CFA is hands down one of the best flight schools. I able to become a commercial pilot within 8 and half months, coming with zero flight experience. The staff, fleet and weather in San Diego helped me into finishing as fast as I did. After finishing my training, I built my flight time as a flight instructor at CFA. I'm currently now working as a first officer in the airlines! read more

California Flight Academy - Passing my commercial checkride! - Flight Instruction Near Me - El Cajon, California

Probably the worst flight school in whole USA. They just care about the money.the management is terrible. Just go somewhere else you will thank me later. read more

This is where I learned to fly! California Flight Academy (CFA) is a great school! They have some of the best instructors out there! CFA also has a nice fleet made up of Cessnas and Pipers. If you want to learn to fly, this is the place to go! read more

California Flight Academy - CFA - Flight Instruction Near Me - El Cajon, California

I am a mother of a student at this school. In other words, I am paying the bill... My experience with this school for 1 year before my son even started has been nothing short of professional, informative, responsive and also unique! I shopped schools for a week. I knew I found what would be best for my kid when we met Reza and Dina. They have their whole hearts into these students. Here I will share my experience. I will also let you know: my close friends also have sons going to different universities and CFA is on par with the public university system. The orientation was much anticipated! After waiting almost a year to start my son was very nervous and excited. Here, the 12 class members were inducted into the school with special guest speakers and data and tons of info. I was there with my son, it was really sweet and friendly and the staff really did well getting to know the basics of each student. Only 3 Americans! The appts were made for the medicals, the passwords were set and the logins were walked through. There were some things we had to buy: uniforms, headset, fuel tester, books, ipad.. none of these things were different from what I had to buy for my own education in nursing school (scrubs, stethoscope, sphygometer, books, computer, vaccinations etc) so it was no surprise, and shouldn't be for anyone who is serious about any career. These are things that he gets to keep forever, I still have my 1st stethoscope. They did get a flight go-bag to put everything in as a welcome. That was really awesome. CFA housing is great...it's cheap, basic, safe and close to the school. My son rides his bicycle to school in 20 mins. It is very much apartment like and the 3 other guys in my sons apartment are going through the school together so there is lots of bonding. They make dorm rules and study together and there is even incentive if they keep the cleanest dorm (gift certificate for av fuel). The housing Dad was really kind and friendly and promised the students would be taken care of as long as they communicate their needs. This experience has been great. This is a school who takes care of their students while also remembering they are adults and can make their own way. My kid is in good hands. I recommend this school to anyone looking for a structured learning environment flight school. This is not a DIY school. It engages you daily and you get out what you put in by showing up, studying and asking questions. The staff is there to help and guide. This is also different from other flight schools in the area because it takes the student to the commercial airline path, which is very different from other schools and students looking for a simple personal license. read more

California Flight Academy - Complimentary flight bag recieved at orientation - Flight Instruction Near Me - El Cajon, California

Had my Son take lessons here, very impressed.. Good place to learn to fly.

OLD planes!! Major accidents including death. Toured a last year and was not impressed at all. Much better choices for locals in SD. Avoid at all costs! read more

Instructors who care the students Planes are watched and cared by the real professional mainainances I fly everyday except the bad weather day. But most of all, i feel loved here by many heart-warmed people. read more

No review offered on the quality of flight instruction offered at CFA. I never got that far because my initial customer service experience was so poor. I contacted California Flight Academy in search of training for a CFMEI SEL/Sea add on to my CFII Rotorcraft, Gyroplane (interpretation: I'm a 4,500+-hour ATP, CFII and experienced flight training consumer). After explaining my goals to the receptionist, I was transferred to a flight instructor. After explaining my goals a second time, that flight instructor indicated he could not answer my questions and attempted to transfer me to a third employee. After a lengthy hold, I was told the third person was unavailable. My contact information was taken and I was told I would receive a call back. Three days later no one has called. CFA may have the best instructors in the world but if their customer service makes it appear like they have too many students to care about new ones -- well, there are plenty of other flight schools out there which would like my disposable income. read more

I am not really into writing reviews unless it's the best or the worst .... I did my whole training in the academy . It was by far an amazing experience . I loved the whole student journey in the academy...... good instructors , very very good maintenance and very good management . Front desk is awesome , Yvette really takes care of you like family, everyone is so friendly. I strongly recommend this academy to pursue your goals ..... You will not get disappointed. read more

Stay away from this school. They tell you you will be flying 4-5 times a week and after flying to the area to tour the school they told us that you would get 130 hours in in the year you would be there. One person told us there would be people there to explain the pricing to us and once we got there no one could give us straight answers. Again stay away. Completely unprofessional. Also after trying to reach Reza about getting our deposit back multiple times ,he hasn't called back. read more

I attended CFA for their commercial flight pilot program. The school has a nice environment and ground school program taught by instructors in a classroom setting, not online only like the majority of programs available. Attending the first class of the program went well, their instructor named Allen knew his stuff and was excellent. The next class was taught by multiple instructors and very bad - nothing in the class material was covered. While their planes are 15 years old and they do not teach on glass cockpits, they have a good amount of Cessna 172s and 152s to fly on. I left the school before completing my commercial pilot certification to attend another location for better classroom teaching. They are fairly cheap and do push their students to completion. read more

They charge us rent during the crises when we had to scramble back home and not even offer a discount to keep our things there. Not like they are going to rent the room to anyone. Many students are very upset and the school only cares about charging you money. The admissions person Ali lied to me and I talked to others and many said the information he gave us was not true about cost and fees and time to get training. School has had major safety issue and accidents and death and not had a maintenance person who died in a crash last year. They downplayed the accident and gave us no updates for months. Many of us have chatted and are already looking to go to other schools. The school is owned by big corporation and the owners do not have any idea about flight and aviation. The Chief Pilot and Dina are the only ones in the school who seem to really care. read more

I spent a lot of money learning fly. I rarely gluten-free plane twice. I always had a different instructor. It was hard to learn when everything changes.and there is no consistency. I just felt I was wasting my money. Every now and then I would get the same instructor. But at the end of the day it was not a good school read more

The chief pilot is completely unprofessional and not someone who should be in that position. Most the CFIs are helpful and nice but you can always get a bad one. You end up spending way more than they lead you to believe you would spend (budget for over $5,000/month) the school is ran almost like military school and you leave everyday feeling emotionally abused. If you try to talk to the chief pilot about it he will call you a baby, again unprofessional. The registration process is hell because they don't tell you all the information you need and every link they send or PDF doesn't work. If you do decide to go to this school, buy some pilots shirts (mandatory uniform that is like $40 a shirt), buy a fuel strainer (not provided by the school is like $15), buy a headset (not provided by the school or part of the schools tuition and the cheapest one is like $100) they don't tell you to buy all that in the registration process so you end up spending more money even beyond the tuition. 10/10 would NOT recommend this school. They offer student housing which is a two bedroom apartment shared with four people, not amazing, but better than you'd imagine (the pool is gross and unclean, the hot tub doesn't work, the gym is two treadmills, the laundry room doesn't clean your clothes) if you decide to attend this school, god bless. UPDATE: The new chief pilot is way better and completely understanding of any situation. I feel like the CFIs only care about getting their hours or money and don't care about the students most students finish PPL around 100 hours which is double the minimum number they'll promote to you for budgeting I think that is outrageous because instructors progress students so slowly and the school only has about a 50% pass rate on checkrides. The school does have a simulator but it's nothing special $100/hr for three computer screens is kinda crazy compared to most simulators. You'll get charged for a CPC kit that is not referenced through out the program but other Cessna schools use it more. You'll get charged for books that no one reads and is not referenced ever in class. read more

Because I live in Las Vegas (sunny almost all the time), it can be difficult to maintain my instrument proficiency and IFR currency, and I have limited choices here for flight training as well. An easy trip to California Flight Academy gives me multiple opportunities to stay IFR current. The coastal environment and numerous airports in the area allow me to get out and fly different approach types, sometimes in actual IMC, either in my own plane or a CFA plane if I choose. When I have less time available, an additional option for me is their great new Redbird simulator. Their Sim was recently installed, and lets me do multiple approaches at (simulated) airports of my choosing, in far less time than in the airplane would require. The best part is that it is in a quiet, dedicated simulator room. I've been to other facilities where a simulator is off to the side of an open conference room or office, where frequent distractions can make it much harder to focus. CFA has done their simulator the right way, and it is a very useful tool. The instructors have all been professional and helpful. I find that having input from different instructors (different teaching styles) gives me new ideas and insight into what I'm trying to accomplish. Flight training is what this place does, and they do it well. read more

So if your thinking about chasing your dream and becoming a commercial pilot here at CFA. Think again. Firstly their prices on the brochure are completely void. After talking with numerous students its clear to say you can spend up to 3x the amount advertised and believe me even the student gives it his/her full dedication and hardwork they still won't be able to meet the prices shown on the brochure, On top of that stages such as check rides are delayed as long as 1-3 months simply because they do not have any examiners and are absolutely unorganized. They also lack instructors as previous seem to suddenly disappear without notice jeopardizing the progress of students. If you feel this review is wrong feel free to pop in to school and have a word with a random student other than the staff. Otherwise my best advice is to look elsewhere (Former student) read more