BarbaPapa

I am finishing my PPL at flysmart in KISM and can't be happier. Had problems to finish in another school in NC and now I am having a bless at this school. Good recommendation.

J2092

As an update, I have chosen my flight school. After making my short list of schools, (Aerosim and Cloud Dancer Academy), I toured both facilities.

Yesterday, I toured CDA, where Dave, the owner, showed me around and answered my (many) questions. Dave seems like a great guy, and seems to actually care about your education to becoming a pilot. There were two downsides I saw to this facility, however. 1: not many aircraft, and 2: asks for a down payment ($500) if not buying block hours. CDA has a total of 12 aircraft, of which two are down for maintenance right now, which is done on site. The down payment, however, I find to be the greater issue. Not only was I warned, for good reason, to not give any school a down payment, to always PAYG, but when I initially called the school and spoke with Dave inquiring about his program, he told me there was no down payment required. I find this bad business practice. This made me wonder, what else would the school possibly lie about in the future?

Today, I toured Aerosim. I was very impressed with their facilities. They have 75 aircraft and currently 95 CFIs. Also, they have four multi-engine sim rooms for Piper aircraft, as well as an Airbus A320 sim room, (mainly used for pilots hired by companies that need training on that aircraft). I believe they also have other sim rooms, but I cannot remember what type of aircraft they are for. I toured with Robert, one of many admission counselors, who is very knowledgeable and happily answered my (many) questions. After my tour, I decided to stick around and spoke to a few students. All I spoke to, (ranging from 1 week at the school through earning multi-engine commercial), seemed very happy with their choice and experiences.

When it came down to it, I chose Aerosim (part 61). It will cost the same to train, (both quoted at or just below $10,000, and had the same extras not included). I made my choice based off of availability, reliability, and honesty.

Thank you to everyone who commented. I hope this little insight into the schools can provide help for someone else as well.

jonnyjetprop

If you're going part 61, why not one of the flying clubs based in ORL or SFB. Van Anda has good prices and they have independent CFI's.

Romeo Hotel

+1 to the Van Anda club!!!

SonicFlyer

Yes very much so, I have rented from them a few times and they are great. Their planes are immaculate and very personalized customer service!

J2092

Where is Van anda located? Anyone have prices for them? It's definitely worth a look.

Romeo Hotel

Van Anda Aviation | Main / HomePage

Check it out.

mike sierra

Just some heads up

I saw your post about regional career path and flight school to the airlines.

Don't let that trick you, for a regional it doesn't matter where you went to school.

My advice: Place with better schedule, available planes and CFI's and a place you would like to stay and become a CFI.


Aerosim schedules the flights for you, what might be an issue.


I always had good experiences with air america, they price is pretty good, I would check there.

J2092

They schedule my flights even under part 61? I would understand if I was a full-time student there, but that definitely wouldn't work with my schedule right now. I'll have to look into that further, so thank you. I was a bit put off of Air America because the more I dug, the more negative responses I found, but I'll do more research on them as well.