Rate My CFI

Rate My DPE

We just launched! We need YOU to help us become helpful to student pilots. Please , review your current or past CFIs, schools, and write DPE gouges! You can add your CFI or flight school if they are missing. Our site is, and always will be, completely free.

Using RateMyCFI

What the site does, how to use it, and the rules everyone is held to.

Leaving a review

Reviews are the primary focus of our site. Here is how to find the right page, what to write, and what gets removed.

Find your instructor or school

  1. Search from the box in the header, or open Find a Flight Instructor and filter by airport.
  2. Open their page and use Leave a Review.
  3. Not there? Use Add a CFI/School. Instructors are checked against the FAA airman registry — a match publishes their page immediately, a near match will be flagged for review by a moderator. You can write your review at the same time, and it publishes with the page.

What the review form asks

You will first be asked to input information about the training you received, including location, approximate date, aircraft type, training part, and training type. Next you will be asked to rate the instructor or school from 1–5 on the following categories: instruction, knowledge, and safety. You can then choose to recommend the instructor/school and add comments to your review.

When writing comments, specifics help most! How were lessons structured? How were briefings conducted? How were cancellations handled? What changed in your flying or ground knowledge?

Write about training you actually received

  • Review instructors you personally flew with, or schools you personally trained at.
  • Secondhand accounts, rumors, and "I heard that…" reviews get removed.
  • One review per training experience (rating, certificate, etc.)

Keep it about instruction

  • Fair game: teaching, ground knowledge, professionalism, scheduling, safety culture, facilities.
  • Not fair game: appearance, race, sex, religion, national origin, disability, and personal life.
  • Don't name other students.

What gets removed

  • Threats, harassment, or abuse directed at anyone.
  • Gross accusations of criminal conduct.
  • Personal information: phone numbers, home addresses, certificate numbers, emails.
  • Reviews written by the instructor or school about themselves, or by their competitors.
  • Spam, advertising, and off-topic content.

Safety concerns

If an instructor did something genuinely unsafe, say so plainly and describe what happened. This is information the next student may want to know. If it is a regulatory matter, report it to the FAA as well. RateMyCFIs is not a regulator and will not file safety reports on behalf of any party.

Your review is saved as soon as you submit it, but stays unpublished until you confirm your email address. Check your inbox, or use the resend button in the banner at the top of the page.

After you post

Reviews show only the display name on your account. You can delete reviews you've written at any time from My Reviews. Deleting your account will not delete your reviews. Other readers can vote it helpful or unhelpful, and the instructor or school may publicly reply to your review.