Last week I flew to Camarillo airport to meet some friends for lunch. While getting ready to leave I found a maintenance issue with my plane that needed attention. The folks at Channel Islands Aviation were extremely kind and helpful. The customer service manager Alice arranged a hotel room for me and made sure that I received the 17% room discount provided to their clients. She also loaned me a phone charger for the night and had one of the linemen drive me to the hotel at no charge whatsoever. I cannot speak highly enough of their service and the atmosphere of the business. Top-notch all around. Thanks so much, Alice, and to the entire staff for your assistance during a stressful moment in my trip. Michael Rodgers - Founder - West Coast Mooney Club. read more

I fly here very frequently and have been renting here for about the last year and one of the managers Abe is a NIGHTMARE to deal with not only has he made provocative comments about his female co workers which is insane to me how he hasn't got fired SERIOUSLY needs to be talked to. He is never in a happy mood to anyone, he gives off the impression of hating his job and life and it kills the mood when you're about to fly. Their selection of 172s are not bad they have some nice ones and the prices are normal lobby is fine and comfortable enough to wait in. read more

First, I have never taken a flight lesson from CIA. I am serious about taking flight lessons. I went in to sign up for an Intro Flight, and I found their Flight School Manager to be totally inflexible, totally unfriendly, and a total jerk. It is his way or the highway. I chose the highway. When you take flight lessons you want to deal with people that are at least reasonably sociable and pleasant. If you are considering taking flight lessons, I highly recommend that you talk to CFI (Camarillo Flight Instruction) or CP Aviation (in Santa Paula) instead. read more

WOW! The private tour of Santa Rosa Island is a must for anyone looking for a Pacific adventure to a remote Island. A group of 6 of us took a private flight to Santa Rosa Island. On the way up we had headphones and our pilot gave us a tour of the channel islands. Once we landed we had the choice of eating the food we brought at a ranch or on the beach. We opted for the beach and hiked around a little bit. The Pilot came to pick us up on a Ford Excursion and gave us a tour of the island and saw one of two places in the world where Torrey Pines naturally occur. This place was very peaceful. One the the flight home the pilot gave a us a tour of the north side of the channel islands and safely landed. The excursion was a about 8 hours total and will last a lifetime. CIA 5 stars! Thanks, Rich read more

Channel Islands Aviation - Island hopper plane on the Santa Rosa runway. - Tours Near Me - Camarillo, California

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Worst experience I've had. Joey the manager there in line service is terrible customer service and always seems to have a attitude . Their flight school planes are always having issues and are absolutely unsafe and very sketchy to fly in my opinion. They don't seem to maintain their planes. read more

I recently enjoyed an afternoon exploring the "Introductory Flight" they offer for $219. What an awesome day! Cody, my instructor, was a fount of great information! The pre-flight check was almost as fun as the actual flying because, as he went through all the details of the checklist, I had a LOT of questions. Going in I was a bit nervous, I'll be honest. I've never been in a plane that small. But by the time we were done with the pre-flight I was not nervous at all. His professional demeanor, and knowledge made me completely confident that he knew what he was doing and that the aircraft was safe. :) Plus, I learned a lot about the plane in the process. The flight itself was great, it was a beautiful day and I was able to take control for a bit. It was as cool as I always expected. Now I just need to find the time to do it again! Thanks Channel Island Aviation and Cody for a wonderful (and educational) day of flying! read more

In true, Star Search Fashion, CIA gets 3 and 3/4 stars. I really wish I could've given them 5 stars. I booked Kieran's flight lesson with them back in December....the 9th to be exact. This was my Christmas present to him. We didn't go up until this past weekend. :( That is pretty pathetic. Don't get me wrong I understand Mother Nature happens, one day it was raining super hard, and we called THEM to check in before we drove up there, and they told us that we'd need to reschedule. So we rescheduled, and drove all the way up there. We got there and they told us that the flight instructor hasn't arrived yet. Half an hour later, the phone rings and he puts the call on hold after a couple minutes. I hear the two front desk people whispering about the instructor being "at home and just waking up" (daylight savings). Then they ask Kieran to take the call. Kieran tells me that the instructor said it's "too windy" and to reschedule. That is completely FINE if you have company policy...but you NEED to call and accommodate your clients. I was LIVID... ( I think I still am livid ). It's not like at 10am it all of a sudden got windy, if that was truly the case, learn how to PICK UP A PHONE AND CALL US BEFORE WE DRIVE TO CAMARILLO AND WASTE OUR MORNING SITTING AROUND. (did I mention I was livid???) This past weekend we finally went up and they are so lucky Kieran enjoyed himself because at that point they were already on my "list" of businesses I couldn't stand. When it was time to leave OF COURSE they couldn't "locate" the gift certificate, so I had to sign onto my email and print out another copy. I only wish they had more competition because I would say take your flying lessons elsewhere. I think they have too 'laid back' of an atmosphere (and I'm a pretty laid back person), the lack professionalism, and courtesy - plain old, common courtesy for their customers. (End: demoting them to 2 and 3/4 stars) read more

Took a flight to Santa Rosa this past weekend with a Groupons for four of us. The fight was fun and the island and hiking was beautiful. Sunny, warm, dry and windy. Awesome to land and take off on a dirt run way in the strong winds! Definitely worth the Groupon price. It would have been even better hiking if the winds weren't so strong. We were literally blown over by it at times. One problem - even though we made a reservation on a specific flight number they broke up our group of four into two separate planes. People were nice. You could either head out on a hike on your own or follow them around for a tour. They also have 4X4 that they drove us around in to get to see more of the Island. It was fun day that I'd recommend. read more

I have had wonderful experiences over the years with Channel Islands Aviation. I did my private pilot training with them and also have been on a trip to Santa Rosa Island with them. With regards to flight training, they are dedicated to achieving your goals, from your first flight through to the checkride exam. You can work with one or several instructors, and all are very flexible with availability and hours. Everyone is professional and knowledgeable, and I had a blast pursuing my license with CIA. I took a couple of years to do so due to being at college on the East Coast, but if I had been in one place for long enough I am sure I would have been able to complete my training much faster! For my dad's 50th birthday, I organized a trip to Santa Rosa island for him and my family. Our trip date coincided with the Camarillo Airshow, which is a busy time at the airport. Nonetheless, the staff were efficient and able to get our flight underway without delay. Our pilot Mark provided great commentary about the islands during the short flight, and was a wonderful host during our time on the Island. We were able to tour the island's historic ranch as well as several scenic overlooks. He was able to provide the perfect balance between being a tour guide and leaving us to explore. All in all, CIA is a top notch company that I would recommend for flight instruction or scenic tours to the Channel Islands! read more

I have friends who are pilots and most everyone did there first solo around 15-20 flight hours, nothing but a horror story here as they only want you for your money and to do that they get you to pay for as many hours as they think you can afford and then still have the heart to tell you your not ready. I recommend calling as many schools as you can to find one right for you and check there reviews. read more

The lineman at the ramp was very friendly offering me a ride to the neighboring / competing FBO. Too bad I didn't know beforehand that CIA also offers FBO services and its fuel is only 5c more expensive... Will definitely come back and update my review on their FBO services next time! read more

One of the best experiences ever. Right from the receptionist the pilot/tour guide, the whole team was professional and friendly. Jonathan was our pilot/tour guide for the day trip to Santa Rosa island and he was very knowledgeable, friendly, accommodating, and cheerful throughout the whole trip. It was an amazing place to be at and the experience was made even better with the staff from Channel Island Aviation. Thanks! Definitely want to go back. read more

Channel Islands Aviation - Beach at Santa Rosa island - Tours Near Me - Camarillo, California

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If I could go give this place a -5 stars I would. I took two days off of work to prepare for an aviation test. Then scheduled it through their testing center pay their $160 fee and arrived on time 15 minutes early and they decided they were Overbooked with no caller notification to me. Now because of the urgency of getting this test done I must drive to LA take another day off work cost me thousands of dollars because of their incompetence. I am near to my private pilots license and thinking about an aviation company to help me get to the finish line with my private lessons But I would rather drive to LA then use his company. They had the opportunity to bump someone else that was scheduled 3 days away and they said that was not an option I guess that next person is more important. read more

They have the best training fleet i have seen. Flight instructors are top notch. Art went out of his way to make sure our first flight experience was not just informative but fun . read more

The maintenance department had a lot to be desired for. I brought my plane to them over 3 months ago and it still is not complete. They did try to give it back to me but after one flight it was leaking oil so badly I couldn't fly it again so now I am expecting another 3 months for them to fix an oil leak. I would not recommend the maintenance department to anyone. read more

First, I have to state that I loved the experience of going to Santa Rosa Island and Tom, the pilot was outstanding; I can't say enough good things about him. The time on the island and the flight to and from was great. I loved the experience of going to Santa Rosa Island, but this review is based on the company Channel Islands Aviation and not an island. I bought a voucher through Living Social and had a hard time booking a flight once I purchased the trip. I bought a trip for two and all the flights I looked at for the next 6 weeks only had one spot available. I booked my trip for the end of March. I then received an email with the following info: Total Airfare: $0.00 Discount Applied: $0.00 Tax (FET): $0.00 Segment Fees: $15.60 TOTAL: $15.60 Gift Code Applied: $15.60 This sure looks to me like I owe nothing, but I wanted to be sure so I emailed the company to ask for some clarification. They never replied. The day of the flight arrived. At the counter, they sure enough wanted to charge me the $15.60 "segment fees" (whatever those are), PLUS they decided they wanted to charge me another $19.76 in taxes on top of that. You know, the line item above that says ZERO. When I produced the email printout and asked for some clarification, the slightly snippy woman behind the counter said, "Huh. I'll have to have our IT guy look into it," and insisted I pay it, anyway. "No-one else has complained," she said. Was I going to let my $257.00 trip go to waste over an additional 14% fee? I paid it. This is terrible customer service. They never responded to my email ("Sorry," was the entire response to that issue when I brought it up) and then I was charged not one, but two fees they basically sprang on us at the counter. They should have offered to waive the fee or eat it themselves. Imagine if a movie theater or gas station tried to do business like this. It's shame that I didn't get to tip the pilot (which I didn't realize was customary before the trip), but the extra fees ate up both my spare cash and my goodwill. I was a manager for years at customer service-intensive businesses and this is not anything I would have allowed to happen under my watch. EDIT - after posting this, the business called my phone and left a voicemail that asked only that I call them back. No subject, no other information. I see they have made an official reply to my first review. This is my reply to their reply: ______________ 1. The problem could have been totally avoided if the confirmation email from CIA was more clearly worded. The blame is not with Living Social's voucher, which was clearly worded. 2. As stated above, I e-mailed CIA for clarification. I received no response. This could have cleared up the issue far in advance. 3. "Multiple" voicemails = one voicemail, left after I posted this review on Yelp. The voicemail made no mention of an offer of refund. For the record, I am not seeking a refund. 4. At no point do I mention I paid in cash for anything. I said the unexpected fees "ate up both my spare cash and my goodwill". In fact, I had no cash on me at all. In this instance "spare cash" was a figure of speech intended to mean "extra money". The wording was perhaps unclear, I acknowledge. This should have been "made right" before the fact by correcting any system "glitches" before they affect customers, by answering your emails, or by prompt attention to the matter when presented at the time of the issue. After the fact is not an acceptable way to deal with this. Thank you for your offer, but I am uninterested in any action other than CIA treating its future customers in a fashion that does not result in this sort of situation. read more

As one of Channel Islands Aviations career students I wanted to write a review to clear up any trepidation you might have about this place. I'm not really sure why someone would give this place 2 stars because you won't find a better flight school in the area. I did all of my flight ratings here, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine Instrument and Flight Instructor. I still rent and fly planes here frequently while working as full time Airbus 320 pilot for a Major U.S. Airline. The staff are very friendly, the instructors are some of the best and most experienced I have ever seen and the airplanes are new and very very well maintained. Camarillo is a great airport to learn to fly out of, you get all kinds of weather and airspace experience. I can't say enough good things about CIA. Its a great place to start your airline career or just learn to fly for fun. read more

Great place to learn how to fly. Or to take a flight to the channel Island. Friendly people work there.

My husband and son were traveling to Catalina Island for a weekend of scuba diving with friends. The last boat from Long Beach left at 7 p.m., making it difficult to fight the traffic and make the shuttle on time. CIA flew the "boys" to their destination, providing convenience and an extra adventure to their weekend. Fantastic! I highly recommend them. read more

My husband bought the Groupon for us to go to Santa Rosa Island. We had an amazing time. Mark was our pilot and he really showed us a great day. Loved the plane ride. Very comfortable and Mark told us all kinds of history on our way there. Then he drove us around in an Expedition which was very comfortable and told us more interesting stories. The island was beautiful....it was a magnificent day. People could go hiking or fishing (one couple went fly fishing). Well worth the full price. A very fun outing. read more

Wife and I took the Santa Rosa flight today with Tom the pilot. He was fantastic, extremely knowledgeable and very helpful. The whole day was great and the people from CIA are real pros. Remember to tip your pilot/guide! read more

This review is for flight training. First of everyone is nice here. I have two flight instructors and they are both great, David and Michael. What I appreciate the most is the communication off training hours. Sometimes I had questions, after the training even the day after, and they did a great job to answer promptly all of my text messages. I have a great time here and glad to select this place for my training. read more

A Wonderful Day Trip! My husband grew up here, and took the family boat to the Islands as a child. So he had no interest in riding a tourist boat out there, but when I discovered there was a flight out to Santa Rosa Island, he was all for it. The flight was quick and beautiful. Our pilot, Jonathan, was quite skilled. We had beautiful weather and were expecting to spend all day hiking to see Torrey Pines, but the pilot had a vehicle to shuttle us over to the trail head, so it was very doable. Jonathan really made the day with his shuttle, great attitude and tidbits of information about the natural and cultural history of the island. I really could not have asked for a more perfect trip. read more

The FAA test center is totally messed up. I will not take another test here or send a student to take an exam here. It is difficult to get a reservation. They are crazy fussy about the wording of an endorcement. I had to get a letter of endorcement on letterhead faxed to them. They cannot enter the correct address. They cannot issue a refund after jerking me around for over an hour and half. Take your FAA exams somewhere else. read more

For a tour of the area or the islands by competant pilots: it scores a B+ For a training school: Unless money is no object it scores a F ----- The desk staff is very courteous, but the management are nothing but money hungry. They will show you a very nice school with a "prediction of the cost of flying lessons", which is a fairly expensive hobby. BUT as time goes into the process, the requirements start to skyrocket, the demands get more and the cost goes way UP. More hours are needed and the cost of the plane hikes up every few weeks with the statement " with rising cost of gas we have to increase the cost of the rental. We will adjust when the cost goes down" . I can assure you over three years, that has never happened once! The Training School Director, Sarah, is cold and calculating. Not a person to trust. I tried to work a deal to purchase a plane, but since this might "cost" her company money", she killed the deal. On the other hand the teachers are very kind, it is just the back staff that kills this facility. If you are looking to get licensed, by a reputable company who looks after its students, this is not the place. You will lose your shirt! My advise, instead of paying over twice the "projected cost" for your Private License at a training tower airport (another downfall as the tower controllers are all training for other airports. Soo many close calls people!), go 10 more min to Santa Paula. Great staff, much more reasonable fees for the planes, small airport ( hey when you master this strip, you can master them all!!) and MUCH better weather (Camarillo gets bad fog most of the year). THis leads to delays, delays and then re-learning!!!! $$$$$$$ Save time, be surrounded by pilots who care, master the small strip and dont get almost killed at a training control tower airport and save money. Go Santa Paula and forget CIA!! FYI: I scored in the 90's on my written and am now a commercial pilot. (albeit at another facility) It wasnt my lack of ability, it was their changing the system to get the most $$ out of their students that delayed me in my career. read more

Definitely a MUST DO.. they will make sure that everything is perfect before take-off and if that means waiting for the fog to lift you will. Wonderful staff ..great tours available..and Santa Rosa Island is surrounded with BEAUTY. read more

I Fly into CMA all the time mainly for Lunch. The line service at CIA has always been great but now it's Awesome. Nick is always willing to help push back, tie down, wash windows and even add air to the tires! They fuel you up in a jiffy and the prices are very reasonable. Great friendly service, highly recommend. read more

Our son had a great time attending a couple sessions of flight school well under the supervision of the instructor Del. All the staff are very friendly and listen to the needs of students and parents. Also our son participated in flight lessons. We are looking forward to future classes with you. Thank you for developing young minds for the future Pilots. read more

I've hired many a bush plane, been in private jets a bit. This company counts on its monopoly to land in the Channel Islands Park. They confuse words such as "deposit" when they mean, fork it out in full. Fuel prices down but they go up up up; never occurs to them to apologize for billing you twice for the same one service and taking up your precious time. A discount? laugh harder. They will interrogate the pilot (I tipped fine, they were great but you'd think after decades of going almost daily they might learn a name or two of plants.) But it wasn't pilots' circus and not their monkey. It's the phone staff that elevates mediocrity to a high art. They have to add a surcharge but don't know for whom they collect it, until you demand a second or third time to know. The call answering staff are referred to as GIRLS, and clearly they are in that age range and have not yet reached womanly proportions of customer interaction. Would not hire again if other option exists. Top dollar. Low rent. read more

My boyfriend and I booked a day trip to Santa Rosa Island with CIA. We had a wonderful experience. The pilot also served as tour guide and since the vehicle was available he took all passengers who wanted to on a driving tour of the island to acquaint us and allow us to get our bearings. He was full of information and suggestions. Overall it was a wonderful experience. read more

Channel Island avaiation flew us over to Santa Rosa island and gave us a tour of the East central side of the island. We had to reschedule twice due to high winds, but that's how it is when you fly, especially to the Channel Islands. I wouldn't want to be on Santa Rosa with 40 knot winds. The second reschedule we had driven to the Camarillo airport and after we found it was cancelled we ended up eating at the excellent restaurant next door. Tom was our pilot and tour guide and knew alot about Santa Rosa, he was an excellent pilot and landed the plane on a little dirt strip with a minimum of bouncing. We also had an elderly gentleman with our group who had first been on the island in 1937. He had been an archeaologist and shared many obscure facts about the island. He led us to an anchient pygmy mammoth bone that no one knew about. We had a picnic lunch that we had brought and ate outside the Vickers ranch house, since you can't go iinside. The Torrey Pine forest was interesting, too. All in all it was a lot of fun. We purchased this off Groupon and had to reschedule twice but it was an exciting and interesting trip to a piece of California that we wouldn't otherwise have a chance to visit. CIA could more effectively market these trips with more emphasis on the tour. Our group of four brought snorkel equipment but unless we seperated from the group we wouldn't be able to do it, so we didn't snorkel. Excellent trip, great pilot/guide, interesting destination! I recommend it. read more

Our son attended both Youth Aviation Academy this summer and it was the BEST experience ever. The staff and instructors are very friendly and caring. The instructor, Del, is amazing. He really cared about the students and parents. All staff at CIA were very caring, friendly and helpful. Our son also took a few flight lessons and he loved every second of it. The pilots Dave and Leif were wonderful. Each time he got out of the plane he would be smiling from ear to ear. He also enjoyed doing the Flight Simulator with Mike (Pilot/instructor). We are looking forward to,many more classes with CIA! read more

My husband and I booked a flight to Channel Islands in March. We called in April to confirm the date, and CIA confirmed that we were on for May 18. We were told what to bring and all the details to make the upcoming day a success. We called and reconfirmed on Tuesday May 14. CIA called us Thursday to reconfirm again and go over the details and items to bring with us. Sounding GOOD? Well, on Friday May 17 they called us to cancel our reservation because the flight was over booked. They could come up with NO explanation as to why over the past 2 months no one had noticed there was a problem and that they were still calling to firm two days before. To say this was a huge inconvenience would be an understatement. They have offered to rebook us (not until) June 29...but I guess we won't know for sure until we are actually on the plane. Terrible service, no apology, no call back from the owner as we requested. Makes us feel like this is business as usual!! read more