Joey Corrado was my son flight instructor at St. Pete Air to get his private pilot license. He is a fantastic instructor! Joey is incredibly knowledgeable and easy to work with. His ground school classes really prepared my son for his exam. Highly recommend Joey Corrado & St. Pete Air! read more

I am a full-time executive woman who just randomly decided to take a side quest and get my PPL. My CFI, Joey Corrado, helped me to get certified in November of last year. His style of training works for me and he seemed to always know when to be choose to be conservative and when to take a risk based on my training and experience. We are now working towards my IFR. St Pete Air has become a home away from home for me. Great community of aviation enthusiasts. read more

I'm writing this comprehensive review of my year-long PPL training at St. Pete Air to hopefully save others the frustration, stress, and financial loss I experienced. While working full-time and part-time jobs to fund my dream of flying, I chose St. Pete Air for its cost-effective reputation. Unfortunately, that low cost came with an unacceptable price: a culture of disrespect, dishonesty, and poor leadership that I believe compromises both safety and learning. Chase Brooker - Unprofessional and Unsafe Training Environment: My training began with instructor Chase Brooker, who fostered a "tough guy" persona that translated into a deeply unprofessional and demeaning environment. He would mock mistakes and use verbal insults, including calling me a "queer" for grabbing the yoke with two hands. This hostile commentary makes learning not only unnecessarily stressful but fundamentally unsafe. The breaking point came over a scheduling issue. After 12 consecutive lessons without any cancellations, I had a work emergency and called Chase several hours before our scheduled lesson to cancel--something we had previously discussed as an occasional possibility due to my work commitments. He said it was "no problem," then charged me for two hours of instructor time. When I called to dispute this charge, Chase became confrontational, telling me--and I quote--"you make more money than me and someone has to pay my bills and it might as well be you." He then attempted to "negotiate" down to 45 minutes, treating what should have been professional billing like a shakedown. Management Failure - Danielle Broussard: When I escalated this to management, the response was appalling. Director of Operations Danielle Broussard sided with the instructor, emailing to inform me I was temporarily barred from training with other instructors until they "figured out how to handle the issue." There was no apology, no accountability for the instructor's behavior--just a penalty for speaking up. I was still charged for an hour I never flew. This represents a complete failure of leadership and customer service standards. Financial Dishonesty Continues - Instructor Jack: My second instructor, Jack, was knowledgeable and respectful but continued the pattern of billing irregularities. I personally witnessed him alter a receipt after the fact, physically changing "2.0 hours" to "2.5 hours" after returning from the restroom. On another occasion, when weather forced a flight lesson to become ground instruction, he charged me for two full hours of what amounted to personal war stories with no educational content whatsoever. These practices constitute theft--there's no other way to describe altering receipts and charging for services not rendered. The Exception - Stewart Brackett: The single bright spot in my entire year was instructor Stewart Brackett, who demonstrated the professionalism, respect, and teaching ability that should be standard. He represents what a CFI should be and proves the school could maintain higher standards if management chose to enforce them. Systemic Problems: My experience reveals systemic issues at St. Pete Air. The culture among many young instructors is immature and unprofessional, while management's failure to address serious complaints shows fundamental disrespect for customers. The billing irregularities I witnessed suggest either inadequate oversight or willful ignorance of unethical practices. Final Recommendation: While St. Pete Air offers competitive rental rates for licensed pilots, I strongly advise against using them for training. The financial dishonesty, unprofessional instruction methods, and management's failure to maintain standards make this an unacceptable choice for anyone investing in their aviation education. I completely regret choosing St. Pete Air for my training. I was disrespected, overcharged, and subjected to what I believe were unsafe training conditions. Please take your training investment to a school that values your business, your safety, and maintains basic professional standards. read more

Was referred here by a work colleague as I had a strong interest in becoming a private pilot. I started out with a discovery flight and happened to get assigned Josh as my CFI. I was immediately hooked after my discovery flight and decided to pursue this a bit more. I signed up for the monthly subscription service, which is well worth it considering the discount on the aircraft. Josh is really an amazing instructor and truly has the knowledge, experience, passion, and dedication to be successful. Now for the not so fun stuff: Aircraft Quality - Don't expect to be amazed at the quality of the aircraft. Granted the engines and the mechanics are all regulated and they must undergo overhauls and routine maintenance so they are no doubt "safe" to operate. You might however end up in a seat that is older than you are and one that might be a bit difficult to adjust. There is one particular Cessna 172 that is in great shape, and of course that is the hardest one to reserve since everyone wants that one. Scheduling - Don't me like me and get your expectations all high in thinking that scheduling time is easy. There are only so many hours in the day, so many hours of daylight, and the instructors are only available in small batches, at least when you have a regular full-time working schedule. The scheduling software is quite easy to use, but finding a suitable time to get both the aircraft and the instructor might be quite the challenge. Office staff - The front office staff are great. Really pleasant and welcoming and for the most part there are no problems with the invoicing or charges that are done each time you fly or receive instructing. The biggest issue I had was when I attempted to cancel the monthly subscription, I would've had better luck solving world hunger. I had cancelled the subscription in early February, yet the recurring charge still went through in mid-February. This began a series of texts, and emails, and continued through March, and then again through April. They continued charging the monthly price even when they said multiple times that I should've been all set. At the time of this review, I am still disputing the ongoing charges each month and still having to email the Director of Operations of this place. While the monthly subscription might seem worth it in terms of value, the amount of time you'll have to spend really getting them to cancel the charge at some point is NOT worth it. I can't even describe the level of frustration dealing with something that should be SO simple. Overall - I would recommend the instructors in a heart beat. I just would not recommend this particular flight school. They have no problem taking your money, then telling you that it's all set, and then taking it again the following month. I actually received more apologies from my flight instructor about this matter then office staff or management. Even if I decide to continue pursuing becoming a private pilot, it won't be here. read more

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The best airport and flight school in St Pete, FL. Great staff, very knowledgeable, good rates for plane rental. Danielle the manager is brilliant and I highly recommend the flight school for any of your aviation needs. read more

Got my private pilot license here and it's the best place in the world to fly. Staff is really cool, planes are well kept, and Albert Whitted is an amazing airport. read more

St Pete Air - Parking ramp - Flight Instruction Near Me - St Petersburg, Florida

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Good people, good planes, good prices. This is the place to get flight instruction or rent a plane.