California Flight Academy or Aviation Atlanta?

[hd99931337]

Hi guys
My younger brother wants to become an commercial airline pilot and he wants to get his license from the US. From my research I've narrowed down to two flight schools i.e. California Flight Academy or Aviation Atlanta. I was wondering if anyone out here had any feedback on any of these colleges or I'd appreciate it if someone could suggest a better flight school. Both of them are in the same price range ($45K). Please let me know of any inpu that you have.

Thanks in advance.

[psmd0311]

If the flight school is CFA in San diego stay away. The owner is a little scammer. He is getting sued and is having proper cash issues. Last I heard they were asking for cash upfront for a discount. He might not be asking that by email, but things will change once you are in San Diego. Thats always a bad sign. They dont have enough planes or instructors. There are about 50 inidians trying to fly there. Think one bloke did 30 hours in 4 months. So still hasnt done his ppl. I heard ATP is good. Lots of self study, but its cheap and can get ratings knocked out fast. Never been there personally.

[hd99931337]

Thanks for the reply psmd0311. I was going to opt for another one known as American School Of Aviation in Atwater, CA but they never answer phone calls. So they're probably scammers too. So any feedback about Aviation Atlanta anyone?

[Shauna]

Im currently looking into the Orlando Flight Training Centre, Did u think about this?

If anyone has any feedback on this school could u please let me know?

[Sakura-Ichiban]

Interesting to see your post. I am just about to go there in June. Now, always giving the benefit of the doubt, I suggest that if you make such claims, you at least substantiate them otherwise people like me that are trying to learn to fly will be put off by by scaremongers. Of course if you have any detailed information on this lawsuit and can clarify their financial status, I would like to hear, as if you are correct I will consider my options

Kind regards

Worried

[barrow]

Be VERY CAREFUL when choosing a flight school, never pay upfront.
Make sure you call the "better business bureau" and check em out first!

[jcrews]

In regards to the users post about a CFA lawsuit, the civil lawsuit brought against California Flight Academy was in no way related to flight training, student complaints, or unethical practices with regard to any student, foreign or local, at California Flight Academy.

They have successfully passed over 100 foreign students through the Multi Engine Pilot course with an average completion time of 7-8 months, with several students completing in 6 months.

The next paragraph is directed at the "scaremonger". Before any claims of unethical treatment of student funds or misallocation of monetary assets, please validate any remarks with actual fact. Otherwise, all statements are heresy and should not be treated as anything more than an opinion from an individual who was obviously unable to complete a program that scores of others have completed.

[lenmooney]

Gee I am the owner of CFA and I wold be really interested in why you think I am a scammer?

Len

[lenmooney]

HI

I am the owner of California Flight Academy and I invite you to check more thoroughly these claims. See the post from Jcrews concerning the school and our reputation. I challenge the person who wrote the derogatory comment about me being a scammer to provide some evidence and or justification as to why he (or she) feels that way.

[lenmooney]

Don't worry. Write to me directly about any concerns you may have.

Len

[old-blighty]

Just to ad my bit. I am inclined to agree with sakura-ichiban. If somebody makes a claim on this forum I really think they should state the facts behind the claim......
I strongly suggest that the individual that has this claim come forth with evidence or apologize. I am sure that if it was my company, I would want to sue the individual for laibel

[lenmooney]

Thank you

[psmd0311]

So how much do you have to lay down when you first get to the school $5000 isn’t it?

And what happened with the law suit? Who won that one? Who paid up what? It was the former chief pilot doing the suing, so it wasn’t a student, but it shows the character of the school and the owner. Why don’t you post the link to the case so we can all read it and make our own mind up?

What about the student who wanted to leave? But told if they leave the money on their account is kept as an “admin fee”

What about the student who took 4 or 5 months for a PPL. The school was so busy the guy could only get a in flight once a week.

I am not a flight school owner, I don’t work for a flight school. I just remember when I was training all of the little things flight schools would do to try to stop you from leaving or getting extra cash from you.

You don’t need to lay down large amounts of money when you turn up. Pay as you go, as long as you have money on your account to pay for the flight you are going on. If the school has a problem with this then go somewhere else.

If there is a discount when you pay all money upfront, there is a problem with the flight school, go somewhere else.

I flew with a friend in Florida, the flight school was charging a “fuel surcharge”. I still don’t understand this. You fill the plane up at a different airfield. Then get charged again by the school. Hmmmmm.

60 grand or whatever it costs now is a big investment, just be careful, and always be in a position where you can walk away and go somewhere else and not lose money you have already put down to a greedy flight school owner.

Remember you are the customer, they are not doing you a favor in letting you train with them.

[Real Pilot]

I used to instruct at California Flight Academy, to any one wanting to learn how to fly I would highly recommend you go somewhere else. Len is a crook and will take your money in a heart beat, I saw it happen too many times. The reason he demands so much money up front is because he has no money left in the bank to pay for the current students who already shelled out there money to pay for his past debts when they signed up.

Len lures in foreign students and makes them cough up more money half way threw there training. At this point they are stuck because they cant change schools and if they go back home they lose everything they have already paid to CFA.

Training takes longer and costs more then promised. Oh and when your paying an arm and a leg for an instructor keep in mind the instructor only gets a fraction of that for actually doing all the work. Len makes out like a bandit while the instructors and students starve. But hey I just worked there, what do I know? :ugh:

[A.S]

Guys any one have got any recent feedback about this school ??

[flycfa]

A lot has changed for CFA in the last 18 months. Our new partner is Bryan College. They have campuses in Los Angeles, Sacramento, Tempe Arizona, and Toronto Canada. Bryan College has more than 1700 students and brings a high level of sophistication to our operation. We are their only flight training operation, so there is a lot of focus on doing it right. We are strong financially and have plenty of planes and qualified instructors. We do not require large contracts with our students and there is no discount for cash up front. All of our student funds are set aside for the student and kept separate from the business. Your money is always safe with us. At one time CFA was dominated by students from India. We still have students from India, but they are not a majority. In fact, with over a dozen countries represented by our student body the school is not dominated by any one country.

We run a first class operation that we can be proud of. I encourage you to talk with some of our current students.

Thank you
CFA team

[Arpan_G]

@flycfa

I am looking forward to this college. so can you please give me some names of ex students?

Thank you