SEA flight training?

C

cole

Well-Known Member
I have a friend who is interested in doing his training up in SEA area. He will have his private and wants to get all his other ratings. Anyone know of a good flight school that has fair prices. He wants to get it done quickly and a structured environment would be best for him.
Thanks
 
There are also several flying clubs in the area, most notably the Boeing Employees Flying Association at Renton. I've heard really good things about it, so it might be worth looking into if your friend is eligible. In what part of Seattle does your friend live?
 
He currently doesn't live up there. That is why I am asking, he is going to be moving up there early next year. Thanks guys for the help
 
Galvins. Ask for Matt.

Nothing around Seattle is cheap. The best deals can be found at Crest Airpark in Kent, if you don't mind the hairy approach (will make a man out of ya) and the drive.

Accuwings has a Gulfstream Academy link at their website. Need I say more....
 
I learned to fly at KBFI with a club that probably doesn't even exist there anymore called "The Aviators".

Galvin Flying Service is a full 141 gig that is (was at least 10 years ago!) the most expsnsive place on the field.

Aeroflight at the south end of the field used to be a nice place...there were Part 61 at the time I was there but not sure what they do now.

At Auburn airport (S50, about 20 miles south of Seattle) there is a nice little FBO that used to do instruction and seemed to have reasonable rates.
 
You learned to fly at the aviators?

That's pretty cool. I had a 172 parked down by them in the early 90's but I got kicked off the airport for burning car gas from 5 gallon cans. Damn liberal hippies....

Galvins is expensive. But so is Wings. I don't think Aeroflight has a flight school anymore.
 
DE727UPS said:
You learned to fly at the aviators?
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The really funny part is that I was working line service at Galvin at the time! I just couldn't afford their school.

The Aviators was a nice place with a couple of interesting airplanes and instructors, and I'm actually really glad that I learned with a Part 61 program.
 
Regal Air at PAE in Everett. Not the best prices but good people and great mx. All tower/big airport experience but not too busy. Ils, vor, ndb, and gps approaches into PAE.
 
DE727UPS said:
The best deals can be found at Crest Airpark in Kent, if you don't mind the hairy approach (will make a man out of ya) and the drive.
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Yeah, I forgot about Crest! I've rented a 172 from them a few times. Great folks up there and yeah..... that approach will put some hair on your chest the first few times you do it.

Also want to mention two other FBOs that I've had experience with. In the south-land, Pavco at Tacoma Narrows. Good operation and last time I checked (which was a couple of years ago) they had decent prices. In the northern area, Harvey Field in Snohomish. I did my private with them and really enjoyed flying with them. I found it to be an excellent place for primary training: their short, narrow field makes you a good stick out of necessity, it's close enough to class D and class B airports to get experience in a busy area, and their grass strip is a lot of fun in the summer.
 
DE727UPS said:
Galvins. Ask for Matt.

Nothing around Seattle is cheap. The best deals can be found at Crest Airpark in Kent, if you don't mind the hairy approach (will make a man out of ya) and the drive.

Accuwings has a Gulfstream Academy link at their website. Need I say more....
Click to expand...

DE727UPS,
you know I wish you ended this bad mouthing me for the Gulfstream Academy link. You have never met me in your life, you never stepped foot on our facility yet you have the liberty to bad mouth my operation.

Gulfstream Academy is there, because we have people asking for it. I give many options to people when they are looking for flight training options. In some cases this involves people who are looking for a career change in their late 40s early 50s.

So, next time you are in Seattle please stop by and have a cup of coffee on me. You have no idea how hard it was for us to put together business despite all the discrimination from City of Renton; competitors on the field, etc. Me and my wife spent countless hours , days and nights to get where we are ..
In 3 years we have become a flight school with 10 airplanes, a Cirrus Training Center and soon Part 141.
I am really sad that you would have an opinion about me because of a link on the website.

Oh yeah it's Galvin not Galvins and it's AcuWings not AccuWings. ..

One thing i agree with you though; Matt is a great guy. Even though I have never flown with him, I met him on several occasions. He is mature and a well rounded pilot
 
http://www.crestairpark.com/

Crest Airpark is a nice place to train from if it is close to where you live. No transit times to get to the practice area and their instruction is pretty good.

http://www.snohomishflying.com/

Up north is snohomish flying. I've flown with a few of their students here and I really like the knowledge they had. They even get to practice real world soft field landings! I feel this is actually important because not many people get to experience this. Their rates are reasonable as well.

http://www.galvinflying.com/GalvinFlying.aspx/Pilot%20Training

Galvin is good too albeit very expensive. The knowledge that is a part of the instructor group is amazing.

http://www.wingsaloft.com/

Wings Aloft has a few of my friends teaching there and it is a great place to learn from as well. They have a large variety of aircraft that can nice if you want to transition to other types of aircraft. Just like Galvin though it is expensive because of it's location and customer base.
 
Wings a loft got some Indian training contract that kept them in business. They lost a lot of customers, airplanes (we got two of them) though..
 
Aeroflight no longer provides flight training. I got my private there in 2003 before they switched to all cargo and executive ops. Too bad, they were a great place to train. My instructor was amazing and the prices were the best in the region, not just the best on the field. $59/hour for a 152! Not bad even then.

-I would look around PAE. They have a few competing flight schools that seem to offer good prices. I've flown in there a few times and really like the airport.
-Auburn is extremely busy for an uncontrolled airfield, but they have a newer flight club and an older aviation school/college that allows you to earn a degree too if you want.
-Tacoma (actually located in nearby Gig Harbor) is another great airport and Pavco had really good prices last time I checked. It will cost your friend $3 and several traffic delays to get there if he lives on the tacoma side of the bridge. I took a demo flight there when I was 16 and they had brand new airplanes at the time (7 years ago).
-Avian in Bremerton, a ferry ride or 15 minute flight from BFI is another great choice. I have some friends who work there and really like it. Their prices are almost impossible to beat now. They have early bird rates too if he feels like getting up early.

You can't beat the weather experience you get by flight training in the Seattle area, nor can you beat the view! I really miss flying in that area. Just be ready for weather delays and tell your friend to get their PPL in the Summer.
 
ChristheCFII said:
You can't beat the weather experience you get by flight training in the Seattle area, nor can you beat the view! I really miss flying in that area. Just be ready for weather delays and tell your friend to get their PPL in the Summer.
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:yeahthat: Last week I finally managed to do a night crosscountry with a student who has been postponing it for weather since December. :panic:
 
milski said:
:yeahthat: Last week I finally managed to do a night crosscountry with a student who has been postponing it for weather since December. :panic:
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Then (s)he was lazy.. We had some good days and nights.. Being flexible is the name of the game.. Especially if you are thinking about a career, it wouldn't hurt to forget about socializing for a while.. :)
 
I did all of my primary ratings and CFI through PAVCO and had a great experiance. I did my multi through Acuwings, and it got the job done.

When I was looking at flight schools in the area I tried to balance out word of mouth and prices. So, what I came up with was PAVCO first due to them being 141, close to home, good prices, and good word of mouth. www.flypavco.com. Will and TJ were my instructors and in retrospect I would not have changed my choice.

I checked out Acuwings as well. They were not 141 which was an issue for me. I did do my multi through them, got a little better than the quoted price. It got the job done but it was by far the least confident I have been for a checkride. Not a bad operation, just not sure I would chose it again.

I did checkout Galvin, really nice aircraft, but was really expensive

Hope this helps, PM me for anymore information.
 
You might want to think of Northwest Aviation College out of Auburn airport. It used to be called Auburn/ Renton flight service when I started flying there back in 93/94. Reguarding Wings Aloft up at BFI it was a pretty good place. Maintenance was top notch ( that was the shop I cut my teeth in) and they had a lot of airplanes. But all of this was almost 13 years ago and alot changes.
 
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