Southern Arizona Flight School's

Which flight school to attend?

  • Flying-Cacti

    Votes: 1 100.0%

  • Northaire Aviation

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Southwestern Aviation

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • Double Eagle Aviation

    Votes: 0 0.0%
  • Total voters
    1
Daniel Strait

Daniel Strait

Filing Flight Plan
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Apr 11, 2019
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DanStrait
I am new to southern Arizona (45 min. south of Tucson) and am interested in obtaining my private pilots license. I am not all too familiar with what I should be looking for in a flight school. I have called a few flight schools, but I can't seem to find any real solid reviews about any of them. There doesn't seem to be enough Google reviews to take them too seriously.

Currently, I am looking at Double Eagle Aviation, Southwestern Aviation, Flying-Cacti, or Northaire Aviation. Double Eagle and Southwestern Aviation are the closest and double eagle even has an 18 day zero to hero program which would be neat IMHO, however, I read some comments in this forum that seem to say to stay clear. Flying-Cacti and Northaire both seem really promising, but the limiting factor is definitely the drive. Any feedback would be appreciated. Looking forward to learning from this forum!
 
Its not in your list, but check out Marana Flight School at KAVQ. Mike is a great guy, and it is a bit closer than some of your other options.
 
I have heard just the opposite about Marana. Check out Alpha Air at Ryan. If you can get on Denny Ginzman's schedule you will not find a better instructor, anywhere! There is also Kelly's at Ryan but she is very busy.
 
I'm in Tucson and got my PPL a few months ago, I'll just let you know what I've found:

Southwestern at KE95 Benson has a number of instructors who are on referral and can use the FBO aircraft for training. It's a nice little untowered airport with very little traffic especially during the week. Roy, who runs Southwestern is a very friendly and helpful guy and the rates are fair. The only drawback is they only have one aircraft, a 172P, so if it's down for extended maintenance your training gets interrupted, sometimes for a few months. I know Roy would like to have another aircraft, but so far no luck. The other good thing is Roy will rent to you after you've gotten your license there. As far as I know this is only AZ rental aircraft available south of Maricopa county that doesn't require a club membership. So unless you're buying that's a consideration. [Southwestern Aviation]

I talked to Mike at Marana, seemed like a nice guy, but he was pretty booked up and he's the only instructor using his private aircraft. He directed me to Southwestern. [Marana Flight School].

I also talked to Kelly out at Ryan but she said that since Tyconic (the A&P at Ryan) was going out of business she wasn't taking new students and was going back to school. That was a year ago so it might have changed, if so you should probably check her school out. She seems to have a good reputation and a lot of positive endorsements. [Kelly's Aviation]

I looked at Double Eagle but I don't care for accelerated courses, and their schedule availability (afternoons only) didn't work for me, again a year ago.

The closest rental aircraft/training FBO that I've found with a decent sized fleet is Chandler Air Services at KCHD Chandler in the Phoenix metro area. It's a half hour closer to you than Flying-Cacti in Glendale (about 1hr 45min from downtown Tucson). They have about 21 aircraft, mostly Piper PA28 variants but also a couple of 172's, a Cub and some other tail draggers. They also have a school with several instructors with a full set of courses and endorsements: www.aerobatics.com. [Chandler Air Service]

All in all the training and rental aircraft situation in Arizona south of Phoenix is pretty sparse right now.
 
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Great replies! Thank you very much. I reached out to Kellys last week and they never responded to my emails or my phone call. There website states they aren't taking any more students. Southwestern was the only place that responded to my phone call, although I when he said the price I recoiled a little bit because it was more than the other schools I was looking at. However, I think it would equal out because I would be paying less in gas. I left a message at Marana and Alpha Air, but they have yet to respond. Being that I am new to all this I am not sure what I was expecting, but I am pretty surprised. I figured flight schools would be prompt at responding to prospective students.
 
I did my PPL at Kelly's, although with a different instructor who has unfortunately moved back east; last I checked she was still not taking new students. She does rent though, once you are checked out with her---or at least she does to some people, I don't know if she's adding new renters or not.

Mike at Marana has done a couple of my BFRs and I also did a mountain flying class with him; I'd definitely recommend him, but he can be busy.

I also did a BFR and a "refine your basic skills" kind of class at Chandler Air Service; I would also recommend them. Their instruction may be a little less laid back than some of the others, but still good. Not as convenient if you are south of Tucson, of course.
 
Give Mike at Marana a try, as others have said. I've known and taught with him for over a decade. He's a good guy.

http://maranaflightschool.com

Also, there is a 172 for rent at KAVQ besides Mike's. Ron, the Director of Maintenance at Tucson AeroService Center (at AVQ) owns it.

https://www.flyavq.com
 
45 Minutes South of Tucson IS Nogales. Every time I've flown in there, there were at least 20 Asian students there. I don't know the schedule but they have quite a few planes. I think you may have read something I wrote about Double Eagle, I still stand by that. I will tell you that the maintenance on their airplanes is top notch but I'm biased as my mentor/mechanic works there as his day job.
 
Regarding Roy in Benson, I didn't think of him in my first post. He is a top notch guy and you would get more real time flight training there than others due to minimal traffic in the area.
 
Daniel Strait said:
I am new to southern Arizona (45 min. south of Tucson) and am interested in obtaining my private pilots license. I am not all too familiar with what I should be looking for in a flight school. I have called a few flight schools, but I can't seem to find any real solid reviews about any of them. There doesn't seem to be enough Google reviews to take them too seriously.

Currently, I am looking at Double Eagle Aviation, Southwestern Aviation, Flying-Cacti, or Northaire Aviation. Double Eagle and Southwestern Aviation are the closest and double eagle even has an 18 day zero to hero program which would be neat IMHO, however, I read some comments in this forum that seem to say to stay clear. Flying-Cacti and Northaire both seem really promising, but the limiting factor is definitely the drive. Any feedback would be appreciated. Looking forward to learning from this forum!
Click to expand...

So a pirep on Double Eagle, I needed a concentrate IFR finish up class and they did the job. They have 172's and a 310, my ride a Warrior PA28-151 which is what I have the most PIC time (PA28-xxx) and it had a 430W which again matched my needs. I was paired with Scott (who might be the Chief Pilot soon) in a 5 day class where on day one he suffered through my 6 months off from any IFR work and the load of learning about the local customs such as own navigation. Being so near to SEA all of my flights were filed and controlled while in KTUS you sort of roll your own with some flight following from approach control! One item I noticed is that every 100 HR inspection was signed off as an ANNUAL so they don't seem to be cutting any corners.

YMMV but if your know what you need and can match that against what they offer it worked for me.

NH_Moose
 
NH_Moose said:
One item I noticed is that every 100 HR inspection was signed off as an ANNUAL so they don't seem to be cutting any corners.
Click to expand...

The only significant difference in a 100 hour inspection and an annual inspection is who signed it off. An A&P can sign off a 100 hour, an A&P/IA must sign off an annual.
 
Learned something as turning wrenches is not my forte. As he saying goes it will cost you $x, twice that if you watch, and 3X if you help!
 
NH_Moose said:
So a pirep on Double Eagle, I needed a concentrate IFR finish up class and they did the job. They have 172's and a 310, my ride a Warrior PA28-151 which is what I have the most PIC time (PA28-xxx) and it had a 430W which again matched my needs. I was paired with Scott (who might be the Chief Pilot soon) in a 5 day class where on day one he suffered through my 6 months off from any IFR work and the load of learning about the local customs such as own navigation. Being so near to SEA all of my flights were filed and controlled while in KTUS you sort of roll your own with some flight following from approach control! One item I noticed is that every 100 HR inspection was signed off as an ANNUAL so they don't seem to be cutting any corners.

YMMV but if your know what you need and can match that against what they offer it worked for me.

NH_Moose
Click to expand...

People who have a good relationship with an IA are well suited to ask them to sign off each 100 hour as an Annual.
 
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