Hi all,
Last year, when I looked into US flight schools for my PPL intensive course, I found most reviews related to the various schools in Florida but there wasn't much recent information on AAA in California (formerly Anglo-American Aviation, now after a change of ownership American Aviation Academy). All I found was dating back, so I found it difficult to judge this school. I went there nevertheless (largely because I preferred California over Florida) and I'd like to make it a bit easier for future aspirants to make an educated choice - so let me review my experiences.
I don't want to delve into the grand topic of intensive PPL courses in the US as such - this has been discussed elsewhere. If you haven't found it yet, start by reading this awesome guide on this very forum:
http://www.pprune.org/private-flying...-part-1-a.html
A couple of notes though on the feasibility of these courses in short time frames (because these questions seem to be asked again and again). Most of the other JAA/EASA PPL students I met were on a similar scheme as I was. We each came with about 4 weeks of time - some with more, some with less flexibility to extend this. It's perfectly possible to finish your course in that time - but if you plan to do this, you need to realize that there are certain risks that you cannot mitigate that may prevent you from completing the entire course in that short period. Most notably, weather, maintenance issues, scheduling difficulties, and illnesses can cause your carefully designed time planning to fall into pieces. While I was there, I've seen people walk away as pilots after their four weeks, but I've also seen people walk away with lots of effort put into this but without their license (such as myself - I've unfortunately had a partial pass on the skill test and need to retake one part of the test in Europe).
The risks in detail:
Weather: Presumably, the conditions are generally more stable than in Florida, but you can always catch a bad week! In my case, I had perfect flying weather every day in January UNTIL the day of my skill test, when clouds came up. After the skill test, visibility/clouds became so bad/low for several days, that I wasn't able to redo my partial test while still being in the US.
Maintenance: The aircraft aren't in their best shape. Obviously, the rates are quite cheap so you wouldn't expect shiny, new aircraft. I guess it's a decision everyone has to make for themselves. They're all flyable, they have their issues from time to time (after all, the C152s are more or less 35 years old). Generally, I'd say availability of the aircraft was good, though! Just bear in mind that a specific aircraft may be in maintenance just when you NEED it for your tight schedule to work.
Scheduling difficulties: Depending how you get along with your instructor (for example, if you want to switch to another instructor), how busy your instructor is with other students, how busy the examiner is when you need the skill test, these things may lead to interruptions in your planning, too!
Illnesses: Bear in mind that any of the involved people - not just you - might become ill. Your instructor or examiner may hence be unavailable when you need them. Also don't underestimate the amount of stress you're experiencing in such an intensive (albeit fun!) undertaking. This caused me to cancel my scheduled long cross country solo flight and move it to the next day - because my body just needed a break! I had a nasty headache on that day and just wasn't up for it.
This has been said many times before, but here again: The best thing to prepare is to get as much ground school (and, if possible, exams) out of the way before coming to the US. You'll be so much more focused on the actual flying and having a good time! I began studying the theory books about two-three months in advance and passed four out of seven exams in Europe, so I only needed to pass another three in the US - which was okay, but I wish I had done even them earlier!
Now let's talk about the school. The single most important factor is how well you get along with your instructor. In my case, I was totally happy with mine - but that's a personal thing and applies to any school. I'd say the second-next important factor is how well the school you are attending is organized, i.e. in how far they actually support you in achieving your goal efficiently. I found AAA to be a rather well-run business - though some minor things were still in the making after the still quite recent, I think, change of ownership. I didn't make any further inquiries in this direction while I was there - so I have no details other than what you can find out on Google. The price quote I received before I came was accurate enough (although it's not a fixed-price course, as it may seem. You end up in a "what-you-pay-is-what-you-get" sort of internal account that must always have enough funds to cover your flight rentals of the day - or you'll be grounded for the day. Although you'll be encouraged to pay everything upfront, there is no need to and indeed no pressure to do so by the school staff. The staff is generally friendly and helpful.
What I didn't like was the ambiguity of the flight instructor charges for briefings/debriefings. The quotation you receive does not specifically mention this. Instead, it includes a set amount of ground education. As it is to the individual instructors discretion (and, I guess, your willingness and ability to negotiate that with your not-very-well-paid instructor) if they charge for the "talking on the ground" part of their job, this has an arbitrary influence on your expenses for the course! As my instructor was one of the very few who DID charge extra - but at the same time used the ground time to give me valuable feedback - I initially complained about this ambiguity but made my peace with it later on.
If you use the housing provided by the school, you'll be put into shared apartments with fellow students in one of two apartment complexes close to the center of El Cajon, but about 3 km from the airfield. The apartments are alright, but no excessive luxury and I found the shared living fun (back to uni-kind of experience). It's a bit annoying that there's no cleaning equipment so if you're staying for a longer period, you're going to need to organize for yourself a vacuum cleaner and some other stuff. There is a shuttle service between the school and the apartments every two hours on weekdays. You can rent or buy bicycles or a car, of course. Better yet: Make friends with people who have cars. If you're nice to your instructor, he/she may drop you off at the apartment after school, as their freeway entrance is right next to the apartments anyway. I ended up walking half the time (which is a nice-enough thing in sunny Southern Cali!) and being given a lift by some buddies the other half of the time.
The flying environment: I haven't flown anywhere else yet - so how would I be able to judge - but I found the area around San Diego to be really nice to fly and to learn to fly. There is a variety of different landscapes, from the coastal area with its beaches to the mountains in the east and the desert even more east. Conditions are generally favorable. There is little wind. I guess it's a philosophical question if it's a good thing to learn in virtually clinical conditions and then come and fly in gusty Europe - or if you'd rather want to learn in the environment you'll fly in. Gillespie field, where AAA is located, is a pretty busy place with lots of movements, which is always fun to watch even if you're not flying. There's a number of schools, some vintage aircraft coming by every now and then and even some smaller jets. Two out of the three runways available are commonly in use in parallel which makes for some interesting radio communication experiences when you first learn how to use the radio - and listen carefully! Cleared to Land 27 Left - or 27 Right?
You'll spend a lot of time at the next door Gillespie Cafe. It's a pleasant place to hang out, meet your fellow students, have breakfast/lunch or brush-up your ground schools in a sunny spot on their sunny terrace with good views of the airfield.
Now, this turned out to be less compromised than I had intended. I hope, it'll help future students in their decision making. If you have any specific questions, do PM me.