Airborne Systems Flight School - Ft. Lauderdale, FL

[Aerocadet]

Good day!

I would like to ask anyone for their experience in Airborne Systems Flight School located in Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

I am really considering the flight school because of its cheaper rates in a C-172 than in Orlando or near area flight schools.

By the way, how is it flying at Ft. Lauderdale?

Thanks. :ok:

[TelBoy]

I don't know anything about the school you mention - watch out for the $8.50/hr renters insurance and fuel surcharge!!

I flew from Executive in 94 and is a busy, but not to busy place. There are smaller airfields nearby for touch and go etc. All in all it was a great experience and one which enhanced my flying.

[Pitch+Power]

Great place to fly.
I did a lot of flying there with Airborne Systems.
Their aircraft are top notch, and they have the 172SP also.

The online booking system is great that they have, you can see instantly what's available and when.

No hesitation to recommend them.

[Aerocadet]

pilotwhite,

Thanks for your comment on Airborne.

Are there a lot of students in Airborne Systems? Is the scheduling that tight?

I am really concerned with the scheduling and I would really prefer to fly almost everyday because I am planning to be a full-time student.

Can you remember the student to instructor ratio in that flight school?

Thanks! :ok:

[Pitch+Power]

Hi
can't really answer your questions. I was mainly hour building there, and didn't do any training, other than recurrency/bi-annual stuff.

There was never a time when I had no aircraft available.
Also, this was about 4 years ago.
Best give them a call for latest info etc

cheers

[Aerocadet]

:ok: Thanks a lot!

[JOEFRIDAY2]

Airborne is a good school and KFXE is a great place to train. The weather in south Florida is really nice and you can fly almost every day.

There is a new school at KFXE called Ft Lauderdale Flight Training that has some great rates, doesn't require big advance payments and seems on the up and up. (www.flflight.com (http://www.flflight.com)). They do not accept international students yet for initial training. But they did tell me that they are working on it.

It is cheaper to train in Ft Lauderdale than Orlando. The main thing to remember is to pay as you go and not pay large sums of money in advance.

[Capitan Harlock]

Does anybody had some recent experience at Airborne Systems Flight School ?

[Chris CW]

Airborne used to be the Gucci school of Fort Lauderdale back in 2013, it was recognised as the best!

Then new owners took over and not only that the then VP who was accomadating and friendly turned into a deceitful liar!!


How this happened who knows, other than the current students for which I was one suffered.


The financial overlords of the company are only interested in your money or more to the fact, how much more money they can squeeze out of you! Beware of the cost advertised and the ploy of 'yeah we'll get you done in no time'

At present a lot of students have left due to the aggressive non productive manner in what this scool operates!!


However the instructors and support staff are friendly and helpful people with the exception of one or two.


There are other schools around which fly out of the same airport which is a joy to fly from.


But airborne flight systems!!! AVOID THEM LIKE YOU WOULD THE PLAGUE!

[Martin Barnes]

I have flown with these guys for many years and found them to a top end flight school.

The aircraft they offer are probably the the best in FL in terms of age and equipment.

If you have concerns talk to Vinney who is a straight and honest person.

[Chris CW]

I'm sorry Mr Barnes but when was the last time you were in FL at this flight school?
I can give you at least 12 students from all over the world who attended this school now. I mean names and addresses who were looking for a class action lawsuit against this school.

I urge anyone if you go to this school speak to the students. NOT the ones that Vinny takes you to........

I respect Mr Barnes you may have been fortunate in getting what you want from this school.
However that is not the case now.....

As I write this another student from there is contacting me to discuss about getting their money back as they know I have left and respect that I was fortunate to get legal advice and was able to continue my training else where before it was to late...
Others weren't so fortunate!
:=

[FLIGHT2458]

Im with Mr Baines because I'm here now. When i got here there were many cadets from another school but things have settled down now. Im on a full-time course called Pro Pilot and is going really well, not to mention the lifestyle living in Florida is ace.

I also find the boss here Vinny very friendly and always keen to help out. The only thing I'm not happy about is that one day my whole flight training experience will have come to an end.

Part two of my course is in Malaga called Aerodynamics for EASA CPL and IR. So far so good.
:)

[Chris CW]

Just thought I'd update you on this. I had news today from an ex-student from the school that the school has not been able to issue I-20's or shouldn't be as the FAA have completed an investigation into the school after so many complaints.

Just beware people, it's a lot of money to part with and for someone to take your dream away through bad management and greed.

I urge you as best as possible do your research!!!
Don't accept anything blind from this school on face value, the problem is they aren't the only ones as well again from two students who have been at this school and moved on.

Good luck and safe flying everyone

[gaveasky]

Just thought I'd update you on this. I had news today from an ex-student from the school that the school has not been able to issue I-20's or shouldn't be as the FAA have completed an investigation into the school after so many complaints.

Just beware people, it's a lot of money to part with and for someone to take your dream away through bad management and greed.

I urge you as best as possible do your research!!!
Don't accept anything blind from this school on face value, the problem is they aren't the only ones as well again from two students who have been at this school and moved on.

Good luck and safe flying everyone

I'm scheduled to start there very soon. Can you give me a way to contact some of these students so I can find out really how bad the situation there is?

[Sprose]

I was a former student at the school (i started under the Pan Am brand), once Pan Am decided to pull out of all Ab-Initro training Airborne went seriously downhill demanding money that wasnt contracted and threatening to cancel students SEVIS M1 visas if they didnt pay up.

They also took to very dodgy measures in their accounting system by having students pay $10,000 a go, this was not good for us, I personally started keeping weekly printouts of my accounts and NOT ONE matched the previous week when comparing dates from the preceding months.

They cancelled all ATPL ground school for the EASA students midway through their exams

They withdrew over $9,000 for AATD Sim time which I hadn't gotten close to yet, when I asked they to refund the money they changed the amount in my account but refused to show the mistake and refunded amount. I was also overcharged by hundreds of dollars for the training materials with turned out to be a few Gliem Books and a few DVD software ground school for the G1000 and CPL

I had periods of weeks (sometimes months) between flights as they demanded money that they had basically stole from my account before I argued for them to put it back

Its true they use PA28's and C172's with the G1000 system but none of the 172's are equipped with a AP system (not the end of the world but still annoying)

The instructors there were great but they were massively let down by the management.

They try to teach things they have zero experience with, soft field being the worse as it is very dangerous (all apart from one couldn't even tell me the correct transfer from asphalt of concrete to grass apart from one and he left)

[Captain Stravaigin]

When I flew with Airborne Systems in 2000/2001 and later 2003, I found them very professional, never had any problems with bookings and Vinny was extremely helpful. My instructor (Giancarlo) is still a good friend of mine.

The flying was great; good WX, plenty of runways, lots of airports nearby (Boca Raton, Pompano Beach, Opa Laka etc.) My two (PPC) cross country's were to Everglades City and Sebring. I did both my FAA PP and IR with Airborne.

I know that this was a long time ago, but I hope this helps a wee bit.

Good Luck

[B2N2]

I flew with Airborne Systems in 2000/2001 and later 2003

No that won't help at all.
Considering that US instructors usually only stick around for a year or so till they have enough hrs for the next step.
Schools also change Chief Flight Instructors and owners fairly often.
So unless experience is from the last 12 months its......nice but nothing else.

[Sprose]

My training was done between 2014/2015, so fairly recent, trust me on this, look into somewhere like ATP or American Flyers if you want to go to FL, personally, I'm just about to go to Canada to finish a few little things, but I did things differently this time, like you looking for reviews and talking to a few people who are in the know about flight training schools.