Just to play Devil's Advocate here, do you think theres a pattern developing considering this has happened three times? Perhaps there is something with your flying that three different places have noticed and you don't acknowledge...
Valid question, so I'll expand for you.
First one, BelAir, flat out lied to me and everyone, constantly. Planes were being flown when they were due for mx, students left their home countries thinking they were going to fly a KingAir when it turned out to be a picture of a plane parked in transient posted on the site. They instead learned in Duchesses. They also were notorious for lying to people about how long and how expensive the flying was going to be. I was 15 at the time, but I saw the writing on the wall, so did my parents, so I went across the airport to Diamond. By choice.
I flew at Diamond for 3 years, they were annoyingly anal, but the mx was great, planes were great, I was happy. When I soloed in 12 hours but looked over at my CFI at 90 hours and we were flying aimlessly and I was getting no instruction, I knew something was up. I asked when I could take my checkride, I was asked if I was ready, and he scheduled it just like that, no prep or anything. I then SELF-STUDIED my ass off, and bombed the oral. The DPE they used also asked me some very bizarre questions that I posted on this site in a long thread. Diamond backed the DPE 100% when I complained, and treated me as if I had embarrassed them horribly and was told by my CFI that we "have to start all over now". I said thanks but no thanks, got my CFI's blessing, then spent the next 4 weeks commuting to Louisville to stay with a
JordanD while
kiloalpha, for free, filled in the holes in days that my CFI couldn't fill in years, for $55/hr. I was a private pilot in Seymour, Indiana by the end of the month. Fly home, try to go flying, they refuse to rent me a plane. They then want me to do a checkout process like a new pilot off the street because they didn't "care what one examiner said" when one of their CFIs said I wasn't ready. And "getting your pilots licence out in the sticks doesn't mean you can handle the airspace here", they said to a person they trained in this airspace for 3 years. At first I refused, but then when I saw what a pain checkouts were, I called my CFI and asked what I needed to do. He told me he'd call the owner, then called me back the next day and said they were refunding my block time and banning me from the premises because I was "spontaneous", "far too laid back" and "dangerous". Basically, the owner took me taking my check-ride in a strange place I've never been before as a big middle finger to his institution. I sent him an e-mail telling the owner that he trained me, so if I'm dangerous, he created a dangerous pilot. He e-mailed me back politely telling me that my CFI thinks I'm unsafe, and he doesn't care what anyone else says, he has to act in the "best interest of the general public and the aircraft owners" in his decision. Direct quote. So, that place can fall off the face of the earth for all I care, and it sounds like they all but have since then.
And now I'm at West Valley, when I joined I thought they were milking me, but I stayed. Planes were brought back hours late all the time, and I had to wait awkwardly with my guests and the dispatcher, and there was never follow-up to members for doing such. One plane had the landing light out for no less than 6 months and they got pissed I was the only one writing it up. Well, at the time I was doing almost exclusively night flying, and happened to be the only member flying said airplane at night. Over the last 2 years, I've had more accounting issues than I could count. Payments are randomly taken out of your account, not on a set day. There have been times I was billed for a whole month of flying and my membership fee at the end of the month, only to be billed again a week later when I've taken another flight and wasn't expecting to pay right away. There were times I was charged multiple times in a month, or double the amount I owed, and several times my account was frozen because they kept billing a card I no longer owned, despite how many times I gave them my new card's info. When you try to go flying at 8PM, and they're closed, then you find out your account is frozen when you go to rent, you aren't happy. In fact, the first time this happened, I called the next day at to rectify the situation, and the girl on the phone interpreted me to shout "YOU KNOW TONY CAIRO?!", turns out she was on my facebook checking out my pictures and our mutual friends. She then goes on to totally side track me by telling me stories about prom where I met her and she went with one of my best friends, but neither one of us recognized the other. The conversation went on so long, I forgot why I called, and I guess she did too, because 3 days later my account was still frozen. I could go on and on, but this 89 day thing is just the last straw.
My car gets 12mpg, because Cadillac pimping ain't easy. Driving further than SQL would likely not even out financially unless I could find super cheap rates in PAO. From what I've seen so far, the $150-160/hr for 172SPs at the San Carlos Flight Center cost the same or less as cheaper options in HWD, LVK, and RHV if you consider the gas I'd use. I may be moving to San Jose in the next few months and going to school down there, in which case I would surely fly out of RHV.
I will say I was planning on doing the Pitts checkout at West Valley, but I guess they aren't the only place with that option.
