So, I'm new to Texas, and I had all my training done in Florida before I moved here. When I finally arrived, I was super excited to start my training again. After a tough time in my life, I decided to go for my instructor's certifications (CFI and CFI-I). I went to two different schools over the course of 6 month but I always kept an eye on American Flyers' 30-day program. But for financial reasons, I couldn't just pay it all upfront. A whole year passed after I paid for my training at those two schools, and I was hesitant to go back to a school. I was afraid that the same thing would happen again. After all, I was paying out of pocket, and I wanted to make sure that my money was being used wisely. So, I decided to check out American Flyers. I won a scholarship, and I wanted to make sure that I started right this time. I wanted to make sure that my efforts were being invested wisely and honestly. Sean our Chief Pilot, was amazing, he answered all my questions, understood my situation, and put together a plan that worked for me in terms of time and finances I was 100% convinced that this was the school I wanted to be at. The planes there are top-notch, and the maintenance is always on top of things. The instructors are amazing! Everyone there is friendly and willing to help you. They're also very straightforward when it comes to challenging your knowledge, because they're training the best pilots in the world. (I mean it) The facility also has FAA-approved sims, so you don't have to worry about that. You have a lot to win in the school! And guess what? The checkride dates are almost less than a month away! I highly recommend American Flyers. It's worth every penny. I have nothing but amazing things to say about their excellent teamwork and dedication to their students! read more

I paid some ridiculous price for a private written prep course thinking it would be a good way to make final prep to take the FAA written. I had been reading, studying, and taking practice exams for some time, but thought this would help polish up just before taking the exam. Boy was I WRONG. The first comments the instructor made were that he hadn't reviewed the new slide deck that he was using for the first time. Further, the slide deck didn't match the books they had passed out to us. On top of that, at some point he said "it's been years since I took the private pilot exam, I don't really know what's on it." No. Lie. On top of that, to help fill the clear void of knowledge the "instructor" had, other students who had done some studying began offering up their opinions, essentially becoming a free for all. I feel really bad for anyone who came into this hoping to learn. Regardless of your aviation goals, look elsewhere and most importantly, just teach yourself the book knowledge, it's the only way read more

Despite numerous complaints from day 1, none of these were addressed in a satisfactory way. I found the whole atmosphere unpleasant, more like a highschool with competition between flight instructors than a professional school. The ground school is of very poor quality, and very expensive for what you get. Other schools, online or live, offer better quality, and a better price. Try king schools, or jeppeson, sportys, or others. You will learn a lot more, and get better results. After 17 hours of ground school, i was in no way prepared for the FAA test, and apart from a few tidbits that weren´t in the book, the poorly written Groundschool book had the same information as in the classes. The organisation is poor, with unclear booking procedures. If you consider going to a school, rather than a private CFI, at least some kind of booking system like flight schedule pro helps get you in the habit of doing weight and balance, weather checks, etc before every flight. At american flyers everything seems to be a rabbit out of a hat every week. If they know what their plan is, it isn´t communicated. I hear that the 3 day course in preparation for the FAA exam is good, but the king school option will do the same at half the price. I did ask for a refund for the ground school, but did not receive it. Everything about this school leaves a bitter aftertaste. read more

Beware! "Shakedown" outfit! Look at the recent reviews. - Almost all negative! I experienced the training at American Flyers to be poorly structured, with insufficient attention given to the student's continuity, resulting in poor preparation for the FAA written and practical examinations, prolonged training time and excessive costs (around $24,000). Throughout this whole process, American Flyers was constantly trying to upsell my son (the trainee). My son was not soloed for 6 months, and had to retake several lessons because of poor continuity and poorly structured training. Typically, training is supposed to be done in a "building block" approach to promote learning - flight maneuvers, stalls, takeoffs & landings, solo, night flying, cross-country, FAA test. Relevant ground training should be done alongside the area of flight training that is being given to promote learning. American Flyers disregarded these proven training concepts throughout. There were large gaps in my son's training, and several points at which the training he received interfered with the learning process. I began to have concerns about his training early in the program, so I scheduled a telephone conversation with the National Chief Pilot. And herein resides the problem with the organization. After my conversation, I told my son that I thought he should change flight schools, but he liked his instructor, so he remained. It took American Flyers 7 months to get my son to the point of having completed the requirements to take his FAA practical test. A Private Pilot's License should easily be able to be completed in 3 months for an average student. Also, after waiting 6 months for American Flyers to schedule an FAA colorblindness test, I was required to intervene in my son's training to prevent losing a large sum of money and another 6 months in his training progress. I called the FAA directly and scheduled the test. Right after I did this, the National Chief Pilot called, yelling at me, attempting to bully me, threatening me (and my son) and boasting about his experience level. He told me that his number one priority was the student, but then threatened to throw my son to the curb if I continued to insist that American Flyers failed in getting things done. The problem with American Flyers is that nearly every decision goes through their National Chief Pilot, and he is primarily a salesman. Where it concerns flying, I consider him a classic example of someone who is not even competent enough to know what he does not know. But he is very sure of himself. And all policy and guidance come from him. When organizational failures arise out of his ineptitude or preoccupation with revenue maximization, he tries to bully and argue his way out of the situation rather than accept responsibility and commit to doing better for the students. Just so you know my qualifications for making such judgments, I am a retired U.S. Air Force instructor pilot with 28 years of service, and a Captain for one of the world's largest and most prestigious airlines. The bottom line is that American Flyers made lots of promises to me before I enrolled my son with them, and failed to meet each and every one of them. But the worst part of all this is that my son's love for flying was dampened significantly through his experiences with American Flyers. There are plenty of Fixed Based Operations out there who will take good care of you and make learning to fly a positive and rewarding experience as it should be. It's really a shame to see what has happened to this historically good organization. read more