American Flyers

The CFI academy is awesome! I got my CFII checkride sign off within 3 weeks. But, you must be prepared and really on top of your game, otherwise it’s going to drag on forever, you’ll be spending a lot of money and you’ll be super frustrated. Flight time here is ridiculously expensive, so the better you are the better your experience will be.

American Flyers taught me a very valuable lesson. Do not do business with any flight school that charges for their programs up front. I tried to sit through their ‘CFI academy’ a couple of years ago. Once I figured out that all they were doing was force feeding material, I decided not to complete the program. I never stepped foot in an airplane and lost around $ 1800 for 4 days of ground school. Some of the instructors there were good and the info was straight forward. Overall, I would not recommend American Flyers.

I had a great experience at American Flyers. I took the Commercial Written Ground School 3 day course and it was just what I needed. My instructor was Michael Cool and he was great. Their primary (only) goal is to get you to pass that test with a 70 or more and they tell you that up front. They give you techniques/​hints to take the test itself, help you understand concepts, and on occasion, just say «memorize that one.» Overall, I’m ready for the written and left the class on Sunday with an ⁸⁷⁄₁₀₀ on my practice exam. If you can’t seem to dedicate the time for self-​study then this is a great course to get you ready for your test.

If you like getting ripped off and having a confrontational relationship with your flight instructor than this is the flight school for you.
I obtained my CFI and CFI-​I here, but only through a great deal of luck and wheeling and dealing with these criminals. I started out in a class of around 8 guys, we all paid around $ 5,000 for this «get your CFI in 30 days» course, I think 2 of us ended up actually getting our ratings.
The entire experience was just awful, from start to finish. They quote you a price and say that’s all its going to cost. They neglect to tell you you have to buy their manuals and training syllabi, which end up being $ 200 or so. Then they also neglect to tell you that they charge out the ass for the inevitable extra training you’re going to require. They also neglect to tell you about the examiners fee and myriad other expenses you’ll be liable for.
On top of all this the director of training is an emotionally unstable washout cargo pilot that screams at you in the cockpit and from time to time will grab the controls from you and do a little flying himself.
I think you’re money is more wisely spent at a strip club or on buying extended warranties on something.
Avoid at all costs.