to rent their 172sp models.
As part of my commitment to flying, I occasionally choose to go up with an instructor to remain sharp and competent in my airmanship and knowledge of the aircraft. I recently called Southwest Flight Center and requested to rent an aircraft with an instructor. Judy took my call and was very helpful in scheduling me with Tonie and N3154U. Tonie and I met at the airport and planned the flight. Since I had to be at work at 9 am that morning, I decided it would be best to stay in the pattern and work on touch-n-go's. We continued as planned and did 5 or 6 turns around the circuit. Everything went smoothly. Tonie was an excellent instructor and is exactly what a CFI should be.
Since we had a short flight that morning, I decided it would be best to schedule again for the weekend to work on airwork (stalls, steep turns, emergency maneuvers, etc.) Tonie was able to fit me in that Saturday morning and put us on the schedule.
Later that day, I decided I also wanted to fly on Sunday morning after my already scheduled lesson with Tonie. The older man (Richard), who works the front desk at Southwest Flight Center, answered my phone call, and I requested to reserve the aircraft for Sunday in addition to my already scheduled lesson on Saturday. For some reason, he became agitated by this request and said that he would have to rethink whether I should be renting the airplane or not; he said he would get back to me. I asked why that was since I have flown their aircraft numerous times in the past without any issues. He responded by saying he wasn't comfortable renting his airplanes to me because I was scheduling instructors. I told him it's common and routine for pilots to get recurrent training to stay competent and current. He told me that after 30 years of experience in the aviation business, he found this approach to be unusual.
I was speechless that an employee of a flight school would say that. He was incredibly rude when voicing his opinion, and when I said that this is ridiculous to deny pilots in this way, he became defensive and told me that I was not allowed to fly his company's airplane on Sunday and that he was also taking me off the schedule for Saturday with Tonie. He quickly hung up on me.
Richard is not a pilot but he is a gatekeeper to the airplanes and doesn't consult with the instructors. No pilot should feel bad or be reprimanded for seeking out additional flight instruction. Safety is #1 in aviation and people getting in the way of it do not belong in this industry. I doubt I am the only one he has turned away with this behavior. The pilot population is shrinking and aviation cannot afford to have people like Richard treating others this way. It's a true shame he represents Southwest Flight Center, because otherwise, they have great instructors and decent aircraft. I am now completely uncomfortable calling this business or seeing/speaking with Richard again. I will have to look at alternative options at the Scottsdale airport.
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