I spent nearly two weeks flying at least six hours a day with Gary doing an accelerated instrument…read moretraining program in my 182. He was nothing less than a very polished professional every day. He is a absolute gentlemen and a master of his craft. He is worthy every penny and then some.

I left a popular KSEE flying club I was attending after 10 traffic-pattern solos and 50+ solo…read morelandings, to find an independent CFI that would let me move on in my training. I searched online for instructors in San Diego and came across Fly The Wing. After just a few lessons with Garry, he instilled the confidence and trust in me to solo away from the airport and I was off practicing maneuvers. A couple weeks later I was doing my cross-country solos, and in a couple more I passed my check ride. I could tell that he was more interested in training me to be a pilot than seeing how much he could get out of my wallet. Garry will make you think practically about everything you do in the plane. He doesn't just teach you to fly; he trains you to be a pilot. Lessons can be recorded and you can take the video home to review. This was immensely helpful! Stop throwing your money away at big-name schools/clubs, and learn to fly the wing!

My flight instructor told me we weren't a good fit with about a month left until my checkride --…read moreand added, unprompted, that I probably wouldn't continue with any other instructor at Provectus either. This came after I spent 3.5 hours preparing for a ground lesson, only to show up and be dropped on the spot. A complete disregard for my time and investment. Steer clear.

Provectus Aviation is the best of the best when it comes to flight training in San Diego County…read more Each of the instructors I worked with was highly knowledgeable in the classroom and in each aircraft type. The organization's well-designed curriculums were specifically aligned with my aviation goals and were accelerated to fit into my unique schedule. I was able to achieve both my CFI certificate and Multi-Engine ratings in a very concentrated period of time. I am already planning future trainings with them as their skill level in education, safety and hands-on instruction is unsurpassed. Many times the Provectus Team went above and beyond the scope of duty exceeding all my expectations. As such I highly recommend their elite training courses!

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.

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.

Hi Johan, I want to…read morethank you for telling the public my personal story. Don't worry about deleting it I already took screen shots. Your passive aggressive response speaks volumes of the character of SAA and it's Employees. Allow me to give you a lesson. When you buy a business and rename it, relocate, hire new management, or a period of years go by, IT'S STILL THE SAME FREAKING BUSINESS! Even your own website says you have been training pilots since 2000. I find it interesting that when you do a quick search on the FAA website for SAA International you get nothing. When you search for Scandinavian Aviation Academy Inc, you get the SAA international address and phone number. It must be a terrible coincidence. I'll call them tomorrow morning and notify them of the computer glitch. Also, don't act like you did some spectacular search for my file. When I called Scandinavian or SAA or whatever fake business name you are operating under to finish my program I had to send all my paperwork because you "lost" it. The owner said I could come back and start training until I asked for a refund and then he acted like it was a different school. Your last response has moved me to start picketing outside the School. I wonder how the story will look on the news?

If you want to get a just pilot certificate, it is not what you look for. However, if you want to…read morebecome a professional pilot, you find the right place. SAA provides a systemized training syllabus and the safest aircraft service. Anyone interested in being pro pilot welcomes to talk to a school administrator.

My son didn't connect with the instructor for the one flight and that's okay. He has close to 100…read morehours and with a newer CFI, it's understandable the degree about knowledge and trust initially can be difficult to ascertain but hours speak volumes (along with the variety of experiences) and my son mentioned this CFI was largely at controls most of the time and teaching at sea level didn't so much as occur (we are from Colorado). I get it and we did provide background and history and giving up controls can be hard as a new instructor and new-to-you student. Either way we would definitely fly with Learn to FLY SD again just with a more experienced instructor who can meet my son where he is at. Priced appropriately too which is a plus!

Without a doubt, Learn to Fly San Diego was the best company to go with for our son, who has safely…read moreand successfully achieved his goal of obtaining his private pilot's license. With some of the best Chief Flight Instructors in this city, we believe owner Chris Sluka runs a 5-star flight school with their company-owned fleet of planes. Don't go with any flight school that requires you to join a club where the instructors have to rent out the planes just to give a flight lesson. We had erroneously done that first, which was a big mistake. Once we quickly changed over to Learn to Fly San Diego, flight scheduling was easier and we trusted every decision the CFIs made to ensure our son was safe in the air and knowledgeable on the ground. THANK YOU Learn to Fly San Diego. You really were the best flight school for our son and our family and we highly recommend them. ltfsd.com

this is a update. fly san diego flight school is still suspended by the ftb and the secretary of…read morestate says they are suspended with them as well they just haven't updated their website. i will leave a current screenshot taken right before this review. jamie will also not provide you with insurance covering her suspended business. if you fly with her, you are putting yourself in danger.

Booked an intro flight for my hubs and Jamie was more than accommodating about timing. We live in…read moreOC and drove to SD so we were able to book an afternoon flight. You can find Fly San Diego at the Montgomery Gibbs Executive Airport under the Casa Machado Restaurant in the terminal building. Hudson was the flight instructor and he explained everything in great detail. Hubs was able to pick between a tour or more hands on time. In the end, we did a bit of both. I would highly recommend them.