Poor experience with their FIRC. Due to a mistake by American flyers, I haven't gotten my new CFI license after finishing their FICR course and paying for the hasse free experience for over 4 months now. When contacting the customer service, I consistently received only minimal, one-word responses. These replies often contradicted previous information and failed to offer any helpful resolution. This forced me to send numerous emails and place repeated phone calls, prolonging the matter unnecessarily. Several times they told me to contact the FAA, and each time the FAA told me that the issue is that American flyers hadn't submitted all requirements documents. I didn't receive any help until writing this review and filling a BBB complaint. And even then, they were still blaming me and trying to make me feel bad about contacting the customer support too often?!? Based one experience and the numerous complaints from other customer, I wouldn't recommend to purchase any services from this business. read more

Best flight school in Texas !. My CFI, in particular, was excellent at explaining difficult maneuvers and helped me build my confidence in the air, very knowledgeable and patient. I highly recommend American Flyers in Addison. Pablo. read more

American Flyers is a great place for flight training! I did my instrument and commercial training at the Addison North location and couldn't be more grateful for my experience there. I finished the program within the time they quoted me. I'm thankful for their honesty, professionalism and inspiring atmosphere. The top notch training and an operations team that works with your schedule makes it an enjoyable process and I am a completely different pilot because of it. Couldn't recommend it more! Thank you American Flyers! read more

American Flyers - Flight Instruction Near Me - Addison, Texas

See all

Great school full of great people! I would recommend this place to any future aviators!

Their planes are good. The ground school is beyond bad. The flight instructors are ok. Some good, some not so good. I did not get the information I needed from their ground school. I was always having to get the information from outside areas. They charge something like $100 per hour for ground school and $300 per hour for flight time. They are very expensive compared to other flight schools. Expect to pay over $20,000 for a Private Pilot license (if you are lucky enough to get the information and pass) with them. Pay top dollar, but get sub par service. Their instructors don't seem to love their work. They appear interested in building their flight time so they can go off and become commercial pilots. They appear to me to have this temporary attitude. That they will only be there temporary so it doesn't matter. They are mainly young people. None of the flight instructor I saw had any real age and experience in the industry. They were all young. You get three instructs so they constantly change. Different teachers and each has their own way of doing things. The books are outdated. In my opinion, the instructors are using the system so you pay for their flight hours so they can go commercial. They did not resolve any issues I had with them. Just kept asking for more and more money. That seems to be the only thing they care about - how much money they can get out of you. There is no way I would have passed the check ride with the information they gave me. There are plenty of online ground school that only charge $200 or $300 ish, if not less, for the entire ground school and endorsement. I would not recommend them. read more

If you're working full time and training part 61, avoid American Flyers North. They'll bleed you dry, not tell you everything you need to know to pass your check ride, and then bleed you some more in "retraining" in key items they never trained you for in the first place. Addison is a terrible place to fly out of. Fully 1/3 of your charged time will be just waiting to take off. And the analog (paper) scheduling is unnecessarily inconvenient for working people. You have no idea if you're flying until less than 24 hours before you fly. You'll be working with 3 or 4 different CFI/CFIIs of varying skills, most of whom are just building hours to move onto the airlines, and may or may not show you key skills that pilot examiners expect you to know later on. You're expected to keep large chunks of your schedule open for their convenience rather than them adding flight circle in order to let people know well in advance when they will be flying in order to prepare their time better. And if you complain, they'll just schedule on the days with awful weather only. Miserable experience for me. I had to leave after finding myself dreading flying with them. read more

Been training at American Flyers, North campus for a couple months now. Working on my Instrument rating currently. I'm coming from another school and it's evident that they run things here much more efficiently. All the instructors here are eager to help, and I've had no issues with the staff or equipment thus far. My instructors Kindsey and Carlos have been fantastic, and very accommodating to my agenda for training. Looking forward to progressing through the program here at American Flyers (north). read more

American Flyers - Hangar - Flight Instruction Near Me - Addison, Texas

My son graduated right before Covid hit, top of his class. So as a parent that's paying the school fees I was pleased and very proud of with his accomplishments . what I'm disappointed about is that one of the instructor did not do his job which affected my son not having the opportunity he should have. it was a big enough mess up that the school let this person go. but in turn did not make it right for my son. with the amount of money that we paid I'm very disappointed on how he/we were treated. we have requested several meetings but with no real results I feel like we were just dismissed. a very disappointed mother read more

I chose to go through American Flyers FIRC for life for my flight instructor renewal and I wish that I had gone through a more hassle free service like Sporty's or King Schools. Upon finishing the course I chose to pay the extra $50 for their "hassle free renewal" where they were supposed to take care of the paperwork so that I didn't have to make an appointment with the FSDO. Ok, great. Except, I still had to print and sign my 8710, print and sign my graduation certificate, print a photo copy of my drivers license, go get a letter NOTARIZED (additional charge) and mail in the PHYSICAL CARD of my CFI cert(another additional charge). Because I had to mail in my physical CFI cert, I had to call the FAA to get a temporary of my old, expiring cert and carry that along with a photocopy of my actual cert in order to continue acting as an instructor. After speaking to people who went through better programs like Sporty's and King Schools, who were able to immediately get their new temporary certificate without having to send in their physical certificate, I will be using one of those in the future, even though it means paying the course fee again. That's how bad of an experience I had with American Flyers. And, even though I did all of the work to get my new certificate, they refuse to refund me the $50 I paid for the hassle free experience. read more

We sent our son to this school with almost zero flight time. Now he's got his Commercial and Instrument ratings. Would we do it again?....YES. They make sure that students don't just know the answers to the questions but also take the time to make sure the material is understood. read more

The weekend class to prep for the PPL is a waste of time and money. Young CFI thrown merciless into the shark tank. It was advertised as a prep class for the test with a 90% passing rate. Not even close. I don't recommend this course unless the format is changed to a true prep course. read more

Best flight school by far that I have experienced. CFIs are amazing (Shoutout to Skylar and Andrew), they make sure that you've mastered concepts before moving on to different subjects, most classes are up in the air in the well known Cessna 172S with either a six-pack (analog) or G1000 (screens), you also do ground lessons with fun activities that allow you to learn the ways of aviation and have fun as well. All you need to start is a valid sectional, an aviation headset, notepad, e6b plotter and cross country flight planner and you are all set to start training with American Flyers. read more

These guys are the real deal, they made my experience feel like I truly mattered. Special thanks to Hunter Welsh for a job well done during the weekend private pilot ground school. If you are a student pilot looking for training, this is the place to be! read more

I came to American flyers needing help finishing my CFI initial. I was skeptical because of some of the ratings on here but the team i had worked hard to see me through to the finish line in an appropriate amount of time. My training was efficient and beneficial and its was just what i needed. I cant complain about any aspect of what i received with the team at Addison north. read more

I have been shopping for Privat Pilot Training. My AME recommended American Flyer if I was to considering a Flight Training School. His comment was American Flyer is the best Training Academy in the area. I left his office after passing my medical exam and went strait to American Flyer. Spoke with the training advisor Kevin. He was very honest and very nice. Complete review of training avialble and a tour of the school. AOPA suggest that you take a introductory training lesion when you are considering a training facility. So Kevin set the date and I was contacted the day before what time to arrive. This is a busy place. I have learned that if the parking lot to a restaurant is empty be careful eating there. The Parking lot is Full at American Flyer. My first and second impression of this school is PROFESTIONALISM. Every Pilot and Staff member is polite and professional. This is July 27th for my introductory flight lesion. The Flight Instructor Matt is wearing button up shirt, tie with tie clasp, slacks and nice shoe. Not shorts and Nikes like the students & me. As a matter of fact everyone who worked at American Flyer was dressed like Matt. My introductory training flight training was at 1: 00 pm outside Temp was 90 plus at take off which was approximately 2:15 it was a little warm. Matt was Great. He seemed Cool and collected. regardless of the heat. I have intentions of purchasing my own plane so I had already started a online training kit for the Cessna 172 which is the plane I intend to purchase. Happens to be the very plane American Flyer uses. You will not need to do this at American Flyer. This is a Full Training School. Their instruction staff will teach you everything you need to know. Their mission is to prepare Pilots that want to enter the aviation industry as a Commercial Pilot. I have 40 years of management and business experience (please forgive spelling errors). From my impressions this is a good place to start if you want to be a Commercial Pilot. I am to old for that option never the less they treated me first class. This is not a low price place, but the best will always cost more. They have programs for every level. Keep in mind that due to the Aviation Industry demand for Quality Commercial Pilots you might have to work your schedule if your desire is to simply become a private pilot. Kevin was honest about that from the first. As for my introductory lesion 5 STARS. Matt did a great job. I learned you DO NOT LEARN HOW TO FLY IN A ONLINE TRAINING KIT. I purchased the best kit. It was recommended by pilots and other instructors. It did help give me a bassic understanding of fundamentals. Please keep in mind I have only completed 75% of phase one of the ten phases in that online training program. You learn to fly in the plane. The simulator will help prepare you. American Flyer has several. Matt put me in the Simulator first which was a big help to prepare me for my First Flight. I have been a passenger in small planes just never the pilot. Keep in mind I have knowledge of what a good preflight inspection should include my online training program has covered that completely. Matt scores 6 STARS on a 5 Star scale. More detailed than the King Aviation Preflight instructions in my training program. Yet not more time consuming. Matt was just more efficient in the process. His sharp Eye spotted loose screw in the lower Cowling. Whoops I would have missed that. Not a repair that will ground a plane. He simply ask the on sight Aviation Mechanic to tighten the screw. American Flyer has their own team of mechanics on sight to keep their fleet of planes safe and ready to fly. Matt said; vibration can cause a screw to loosen. The mechanic tightened the screw then inspected all the other screws and rivets. Cleared the plan for flight. Matt and I did another walk around and continued cockpit preflight. No time was wasted every detail was done by the book. By the way I was holding that preflight book. My first time to be PIC was on this flight with Matt. I was hooked before the flight. I swallowed the hook after he help me record my first flight and ground training for time in the Simulator plus actual flight time in my flight log. Thanks MATT and American Flyer for a great first start to becoming a Privat Pilot. Tony P Carrollton,Tx read more

The worst staff ever you ill fly only 2 times at month. They have a lot of students and they don't care about their students they only care about money actually they charged a lot more compared with other school with the same program DONT GO THERE they want all yor money. Specially to foreign people from Mexico colombia chile etc read more

Awful. The Environment is terrible, very unprofessional, and I was treated very rude I don't recommend this flight school to anyone. This is a pilot factory. read more

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. read more

I attended the flight instructor course at American Flyers several years ago. The course did not properly prepare me or my 3 other classmates for the oral exam with the FAA. All of us failed within 10 minutes of being quizzed by the FAA. Our ground instructors were not good. The instructor pilots that I flew with were competent. It seems they still have problems. Next, a few years after leaving American Flyers, I was actually hired as a ground instructor. I taught the weekend classes for Private, Instrument and Commercial classes. My intention was to be better than my former instructors and I believe based on my personal exit interview with the students that I did a good job. My pass rate was 74%. Any class requires that you be prepared. Many of the students at American Flyers exhibit the attitude that they will have this knowledge "poured into their brains." It does not work that way. Sadly, some of the written material at American Flyers is not accurate. Overall, I agree that American Flyers is overpriced and the instruction and format does not justify the price. Find a school that has an established record of happy customers. American Flyers is really overpriced. The training is adequate at best. Your money, your time and effort can be wasted quickly. James L. Hibbert December 20, 2020 read more

Scheduled my FAA knowledge test for 2pm, was told to be 15 mins early for check in. Arrived at 140pm, it's currently almost 230 and I'm still waiting in the lobby to take the test because the test proctor "went to lunch". Absolutely garbage school. And to top it off the proctor walked in and told me to continue waiting and that patience is a virtue. Avoid at all costs. read more

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. read more

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. read more

American Flyers is not recommended school to obtain your ratings. They will promise you CFI for very low cost and then fail you on a check ride to sell you more $250 flying hours. They also will try to manipulate you, will tell you a story that initial pass rate for CFI is 18% or so, which is absolutely not true. Then they will tell you a story that in "aviation community" everybody knows everyone, so you don't talk about what happened with other pilots, because you afraid! They will make you afraid of flying. They have set of "questions" on a check ride that they will ask you, those questions I guarantee you will not have an answer, because their "instructors" don't have the answers themselves! Worst experience ever. They have also another "school" in Florida, beware of that too. A guy who worked in Los Angeles now works over there. read more

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. read more

This review pertains to the CFI-A and CFI-I academy experience. Unfortunately, I must report a terrible experience (shared by at least seven of the twelve students in my class). While the quality of most of the instruction was good, the course design and deliverable-versus-promised or advertised is poor; it is faulty at best, unethical at worst. I agree with some other reviewers that you must be completely prepared before arrival or, as one other review stated "it's going to drag on forever." So if you have to be ready to pass the oral and practical check ride before you arrive, why are you there? There is absolutely nothing I accomplished with American Flyers that I couldn't have done at home with local CFIs or schools. To reiterate and add to what others have stated: "Do not do business with any flight school that charges for their programs up front...I never stepped foot in an airplane and lost around $1800 for 4 days of ground school." Absolutely good and pertinent advice with accurate statement! I was at the CFI-A and CFI-I combined academy for 27 days and received a total of 3.3 hours' flight instruction or time. Further, we spent six days waiting in hotel rooms for daily calls in case an airplane or instructor became available. "...We all paid around $5,000 for this 'get your CFI in 30 days' course, (sic) I think 2 of us ended up actually getting our ratings." No one in my class of 12 students got a rating within the time - a 0% effective rate. Incredible. "The entire experience was just awful, from start to finish. They quote you a price and say that's all its going to cost." Absolutely! I don't know what the $3,995 I paid for the course (counting lodging, transportation, food: over $9,000) was for - we sat in ground school for FAA written exams that I had already passed, and did not learn until arrival in Addison that there was no check ride planned or scheduled, and that flights would have to wait until a month later around weather and until instructors and airplanes were available; we also were told that checkrides may be not available for two months after completion (total: three months). So what were we there for? I personally certainly do not have the time, money nor inclination to sit in a hotel room for months for training and an event that may never happen. From the beginning, most my experience with American Flyers was atrocious and I should have better discerned the warnings: - Was told initially the course was available at another location, close to my residence. After committing the time and scheduling, I didn't hear anything further for months. - Once I tracked someone down at AF, was then informed the course could not be held at location near my residence, but that I would have to travel to Dallas/Addison. Since I had already scheduled the time off, I decided to do it - Next, I was told that I had to pay all up front or my school slot could not be guaranteed (this even though I was using GI Bill benefits) - Once we arrived, only then learned that check rides for either CFI-A or CFI-I would be available for at least months. Mind you, I also showed up with two written (FAA knowledge tests) already completed, so test preparation was not critical to me; prep for oral/check ride was - After over 20 days, I had two flights totaling 3.3 hours - that's it. One was an evaluation and the other was spin endorsement. - Further, please understand that this school receives endorsement for veteran's training using your/our taxpayer funding. My experience did not result in what I saw as living up to the expectation or 'contract.' For what it's worth, American Flyers has sometimes been referred to as "American Liars." Though some of the people there are unquestionably knowledgeable and good human beings, I cannot with any conscience recommend American Flyers at this time. read more

Honestly one of the worst experiences I ever had at a flight school, They charge considerably more than local competitors and their management is some of the worst and shadiest I have ever seen. They advertise fast, easy, and cheap service but buyers beware it is far from that and you will be charged way more than you planned too. After my far from pleasant experience here I will be alerting all the pilots I know to steer clear of "American Liars". Not only are they scum in their practices but some (not all) of their CFI's are only looking for hours and will push you beyond your personal limitations/comfort zone to fly you in unfavorable weather so they can rack up a few more hours. At american flyers you wont have one single CFI throughout your training they will instead throw you with whatever CFI is available for that day, so not only will you not be able to have your progress consistently measured by someone that knows you, but if you have a bad day with another instructor it will set you back even further and cost you more money than you anticipated. All in all any aviator looking to get a quick rating from this place stay far far away and look at many of the other options available at Addison read more