Nothing but great things to say about the instruction and experience I've had so far at AFTC. I've…read morehad the pleasure of learning from and flying with Instructors Bryce and Christian. The level of professionalism and dedication to the students I've experienced from both Bryce and Christian have been extremely valuable to my development as a pilot. They really want you to succeed not only as a pilot but as a person.

EIGHT MONTHS AND $32,393. That's how much time and money I spent just to get my private pilot's…read morelicense even though I was trying to train FULL TIME. If only I could give this place zero stars for the amount of suffering I have had to get this license. I had high hopes of this place because it is part 141 and they told me they get DPEs the fastest in the valley to schedule checkrides which who knows is true and doesn't even matter when they had no interest in progressing me through my license and was just interested in taking my money. Brandon was my first CFI who I thought was a great instructor until the true colors started to show after two months. We were having regular classes until suddenly after New Year's he drastically slowed down my training in favor of taking new students. This really angered me as I wanted to train full time. Next problem I saw was he wasn't preparing me at all for the stage checks. There was so much discrepancy what the examiner wanted and what my CFI was teaching me, and they made it worse by blaming it on me while I was literally being set up for failure. Retraining for the stage checks really added to the total cost, especially when one of them was a cross country for no reason, and this happened multiple times that I had to switch my CFI to Daniel before I lost all sanity. This switch cost more than usual because I had to get reindorsed during the cross-country stage. But I still couldn't pass the second stage check because the examiners, even the whole school is against me and just want my money. There was even a time when I had to sit for about EIGHT WEEKS of no progress whatsoever. This was the school's idea of punishing me because I got a pilot deviation during my solo cross country instead of taking some of the blame and realizing their curriculum is setting us up for failure. I got the deviation because they don't think it is important for students to learn how to use a GPS to cross-check when the dead reckoning calculations were wrong. What made it worse is my CFI looked at my wrong calculations and endorsed it, making me have no reason to think it could be wrong later. This really made me depressed especially when all my friends and family are not in Arizona and I didn't have a good way to pass the time as I planned on training full time. I had such an unpleasant experience in the stage checks themselves. Chris did most of my exams and he is just an unfriendly person to be around. Forget about failing the actual stage check because he will insult you and make you worthless in the debriefing. I bet the military doesn't disrespect you this much. I just wanted a simple discussion with him, but he thought I was arguing and didn't even want to talk to me because he had some 15,000 hours of experience while I was worthless not having any license. I requested Nick to do my stage check as if that was going to be different. I did everything what was required at the time almost perfectly, but he just made up a reason to not pass me. At this point I was done with the school because I saw they had no intention of letting me finish my license and just wanted to take my money quietly. I had to finish my training at another school and waste even more money showing my new CFI what I knew. I learned more in one month there compared to seven months at AFTC. I also learned half the things AFTC taught me were just completely wrong, so I had to waste more money unlearning those habits. My checkride examiner almost failed me because I was referencing Jeppesen during the oral portion which is apparently not FAA-certified. How AFTC became part 141, let alone a flight school, with all these bad practices is anyone's guess. All the five-star reviews are from bribery. If you value your time, money, and sanity, stay far away from this school. It is anything but family.

Nice people, but having to buy my own insurance, and then pay full price for the rental didn't work…read morefor me

From the owner: Ever wanted to fly, but not sure it's for you? Take advantage of our "Discovery Flight", a…read morehands-on 30 minute flight where you get to actually fly the aircraft. A half hour flight is only $100 Private License Instrument Rating Commercial License CFI/CFII Multi-Engine Multi Instrument Flight Reviews Aircraft Rental Trial/Discovery Flights

I highly recommend training at Scottsdale Executive Flight Training. Currently as a 777 Pilot and…read morecertified flight instructor myself, I sent my daughter here after a disastrous time at Sierra Charlie Aviation. She spent over 6 months at Sierra Charlie Aviation and because of their incompetence, lack of awareness and poor scheduling, I pulled my daughter out of their program and sent her to Scottsdale Executive Flight Training. She was paired up with her instructor Maddie Moles, whom I cant say enough good things about. Under Maddie's supervision and instruction, my daughter, Calie has far exceeded and excelled at this flight school. They keep you informed, aware of progress and have a plan in place to keep their students moving forward at all times. Not only was Maddie instrumental in Calie's progress, the Chief pilot and head of Cessna training, Nick Lane, went above and beyond to make sure Calie was ready to pass her check ride without issues. Calie is looking forward to continuing training here at Scottsdale Executive!

Booked a surprise flight pilot ride for my wife on here birthday, however, it was a flop, and the…read moreflight was canceled on her birthday due to bad weather. We got to know about it once we reached the airport. Anyways we had to reschedule and as per availability, got for 2 weeks later. My wife loved it and it was a nice experience overall. Not easy to handle Cessna's but worth the once-in-a-lifetime experience. The pilot who flew with my wife was nice and welcoming. He engaged in small talk and did not let my wife bore me during the flight by answering all the queries. Taking away one star since I had to followup multiple times for the downgrade difference refund.

Wow What a great experience Kaylin Smith was very, very professional. She explained all the aspects…read moreof the flight from take off the landing she answered all of my sons questions and made sure he was ready and allowed him to fly the plane. my son had a huge smile on his face from start to finish.

I did a bit of homework before I booked a Discovery Flight as a treat for myself. I talked to a…read morecouple of aviator buddies, and all have said this place was really good. I've now been here twice, and the staff have been great both times. Initially, I came for a tour and then set up a Discovery Flight a few weeks later. I was paired up with a female CFI, and it was a really good fit. CL was amazing with me from start to finish and really took the time to show me things, and I really appreciated that. We did a flight pre check, and then both climbed in and got ready to fly. The great thing about this place is that they have all the same Cessna 172s to teach their students. And, they all use G1000s EFIS. Maintainence of planes are done in-house, and everyone talks about how regularly they upkeep their planes and all are in very good condition. It was really fun going on this Discovery Flight, and I'm hooked! The next step is to get the process going to get my PPL...so I'll be back here soon enough.

Ben has been an excellent flight instructor for me and is honestly just a really nice guy who's…read moreeasy to learn from. He's a true people person who actually listens and understands how I learn, then adjusts his teaching to match. That made every lesson productive and comfortable. He's knowledgeable, calm, and safety focused, and the way he explains things makes challenging concepts much easier to understand. I was able to earn my Private Pilot License with Ben, and I'm now continuing my training with him as I work toward my IFR rating. His briefings and debriefs are always thorough and constructive, and I never feel rushed or talked over. Everyone else I've met at Leopard Aviation has also been awesome. The other instructors, including Logan, are always friendly and take the time to say hi when I walk in, which genuinely makes me want to keep coming back. I'd highly recommend Leopard Aviation to anyone looking for high quality instruction in a welcoming, professional environment.

I moved my wife and kids from Minnesota to Arizona in spring of 2023 to pursue my CFI certification…read moreat Leopard Aviation. Their estimated cost was $5,500 and completion in 6 to 10 weeks. I kept my schedule open for lessons. For the first 5 weeks, I met with my instructor about 3x/week. My check ride was scheduled for July, right on schedule with what the school had initially outlined. Two days before the check ride, for the first time in my training, my instructor said he didn't consider me ready and cancelled the exam. Shocked but following their judgment, I continued to study and work with my instructor. At this point he had stopped putting me on his schedule unless I specifically asked. Otherwise, I didn't hear from him. Eventually I switched instructors, but the new one was much the same; flying with me often for the first few weeks and then not communicating unless I reached out. In addition, I asked every week if there was an update on a check ride date, to which the invariable response was, "We're working on getting you a check ride next month." This continued for 5 months -- studying like it was my full-time job, pushing my instructor to put me on his schedule, paying for extra flights to keep up my skills while my instructor said that the check ride was just around the corner -- until January 2024 when I reached out to the owner of Leopard. I told him what was going on and, after his own digging, he told me that my instructor had no intention of scheduling me for a check ride and didn't believe I knew the basics of flight (I had at this point passed my PPL, CPL, and IFR rating and had over 300 hours of flight time). This was the first I had heard anything of this sort. I told the owner, and he responded, "you know, a lot of these young instructors would rather sugarcoat their feedback than be blunt." This meant leading me on for 8 months, over 30 flights and costing me over $15,000, his response was that I should either start over at Leopard or move on to another flight school. I called Red Rock Flight School in Mesa to book a "report card" flight with their chief pilot. His review confirmed what I already knew. The chief pilot said that I clearly knew what I was doing and that Leopard did not properly evaluate my skill level as I safely and successfully flew a plane I had never flown, with INOP gauges. I immediately started at another flight school flew with them 9 times (mostly to learn a plane I had never flown) and passed my check ride on the first attempt. Under no circumstances would I recommend Leopard Aviation. The integrity of a school comes down from the top. In Leopard's case, the owner did not take any responsibility for the way my instructors had led me on, cost me 3x the money and 5x the time with nothing to show for it. Instead he offered to let me spend more money at his school or leave my investment behind and start over somewhere else. To close, a quote from Leopard Aviation's website: "We focus on being efficient with your time and resources, providing clear guidance and strategies to success, and reducing the frustration and stresses that can develop with flight training. We believe anyone can learn to fly, and that there is no such thing as a bad student, only a bad instructor."