Several reasons people are reluctant to use an instructor. First is the time constraints. You can only fly when your instructor's available. Without an instructor, you can fly any time. Second is apprehension. Is the instructor going to be a jerk? Does he know what he's doing? Is he going to sneer at my cheap little trainer? Fear of failure is another. Better to crash when no one's looking.

You can't really overcome these objections for the beginner pilot. I've never met a bad instructor (I've known a few condescending ones), but to someone on the outside, there's a lot of unknowns.

First time around, I taught myself to fly. It was a long time ago, information wasn't as easy to find as it is now, and a lot of pilots I met had taught themselves to fly. On one of my early flights, I plowed my trainer into the hood of a car. $500 bucks. A ton of money back then, out of my pocket. I eventually did learn to fly, joined a club, flew on my own for several years, then dropped out for about 15 years. I recently got back in, and first thing I did was hook up with an instructor.