Sunstate Aviation recent experience

[ploucandco]

Hello all,

Based on what I read on this forum and others as well as analysing their website, I concluded that Sunstate Aviation would be a good school to get an FAA IR/CPL.

I have today an ICAO PPL with an FAA validation and 200 hours with about 140 in an N registered Europa XS monowheel. For sure, I will need to upgrade the plane to fly IMC in the future.

I am planning to spend about 1 month in Florida from mid of Oct to get these ratings and was just about to contact Sunset Aviation to inquire about the documents required for an M1 VISA. Surfing further, I found these very recent reviews:
Very Poor School - Review of Sunstate Aviation in FL Kissimmee, United States (http://www.flightschoolreviewer.com/United-States/FL---Kissimmee/sunstate-aviation/review404.html#comment)

So I would like to have some feedback from people who were there recently for PPL/IR/CPL training. Potentially this school is not able to manage their success.

If you have other suggestions for a school, preferably in Florida, where you can train FAA IR/CPL with recent planes (glass cockpit preferred) and where you are not in the middle of 50 future ATPLs, I am also interested.

Looking forward to hearing from you.

[mark_c]

I think the school you are talking about is "Sunstate Aviation", not "sunset". I was in Florida for a holiday in July-August this year and I did an hour with them. I would have done more but I had only held my JAA PPL about 2 weeks before my holiday in Florida so I didnt have time to send the FAA all the paperwork, so I could not self hire. I found all the staff and students very friendly, the aircraft I flew, N5432G, was in immaculate condition and kitted out the best avionics, including an autopilot!!! I didnt even know you could get an autopilot on a C172! Kissimmee gateway airport itself is quite impressive, PAPI's, Full Lighting, Open 24 hours and 4 great runways.

That review you linked to doesnt paint a great picture of the place, and I cannot comment on the scheduling etc. mentioned in the review because I only took one flight. Maybe email them with your concerns about what you have read in the review and get some guarantees from them! They are in the process of building a new hanger and school beside the current one, if i remember correctly, they are planning on opening it sometime in October - dont know if this will be a good thing or bad thing for you if you decide to go, probably be a hectic week or two trying to get the place up and running.

You will find bad reviews about every flight school in the world, im sure. But from my brief experience with Sunstate, I would definately use them again and hopefully I will be heading over early 2013 to do some hour building.

Best of luck!

[B2N2]

Keep in mind that those anonymous websites usually do not require any registration or log-in.
What I mean to say is that anybody can pretty much write anything on those "free" review sites.
I do take the info into consideration but it should be the lowest on your credibility list.

[enq]

I fly with Sunstate Aviation regularly when holidaying in FL (I'm due there week after next) & would not consider going elsewhere.

They have a great range of instructors with a huge enthusiasm for the job & the experience & maturity to match. One thing I think is great is that I see the same instructors there year in / year out (a low staff turnover generally points to an effectively run business) & has always been, imho, an organisation that exists to facilitate enjoyable flying & effective training.

I speak as a CAA PPL holder with abt 200 hrs & just about to undergo my 4th Flight Review & I echo the comments about facilities at KISM - a reasonably large, full ATC busy airport with plenty of controlled airspace nearby which makes it an excellent environment to learn & hone skills in.

It also has runways so long that you could (I suspect) carry out 3 touch & goes in one pass.

I'm quite keen to see how their new facilities are shaping up as they have invested a fair amount over the last year or so, in a new development that dwarfs the current facility & is planned to be operational in a matter of weeks.

A good modern fleet the last time I was out (last year) with plenty of fully loaded glass & steam gauge 172's. I do recommend Sunstate aviation whenever I get the opportunity because I think word of mouth is vitally important for businesses now more than ever & that well run organisations, with skilled & dedicated staff that over deliver, deserve recognition.

Enjoy! :ok:

[propilot14]

I had a different experience with them. And would personally not recommend them.

[B737900er]

Propilot care to elaborate?

[B737900er]

I have personally used Sunstate for the past 5 years and highly recommend the school. I agree there prices may be on the higher side but the planes are newish and equipped with all the gadgets you want including autopilots (if you choose to use one).

The school was bursting at the seams back in 08' and finally they are moving (or already have) to a new building which might as well be an FBO as well as a flight school.

They are huge competition for Pan Am (formally known as OFT, ACA , Cabair etc), so it doesnt surprise me the anonymous comments slating them off.

[youngskywalker]

I have used Sunstate Aviation 2-3 times now and would not hesitate to recommend them. A friendly and highly professional outfit.

I have flown in their brand new Tecnam twin to renew my multi CPL/IR and latterly an old Seneca 1. Most of their aircraft are G1000 equiped. Personally I dont care much for the G950/1000 but thats only because I havnt really learned how to get the best from it and I dont find it intuitive to use. Far too much clutter of information for my liking. Whether thats a good thing for ab-initio flight training I have no idea.

The main reason I use this company is the quality of instructors. I've never flown with such knowledgable professionals anywhere else before or since and that includes the majority of my flight training being in the UK. They really push you hard and on my last visit I received some real harsh criticism from my instructor. I returned to my hotel feeling slightly dejected and hard done to but on reflection what they said was correct. You're not paying to have your ego massaged, flying is a serious business and I want the best possible training.

Financially they might be slightly more expensive but they dont ask for any money upfront (not for me anyway) but then I don't chose my training based on cost.

I have not yet visited this year since they moved into their new facility, but I will certainly use them again in the near future.

One thing I learned on my last visit is to avoid going to do any training during the summer months, especially any instrument flying. The heat is unbearable in the cockpit and turbulent as hell. I couldn't perform at anywhere near my best due to shear heat exhaustion.

Every company receives some good and some bad critique, I chose Sunstate based on some positive reviews here on pprune a few years back andI haven't regretted it so far.

Warbird Adventures is just across the road so treat yourself to some formation Texan aerobatics if you have time! :)

[VORTIME]

I spent half a day in another awful school at the field. Sun state is well run with immaculate aircraft. Recommend them.

[mark_c]

Very nice place with immaculate aircraft and friendly staff. As you can see from my post above I took a flight with them last summer in the hope of returning to do my hour building this year. Unfortunately after emailing mike, he has told me only students of sunstate are allowed hour build there now! Bit of a pain in the ass because I used that flight to judge whether it would be a good place to do my hour building and now I have to decide what school to go to on reviews alone :(

[B737900er]

Marc
You will find the reason behind it, is because they're swamped with students, let alone having people on the outside looking to fly for a few hours.

SS have sold their training by guarantying you will finish in the time stated using their 'accelerated' training program.

Sometimes you have to say no to customers, unlike some schools that accept you even though the planes are fully booked.

[bansal]

They don't guarantee you anything. They have accelerated programs, but all you can get a relatively high level of confidence that you will have a plane and instructor available to you during that time. If you aren't ready for your checkride by the time you are ready to leave, you will have just spent a lot of money to get the hours in your logbook that you could have gotten for much less expense elsewhere.

They are extremely expensive, and the instructor quality is hit or miss. I went there to try to finish my instrument rating. I told them I wanted to get done quickly, they told me no problem. They set me up with an instructor who seemed nice and potentially a good fit for me, but was scheduled to go on a one week plus vacation after my lesson. I was perplexed, why set me up with someone who is going to be gone when I want to get done quickly? I then got another instructor who was decent, but one lesson he just didn't show up and claimed his grandmother was sick (he was never heard from again).

The next instructor I got was awful. Didn't know his stuff (and I mean basic things), was nitpicky (claimed I wasn't taxiing on centerline, which I clearly was, maybe a millimeter off at times, but this is not really what I need to focus on as an instrument student), and condescending. They make you give them a $2500 deposit to get their best aircraft pricing, and I burned through almost all of that, and had very little to show for it. You can get the same exact airplanes (G1000, GFC 700 autopilot) at Air America in Daytona Beach for $135/hr with no deposit, and far superior instruction for about $30/hr. Or you can get steam gauge aircraft in good condition at countless places in the area and save yourself money.

If you insist on going to this place make sure you get one of the senior instructors, they cost the same, it is criminal to charge $65/hr for some of their lesser instructors, especially the last one I ended up with, who did not even deserve to have a CFII. But bottom line you are throwing your money away going to this place, they don't offer you nearly enough to justify their higher cost, not sure what the appeal is to some people. If you just want to rent a plane and happen to need to be in Kissimmee for some reason I can understand, otherwise if you are seriously pursuing a certificate or rating you can do much better elsewhere.