My instructor, Keanu was excellent and inspired confidence all through my flying lesson. He was…read morevery patient and encouraging during the whole lesson, from take off to inflight controls and landing. I completed three take offs and three landings with his guidance. I will definitely book him again. Great experience.

**Update** Following my recent experience with First Flight, I was contacted by Patrick, who took…read morethe time to address my concerns and ensure a positive resolution. We successfully completed my Biannual Flight Review, during which I gained valuable insights and significantly improved my understanding of aviation communications. Patrick demonstrated a high level of expertise and professionalism throughout the flight. I look forward to flying with him again soon to refine my instrument flying skills. I would like to begin by stating that my experience with First Flight two and a half years ago was excellent. I completed a biannual flight review at the time and found both the customer service and aircraft to be outstanding. My instructor, Ross, was professional, knowledgeable, and created a positive learning environment. Over the following two years, I rented aircraft from First Flight without issue and regularly recommended the organization to many of my colleagues based on those positive experiences. Unfortunately, my most recent visit did not meet the same standard. Three and half weeks ago, I scheduled a biannual flight review with an instructor named Patrick, booking the appointment at the front desk in advance. I arrived on the day of the review 15 minutes early to ensure punctuality, only to find that the instructor was still in the air with another student. I was informed by the front desk attendant that he would be landing shortly and also learned that supposedly I wasn't on the schedule. Forty-five minutes later, the instructor returned and was notified of my presence and scheduled appointment. After waiting an hour, we began the ground portion of the flight review. Due to the schedule shift, we were limited in aircraft availability and could only log 0.6 hours of flight time--short of the minimum one hour required to complete a flight review. Compounding the issue, I experienced problems with my headset and had difficulty hearing both ATC and the instructor. Although I had another headset available, time constraints prevented a swap. To those currently training or flying at First Flight and having positive experiences, I genuinely hope that continues. I view this situation as an unfortunate anomaly and not reflective of the entire organization. As a strong supporter of small, family-owned FBOs like First Flight, I believe they are essential to the health and growth of General Aviation. I want to see First Flight succeed and continue to serve the aviation community well.

Dave Simpson is an excellent trainer. He develops a customize curriculum for each student,…read moreproviding accelerated learning options for those traveling from out of town. I learned how to fly in his airplane (Piper Archer 180hp) which he meticulously managed, and now he's added the Cirrus SR22 Turbo (315hp) to the training fleet. It's a logical advancement for the pilot looking for an increasingly challenging experience. www.cirrussandiego.com

I want to write an honest review. Dave is a safe instructor and you absolutely won't find anyone…read morethat knows the material better than Dave. He knows what he is teaching. He has developed his own programs that work. He is a solid instructor. However, I cannot express strongly enough to show up prepared. I am a very hands on not book smart person. I read his online stuff about his accelerated course. I interrupted that he would teach me to fly instruments from start to finish in 6 days if I had 20 to 25 hours simulated time. That is not true. However, to his defense I don't think anyone can learn instruments that quick with no prior holds or approach experience. So to me his advertisement can be misleading. I didn't know that at the time. I sent Dave a $2000 deposit with the understanding he is $100 an hour and we do 8 hour days to equal $800 a day. I was also told the simulator he has is $35 an hour which is what is on his website. I am a weird guy. I didn't like his style of teaching. I found it very demanding and it just did not work for me. It was very dry and long classrooms periods. I never been as frustrated at something in my life as I was trying to learn from Dave. With that being said I met a student of his in the parking lot that said Dave was the absolute best instructor he ever had. Dave's style of teaching was one of the worse I ever had in the class room. I enjoyed Dave in the airplane and he actually helped me with my landings. Every personality don't mix. Dave and I are polar opposites. Dave is much sharper in the books than anyone I ever met. I told him he would be a heck of an aviation lawyer. My reasoning for the lower than 5 star rating and my absolute biggest complaint with Dave was money. I never felt more ripped off in my entire life. On day one it was obvious I would never be close to a check ride in five to six days. By lunch I was so frustrated with his style of class teaching my head was pounding. He could read my body language and see by just how much I was struggling in his class. After lunch he told me he thought it would be best if I cancel a few days for the next week. He had already cancelled two days that we had agreed on to "get another student ready". I agreed 100% and we cancelled those days. Watch him with the simulator! He will turn the meter on and then be teaching on the board or fumbling with the ipad for a while during this that meter is going and you're getting charged. I turned it off a few times while he was teaching on the board or on the ipad and one time he turned it back on. He even kept it on while on a personal phone call. I paid for him to talk on a personal call. Day two I come in and the class/simulator portion started up and once again I just wasn't learning from his style of teaching. I told him it just wasn't working and I wanted to go back to my original instructor. He encouraged me to give him a chance and I did. He finally taught me in a method that made perfect sense. We went in my plane and flew the holds he was teaching and they worked out great. In the process I began having altimeter issues so we returned to KSEE. It was obvious we couldn't train on the Thursday as we had plan. Honestly I didn't see the value to continue. By this point I was 14 hours into training with Dave and all I really got out of it was learning holds and he improved my landings. In my mind that was $1400 and whatever the simulator cost. I told Dave I rather just finished with my previous instructor as I was learning much more at almost half the cost. I could tell it irritated him I didn't want to pursue my training further with him. He told me I would be charged for a full day because I made him miss the Thursday which I couldn't help due to my airplane having an unexpected maintenance issue. I didn't agree or like that at all. He then said lets settle up. He added up the simulator time which to me was inflated and charged me $40.00 an hour instead of his original quote of $35 (published on website). This aggravated me also. He then charged me two full days at $1600 total. His new total came to $1808. He looks me and says "I owe you some money". I was thinking he owed me much more than $192 but he said "I owe you $192.00". He then says "I am not paying you because you cancelled days with me. I lost money in this and won't be able to fill your spot". I got ripped off really good. I took two days of vacation from my employer. I agreed to $100 an hour and $35 an hour for his simulator which I feel was inflated on time but I will agree to the time. I should have owed him for the following: * 14 hours training @ $100 an hour = $1400 * 5.2 hours simulator @ $35 an hour = $182.00 That's a total of $1582.00. I agreed to that and I owe that. I paid him $2000 prior to class. That means Dave owes me $418. I don't argue in person as it gets you nowhere. I do plan to dispute this further. So I feel I wrote an honest review.

Stay away! It was a terrible experience. It was quite disappointing. Their planes are super…read moreoutdated with doors broken, instruments missing or not working properly. Awkward staff experience. Go somewhere else to get your money's worth.

Terrible service. Over priced planes with terrible maintenance. Not enough planes and way out of…read moredate equipment. I'm sure the planes don't even meet FAA standards to be able to fly.

California Flight Academy makes some of the highest caliber pilots. They have a great maintenance…read moredepartment and knowledgeable instructors. Very high practical exam pass rate.

CFA is a great school. The facilities and the planes are both amazing. The instructors are…read morefantastic. The student community is wonderful. Everyone is very helpful. Highly recommend.

I purchased "Intro to Flight" as a birthday present and Chance was great with addressing my…read morequestions/concerns. Booking was easy. At the day of flight, the instructor was Tyler. He was very friendly, calm and patient. Any nervousness was put at ease by Tyler. The entire experience lasted for 2 hours and we paid $300. It definitely sparked the desire to continue flight education and obtain a license.

Had talks with Chance over the phone and had my first intro flight on the golden hours on July…read morefirst saturday. What can I say...breaking the fear of heights will make you want to take over and just go back and fly more! Most of us dreamed of flying and becoming pilots one day and ChanceToFly just gave me that 'chance' to put my feet on the door. Owen Whitfield CFI/CFII, covered all the basics of operations on the ground and is a cool and amazing instructor for first time fliers. Went over all the details and his confidence radiates that you wouldn't worry over your fears in the skies. Could have taken more photos to show and share but he is insistent I take over the controls most of the time as it was, indeed, a 'Pilot Experience'. Thats Professionalism. Cannot argue with that. Looking forward to flying with them again soon!

GoFly San Diego has quite literally changed my life for the better…read more Did a Discovery Intro Flight with them to see if this was something I truly wanted to do and was sold! Started flying with Adam as my instructor for my PPL in January. Earned my Private in about three and a half months, then moved on to instrument training! I can now say I am an IFR rated pilot working on my Commercial! Adam honestly is the most patient, kind, flexible, and caring instructor I could have asked for. He has been extremely supportive when things got tough, but here we are still moving along! He genuinely cares about all his students and is their number one fan! He is able to coordinate checkrides quickly, which is a massive plus! Instrument Training with him was beyond anything I could have asked for! We worked in the sim together for a few hours, then started flying the real thing. We were able to get some actual time under IMC which was awesome. He has amazing tricks that will help you master what you are learning! All in all, there is no better instructor out there for you, whether you are looking to become a private pilot, add an instrument rating, or become commercially rated!

I had been thinking about getting my private pilot license for years and I'm thrilled I started…read moreflight lessons here. This place is awesome. Great instruction. Top-notch aircraft. Such a cool experience. The ground and flight instruction has been thorough, yet easy to follow along with. I couldn't recommend them more highly, and Adam is a really knowledgeable guy.

Got me through my Private pilot license easily. Was always friendly, knowledgeable, and someone I…read morecould count on to help me out. Built a great aviation foundation for me and would highly recommend to anyone wanting to start flight training or obtain a new rating

Years ago after I had taken a few flight lessons, I voiced my concern to the Instructor that I just…read moredidn't have the time in my day to attend Ground School. He stopped me in my tracks and said I would be better off just purchasing the King School's Private Pilot Ground School and studying on my own. He mentioned that the classroom settings are filled with a good number of students who aren't really interested in becoming pilots, but rather they most likely just want to learn what it's all about. In turn, they spend a lot of time asking a lot of trivial questions that really don't help the general class. He added that if I happened to fail the subsequent FAA written exam, that I would simply need to sent my failing grade results to King Schools along with the videos, and they would refund that which I spent on the program! Sweet! So I took the video course in the early mornings before the family arose, completed it and all of the testing along the way, and then I passed the FAA written exam (i missed two questions)! Even sweeter! I am forever grateful for the existence of King Schools and for their creation of these educational aviation videos! If you are interested in becoming a pilot, I highly recommend that you check this on-line learning company out! You'll be glad you did!

First off: The only way to train a new student! Their…read moreformat of the instruction is "Best in class"!! Video quality overall poor (thus four, not five stars) except the occasional updates where you see the kings had aged perhaps 30 years right before your eyes :):) Perhaps copies of copies... Lost originals, who knows? Non the less...The format by topics and graphics with breaks between sub sections of each topic is no doubt the best way to learn... Would be great if charts etc could still have the old younger fussy King's if they could at least upgrade the background graphics of charts etc (hint hint) What would normally be a complex subject.Their mini question quiz's etc and amazing updated user friendly web interface is Just an outstanding learning format!! Well its just hands down the easiest learning syllabus format I have ever learned anything from. As a future instructor, I would just save my future students the cost of me teaching all things ground on hourly basis and tell them to invest in the King School ground! ( I am working on CFI, I am currently a Commercial Rotorcraft and Commercial multi fixed wing instrument pilot ) Ground ATP completed! All to say I used King schools since mid 80's every step of the way. Though I used Sheppard air for ATP ground ( not sure I would use Shep air again) I used them on recommendation for ATP ground. I would and will defiantly use King Schools again ! :):) Love the Kings! :) Also their willingness to have the guts to say flying is a high risk activity. Be safe, calculate the risk and just say NO to high risk flights !! :):)