I would not recommend Aviation Professionals (API) to my worst enemy.
Overall I would summarize Aviation Professionals (API) as a wolf in sheep's clothing. First impressions are positive. But while (owner) Bill might be a nice person to befriend, conducting business with him is another matter altogether.
When I started, Aviation Professionals Incorporated (API) had a single tenured instructor, the one and only full time instructor. The instructor was great, no complaints there. Eventually the instructor landed a job with an airline and left (good for him!), after giving Bill about two months notice. Before he left I was basically set for my checkride. This was in mid August. The punch line of this part of the story is that Bill didn't have any new regular instructor lined up.
Even during the "good times" there were still "bad times". For example, the one and only instructional airplane at one point needed an engine overhaul. Bill couldn't scrape together the money to make this happen. Now, before I go further, one would think that the owner of an aviation school would be prepared with an extra engine on standby as the overhaul time approached, after all, it happens at pre-defined intervals for this type of aircraft. Not the case though, instead, for almost two months Bill "borrowed" his friends plane, which you could not use to solo.
So here I am in Mid-August. All of my endorsements ready to go - time to schedule the exam. I call Bill. This is an important time to note something. Bill has an email address - but does not respond to emails. Also, Bill has no employees. He doesn't keep regular hours so a lot of times you can not get in touch with him. In this case I was lucky. I told him I need to schedule my exam. He says great, but, we don't have any examiners quoting some new rule that apparently makes it impossible for me to take an exam I have been preparing for over the last 10 months. I go along for the ride. OK, totally understand Bill. I keep calling. Finally, after a month, the test is scheduled for 2 months in the future. Turns out (I learned later) some examiners refuse to work with him because he is shady...
Before I go on, lets talk scheduling. A three ring binder that stays in the office and is filled out in pencil. If you need to schedule something you need to call. If you call you have a 10% chance that Bill is in the office. To note, Bill will NOT return your call when he arrives at the office. Instead he says "call me back" at such and such time. Many times you call back at said time and the phone is not answered. That's right, Bill screens his calls on a regular basis...
OK, fast forward to November. Now, all that stands between me and victory is 2 hours of flight time. This is when things start to get really bad. Bill has always maintained that come exam time, the plane will be made available regardless of other students. Fair - I had a couple lessons canceled for this reason - reciprocity is fine by me. However, when I want to schedule the plane Bill is difficult to reach and generally unhelpful. After a month of bad weather finally things look like they are lining up. The examiner gives me a hint "check the validity of your endorsements". I call Bill, he doesn't answer. I leave a message, he doesn't call me back. So the night before the exam I call my old instructor who hasn't worked for Bill in months now. He has me email pictures of all of my endorsements and immediately sees a problem. He emails me new endorsements at 2 am. Keep in mind, Bill would have totally screwed me over here if his old employee hadn't sprung into action late at night and helped me out. So I go for the exam and the weather acts up. Oh well, that will happen. I still have time before the ground portion of the exam becomes invalid, the examiner seems unphased. I call up Bill, it has been a couple weeks since I have flown and I want to practice maneuvers before the next exam attempt. No answer. I call every day for a week, no answers. I call from a different phone number and he answers immediately and pretends like I never called or left a message. I ask him if everything is OK and everything is "great". OK, cool, lets get some flight time scheduled then. Of course, Bill is out of the office and I need to call him back. I never talk to Bill again.
I transferred to a school up at Chicago Executive Airport and finished. To do so I had to buy a car. I just wish I had done so from the beginning, after all, the amount extra I paid due to Bill's high prices would have actually paid for my entire car. The experience was NIGHT AND DAY and I feel like a chump.
I have run out of space to go on. So many more details of how this place is a criminal enterprise in disguise (blatant FAA reg violations, bad equipment, questionable maintenance practices, no hangar (think snow), no solos out of MDW, traffic delays at MDW, no GPS, $$$ worthless ground materials, etc). Take my advice, run away, there are many better options. read more
