Bay Area Flight Schools

twothousandgt

twothousandgt

New Member
First, sorry if this is in the wrong forum or has been addressed in another topic. I tried searching, but couldn't find anything.

I am looking for any and all recommendations/suggestions/comments about flight training in the Bay Area. I am currently living in Laurel Heights and want to remain in the SF proper for the foreseeable future. From what I've learned so far, it sounds like my options are HWD/LVK/PAO.

Any help is greatly appreciated!

Joe
 
You got quiet a few choices here in the Bay Area- HWD arprt has American Flyers, which use to be in San Jose before. I finished my private there long ago but they are "pretty expensive". Other schools i am familiar with are West Valley flying club located both at San Carlos and Palo Alto is good. Price wise they are much reasonable than Ameican Flyers. If you don't mind driving, RHV has good flight schools. My number one choice there would be Tradewinds Aviation- they are a very good school and price wise they are a little expensive but not as bad as American Flyers. Another club/school that i used to fly with a lot was Squadron Two Flying club at RHV. They have quiet a few planes and instructors with good pricing. I would go visit each individual arpt and decide, which is good for yourself. Anyways-best of luck-MK
 
Palo Alto Flying club. PM me and I can help you out at Reid-Hill View. I can call in a favor.
 
used to fly out of rhv, will be returning this december! i flew at ASA who recently moved to castle, and checked out nice air.

though ASA had a bunch of crappy planes with alright instructors, i still flew there. i ended up going to tradewinds to get some more 172 experience before heading to riddle, and tradewinds is pretty good.
 
Californai Airways is the cheapest I have found in the bay area. I live in San Francisco as well and started my traing at Oakland Flyers but plane availabilty and and cost were reasons why I switched to California Airways in Hayward. Their 152's are $46/hr dry, club members get a hefty discount on avgas, and instructors are all $35/hr. They also have package deals which save you even more money. PM me if you want anymore information. Check out their website http://www.california-airways.com/
 
The flight school that I go to is Ahart Aviation out of LVK. I think this place is great, great prices, great staff, and overall great operation. Good selection of aircraft and all of the CFI's that I have flown with love working for them and love being there to teach you. Even the guys in the tower can be fun to joke around with on a non-busy day. If you have any further detailed questions go ahead and feel free to drop me a PM.
 
Derek_S said:
The flight school that I go to is Ahart Aviation out of LVK.
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That's where I trained for my CFI & CFI-I.

I would have liked to work there, but they kind of showed me the door after training but then I ran into a pretty sweet CFI job down at RHV. Pretty bad drive from Dublin every day though!
 
Doug Taylor said:
That's where I trained for my CFI & CFI-I.

I would have liked to work there, but they kind of showed me the door after training but then I ran into a pretty sweet CFI job down at RHV. Pretty bad drive from Dublin every day though!
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Wow, what a small world. I think I remember a while ago someone thinking you trained there, pretty cool. For how long did you commute from Dublin to RHV? That's quiet a drive everyday.
 
Diamond Aviation in San Carlos or one of the West Valley Flying Club locations in San Carlos or Palo Alto. There are some great instructors out there.
 
Thanks for all the great information. I know that I won't have the time or energy to commute to RHV. It looks like my best bet is HWD or LVK, just a quick BART (the biggest rip off ever!!!) trip and a bus ride. Anything south of the city (e.g. Palo Alto, San Jose, etc.) is just going to be too much of a hassle.

Can anyone recommend a course of action regarding financial aid?
 
Take out as little money as possible and work as many jobs as you can while still maintaining a high quality learning experience. It may not seem like a big payment now, but when you are scrounging the seat cushions at the bus station for spare change as a CFI, that loan payment will be pretty daunting.
 
I've had a good experience at Diamond Aviation in San Carlos (SQL). All of the 172's are 2000 model year or newer, all GPS equipped + 2 new G1000's (although you can rent one cheaper at California Airways at HWD). I've flown with 3 different instructors at Diamond - all good. I'm happy to provide more info about Diamond.
 
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