Hello Wooly,

As a CFI, I thought I'd throw my .02 in here. I assume Tom means
"independent" when he says "free instructor."

Exactly. Holy ****, now I realize that I made a mistake by writing
"free" instead of "independent". So everybody here probably thinks I'm
looking for free (means: at no cost) instruction. No, that's definitely
not what I want. I really want an independent instructor who is not
bound to a flight school .

Sorry for the confusion, my english isn't too god at all.

I doubt you'd find an
instructor to fly for free...

Certainly not. But even if there would be one I doubt that it would be
worth it for both sides.

You can't go wrong weather-wise if you
train in the southwest. Biggest issue is the heat if you're going to be
training during the summer. Get out early in the morning before the
temps reach triple digits and/or fly in the early evening (or both if
you're REALLY motivated, but don't burn yourself out).

That's no problem, I know the heat thing from the time I had in CA on a
flight school.

As far as training in high-performance & complex aircraft - that will
wait until you have the PPL. There's no sense in complicating the
process (and spending more $$) by getting into a 182 or Arrow before
you've got your license. IMO you can't beat a Warrior or 172 for a
primary trainer. The reality is no flight school will rent a high
performance or complex acft to a brandy-new pilot until the minimum
flight hours and HP/complex time requirements have been met (insurance
mandates)

When I was in CA I flew with C-152 and C-172 on the first day, and
after the second day we moved to a PA-28 Arrow II for most part of the
remaining instruction (and a PA-34 Seneca for the other part). The
instructor was quite good, the school was not. I know that it's
difficult to find high performance/complex airplanes to rent for
not-yet pilots, but I'd be ready to pay a bit more per hr because so I
not only get instructions and regular flying hours but also
complex/high performance time which I had to build up separately
otherwise.

That's another reason why I think an independent instructor would be
better for me, because this would allow us to get planes from
everywhere and not only what the flight school offers.

Dogfighting and aerobatics in T34s and Stearmans are fun but the point
here is to get the PPL finished in a reasonable amount of time without
breaking the bank.

Right, and due to the accidents that happened in these dog fight
"schools" (especially with the T-34) I don't have too much trust in
them. It looks more like huge videogame in real-life for people that
had a overdose of the "Top Gun" movie. I'd prefer a ex-military
instructor because of his experience, not because I want to play dog
fights in the air.

Tom