Good flying schools in Florida?
Thread Starter
Joined: Sep 2003
Posts: 2
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From: edinburgh
Good flying schools in Florida?
Hi there, I have a friend who is keen to get his PPL under his belt as inexpensively as possible, and I already have my PPL, and want to build up a few hours before going to OAT to do my CPL. We're planning on going over to Florida next summer to do this at the same time, and was wondering if anyone could suggest a decent school in Florida? It seems a bit of a jungle out there, with a lot offering "packages" for PPLs that I'm not keen on....
I've considered three so far, and was wondering if there was anyone out there who had been to them?
Blue Skies Aviation - Venice, FL
Britannia Aviation
and Ormond Beach (however im not too keen on ormond beach, I have first hand experience of that one!)
Any help would be appreciated!
P.S. sorry if this has all been done before, im new to pprune and couldnt find a thread with a similar topic....
I've considered three so far, and was wondering if there was anyone out there who had been to them?
Blue Skies Aviation - Venice, FL
Britannia Aviation
and Ormond Beach (however im not too keen on ormond beach, I have first hand experience of that one!)
Any help would be appreciated!
P.S. sorry if this has all been done before, im new to pprune and couldnt find a thread with a similar topic....
Official PPRuNe Chaplain
Joined: Apr 2001
Posts: 3,498
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From: Witnesham, Suffolk
Yes, it's been done many many times.
I did all the analysis in early 2002, asked folks who'd been there before, and settled on Naples Air Center. I came back happy, and with an FAA PPL/IR. I couldn't fault Naples: the aircraft were in pretty good nick (old, so not perfect, but the prices were good, too) and the instructor I had was truly outstanding.
It is probably not statistically significant, but there were only two flying schools in the Eastern half of the US for which I didn't get at least one bad report when I was asking around. I followed the advice of the friends whose judgement I most respect.
Naples had a "can do" approach when I told them what I wanted to do, so that was it for me!
I know several folks who've been there since and come back similarly happy.
I did all the analysis in early 2002, asked folks who'd been there before, and settled on Naples Air Center. I came back happy, and with an FAA PPL/IR. I couldn't fault Naples: the aircraft were in pretty good nick (old, so not perfect, but the prices were good, too) and the instructor I had was truly outstanding.
It is probably not statistically significant, but there were only two flying schools in the Eastern half of the US for which I didn't get at least one bad report when I was asking around. I followed the advice of the friends whose judgement I most respect.
Naples had a "can do" approach when I told them what I wanted to do, so that was it for me!
I know several folks who've been there since and come back similarly happy.
Joined: Oct 2000
Posts: 5,068
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From: Brighton. UK. (Via Liverpool).
Joined: Jun 2002
Posts: 743
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From: Kilmacolm
I'm one such happy person that Keef is talking about.
Decided to go to Naples Air Center on recommendations from friends and you good people on both pprune and the flyer list.
They also had the can do attitude but they did tell me from the outset that the expected me to be ready for the written tests by the time I get out there for to do both the IR and CPL within four weeks will be hard going even with the writtens out of the way. Returned to the UK after first time passes in both the IR and CPL.
The aeroplanes are a little old but in good condition, most are IFR quipped. Their Arrow IV is really nice with a new leather interior and paint job outside, Garmin 430 avionics...
If you want a really nice touring aeroplane then they have a 1999 Cessna 172 which is in excellent condition, inside and out (inc all functioning avionics), the only thing wrong is the GPS is limited to VFR only due to the lack of updates to its database.
Going back out to NAC next March for the Multi Add-On and the CFI certificate later in the year or maybe 2005 (depends if I decide to go to California for some IFR touring in an Arrow III this time next year or not).
Decided to go to Naples Air Center on recommendations from friends and you good people on both pprune and the flyer list.
They also had the can do attitude but they did tell me from the outset that the expected me to be ready for the written tests by the time I get out there for to do both the IR and CPL within four weeks will be hard going even with the writtens out of the way. Returned to the UK after first time passes in both the IR and CPL.
The aeroplanes are a little old but in good condition, most are IFR quipped. Their Arrow IV is really nice with a new leather interior and paint job outside, Garmin 430 avionics...
If you want a really nice touring aeroplane then they have a 1999 Cessna 172 which is in excellent condition, inside and out (inc all functioning avionics), the only thing wrong is the GPS is limited to VFR only due to the lack of updates to its database.
Going back out to NAC next March for the Multi Add-On and the CFI certificate later in the year or maybe 2005 (depends if I decide to go to California for some IFR touring in an Arrow III this time next year or not).
