If you want to go to the airlines this flight school is not the place for you . Be prepare to do more than 16 pre solo which by the way is a huge red flag they are gonna make sure to double your lessons to be able to get all the money want . It's gonna take you a lot of time to get your license . Their scheduling system is horrible . I had a terrible experience with one of my instructor I only felt like I wasn't receiving what I was paying off he was a creep.They are for sure some good instructors that do care for you and there's are for sure people that care .If you don't mind taking your time completing your license this could be a place for you .They have too many students but not enough airplanes be ready for them in winter to give you only one hour of class in the airplane which is only going to give the opportunity to land and take off that's it .This school is a fraud . read more

Professional and Polite. Excellent place to learn to fly. My son is learning and loving it! Steve and Neil are fantastic! If you want to learn to fly, I highly recommend this company! read more

My son did the long Island tour as part of a discovery flight before going to aviation college. The instructor (nick) was great and my son learned a lot during the flight and had a great experience. read more

Veteran friendly!! Wish I'd found this place sooner!! I've done training hours on 6 continents where the level of professionalism and safety varies widely--- this place is 100% professional! Did a BFR here last week and was just so impressed by the entire staff. Scheduling & dispatch was smooth, the wet rates were reasonable for well-maintained aircraft; ground time was efficient in the classroom, and right-seat input was absolutely valued. Can't emphasize enough the value of being around complex airspace. I walked away thinking they'd exceeded my expectations at every step. The entire place has great energy, I'll definitely be back. read more

I bought my husband the longest introductory flight they offer for a cost of $330. It goes from Manhattan to Montauk. I was so excited because he is interested in pursuing his pilot's license as a second career. He went for the lesson yesterday and did not receive the package I purchased. The man who scheduled the flight did not cross reference the purchase when he scheduled my husband. They were in the air for 16 minutes and saw the ocean and quickly came back. I was so upset because scheduling time for him to go with a 1 year old and taking up our friend who works crazy hours was difficult. We went in together to talk about the issue. They offered to take him up for the same short flight or slightly longer, but not for what I had originally purchased. I asked if they would, and they immediately asked for more money. I said no and he conceded to take him up for what I originally purchased but was not apologetic and somewhat dismissive blaming his new desk staff. To me, if you are running a business, just apologize because you made a mistake and then fix it with no extra fee or passing the blame. You highered the guy running your front desk and trained him. Hopefully, there will be no issues when they take him back up. Should have just looked into schools at Republic Airport. read more

Fantastic well trained instructors They cover every aspect of flight and will honestly rate the student. If you learn the correct way you will get you certification. The instructors give honest ratings so each student knows at the end of training, they are well prepared pilots. read more

I got my private pilot's license from Heritage Flight Academy. Reading the reviews and also the TX location of individuals, it seems that some of these reviews were probably from a similarly named Academy that's not too impressive. The real HFA impressed me very much. Not only are the people kind and welcoming, but they also show good common sense in their safety focus. The flight instructors are carefully chosen and all outstanding. During the course of my learning, I worked with one primary individual with others filling in the gaps here and there. Truly all were terrific, both in terms of their knowledge as well as their coaching manner. These were mainly young men... I am an older hobbyist in my 40s... and I was so impressed that individuals in their young 20s could have such authority and style in helping me achieve my own dreams here. I also got to know the leaders of the business. It is clear that they are lovers of aviation and of helping people achieve their aims. They're not cutting corners for financial or other reasons. Having spent so much time there, I really cannot imagine any intelligent student saying this is not a superbly run outfit. For this and many other reasons I give outstanding marks to Heritage Flight Academy. read more

Yes, this place employs a "fast track" approach to the FAA Airframe and Powerplant certification, and there is not a lot of instruction. There was a session going over common math problems at the beginning of the class (probably an hour or less), and then you are taken to a classroom in the hangar and are shown the best method of studying the guides to prepare for the tests. After that, you're kind of on your own, as far as studying. The value here (GREAT value) is having computer terminals in the classroom that are loaded with practice tests for the General, Airframe, and Powerplant exams. Once you have studied the entire study guide, you begin taking practice tests on the computer. Once you can consistently pass the test with about an 85% (not set in stone, you can take the FAA exam whenever you feel ready), you are taken to the FAA exam room in the same facility. This, to me, was worth the price of admission. Being able to take the exams immediately after spending hours or days studying the material ensures that it will be fresh in your mind. I was able to easily breeze through all 3 exams with passing grades. Once you've taken and passed the written exams, you are run through a "what to expect" for the Oral and Practical exams. This is not in depth, and they don't teach you how to use tools or perform tasks, but I didn't really expect a lot of hands-on. If you're taking this class, you are already a mechanic, and should have a pretty solid understanding of aircraft maintenance. If you are not already a mechanic, and are not familiar with aircraft maintenance, then this is not the place for you. This is designed for people (usually military mechanics) to get their FAA certification in a week or 10 days based on knowledge that is already possessed. If you don't have the knowledge, then you need one of the full 18 month classes for people just trying to get into the profession. The O&P prep consisted of a list of typical questions, and the references to find the answers if you feel uncomfortable with any of the questions. This is not a "guaranteed" list of questions, it's just a list of possibilities that students have seen in the past. It was helpful, but I probably would have been fine without it. The school will schedule your O&P from a pool of local DME's. Like the other reviewer, I was paired with Pete Borneman as my examiner. Yes, the write-up about him had some strict rules (no hat, don't ask for breaks, arrive early), but I found Pete to be a nice guy. He was direct and to the point, and seemed like he didn't want to waste time on nonsense. I'm good with that... I don't have time for nonsense, either. My oral exam consisted of me sitting with him in his office while he shotgunned questions at me. Keep cool and answer the questions and you'll be fine. The Practical exam consisted of about 9 hours of aircraft maintenance tasks, inspection, forms, logbook entries, sketching defects, etc... I will say the O&P was not easy. But if it was easy, everybody would be an airplane mechanic, right? It definitely wasn't anything that should be beyond the capabilities of a mechanic with a solid background in aircraft maintenance. I passed the O&P and was given a temporary A&P certificate by Pete (My permanent FAA certificate arrived in the mail less than a month later). Went back to the schoolhouse to let them know that I was done, and they helped me take care of all the paperwork to file my GI Bill claims. This is also a very valuable service that they provide. The staff at Heritage Flight Academy is very knowledgeable about the GI Bill claims process and will take care of just about everything for you if you're using the GI Bill to pay for the tuition. Overall, this course was well run. I liked the self-paced tempo, and the availability of experienced staff members to help out/answer questions if you have any. The benefit of having the FAA exam center right there in the facility is tremendous! Well worth the time, money and effort expended. read more

After flying with other inferior flight schools, Heritage Flight Academy has been the only one who cares about you as a flight training student, the individualized attention and support you receive while training is amazing, and I have never experienced it anywhere else. Amazing instructors, friendly and very helpful staff, awesome aircraft, and everything that makes a great flight school. I would highly recommend HFA to anyone who is looking to pursue their flight training dreams, one of the best choices I've ever made! read more

Heritage Flight Academy - Flight Instruction Near Me - Ronkonkoma, New York

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BEWARE! This "flight school" has a backwards syllabus. Be prepared to solo well after 60 hours.

For A&P license you better choose another school. Instructor provides wrong information about what type of projects to expect during a practical test. If you fail, they ignore your calls and emails to guide to your next steps. For that money you pay, they lead you through the written exams process and you get quite place to study, nothing else. Training is minimal. Another thing is - they choose you a DME and it is wrong, you better make a search yourself, read reviews and talk to other A&P mechanics for a references. DME charges $600-800, if you have enough experience you be sure you don't waste that money for nothing. One of a DMEs they work with Peter Boremann-if you get him, ask for another one, you have this right, just refuse!. One little mistake during test and you are done, he will stress you out to complete failure. For this guy you must be perfect. read more

Becoming a pilot is serious business. Only half of learning to fly is about controlling the aircraft. Of equal or greater importance is what's called "ground instruction", where you learn all the rules of flying, and the ground instruction here is more comprehensive than any school around. They are 100% straight up with what's required and what will be expected. Their size also allows them to be very flexible with scheduling training. Costs are competetive or better than other programs, and there is no need to 'buy in' to a package deal to get the better pricing. Mac Arthur is also a great airport to fly out of - it's a controlled airspace, but not so busy that you spend half your lesson on the ground taxiing and waiting for take-off. Overall, I trust these guys the most read more

To clarify my position prior to attending the A&P mechanics course at HFA I had several years aircraft maintenance experience and hold an EASA license. I looked into various facilities throughout America for getting the FAA A&P license and HFA came out as an excellent combination of price, convenience and availability of courses. Having contacted HFA and paying my deposit they quickly sent the 3 study guides for the General, Airframe & Powerplant exams. They emphasized the importance of studying the General Topic as we were to sit the test for that subject on the first morning upon arrival. Where I feel they were poor on was they did not emphasis sufficiently the need to study the Airframe and Powerplant topics as well. Having sat the CAA test several years ago and, knowing the complexity of the material, I made sure I completed all 3 study books twice prior to my arrival. However the other students on my course did not study them as much under the assumption that HFA would do that with them. However that is not what HFA is set up to provide. AThey will assist with facilities and access to training and study material but the vast majority of the studying for the tests is up to the student so come prepared for all 3 topics! Where HFA excels is preparation for the oral and practical exams. They have many years experience with working with 3 DME's and know the material the generally test on. They spend 2 days preparing you for the tests covering several topics which you will be examined on during the tests. They also provide copies of the FAR and AC.43-13 which are the basis for the majority of the oral & practical exams. Without the 2 day classroom I would have struggled to pass the practical exam even with my previous experience. The course is extremely good value for the cost but you must come prepared or you will be disappointed. read more

The school employs the "fast track" method of learning and aside from the 15 minutes or so of instruction that took place before the General Test there was nothing further in regards to the writtens. The remainder of time it takes to pass your Airframe and Powerplant tests you will be studying on your own and taking practice exams. You are basically paying for a quiet place to study. You will be expected pass the three written exams by Thursday morning and begin the O&P review. The Oral review consists of a Q&A of potential questions that have commonly been asked by the DME's. I would guess roughly 70% of the questions that I was asked were covered in some form. If you pay attention and study hard you'll pass the Oral. The Practical review is disappointing and contrary to the images and verbage on the website there is no hands-on training. You'll handle a Micrometer and Vernier but we never left the classroom. This was the aspect of the "refresher" that I looked forward to most and finding out that it was non-existent was a surprise. I could have done everything that the school did by purchasing a few ASA guides and placing a call to the local FSDO. The DME is chosen for you by the school and a "what to expect" is provided on the individual. While other DME's were described as laid back, straight forward, and takes their time, Peter Bornemans "what to expect" spoke of what I could and could not wear (including piercings and baseball caps, better cover those tattoos too), you "must" arrive at least 15 minutes early (your already arriving an hour earlier than any other DME requires), instructed not to ask for a break or lunch as you will not get one (it says bring a snack but I didn't even have time for that), it states don't let him catch you studying your O&P material in the parking lot before your exam (isn't that my time?), says if you smoke or chew-forget it, and it mentions not to forget to bring his cash three separate times. I made a mistake by not demanding another DME. I failed his Practical Test the first time on logbook entries/W&B/and Form 337. After requesting a different DME for the re-test and being denied due to the schools policy on remaining with the initial examiner. I was once again charged the full $650 by Pete Borneman who proceeded to fail me for setting my clean tools down on a Spark Plug Gap spec sheet that was caked in grease and for not accounting for the removal of a Pitot Static Cover when describing the sequence of events covering testing. Some of his projects were: Any&All discrepancies on an ELT, A&A of Fire Extinguisher, locate, identify, and describe how Fuel Adjustment Screw of a Fuel Control is set, use an Altimeter to find barometric pressure at 100ft, solder 2ea. wires onto motor, is battery serviceable/secured properly, inspect Pilot/Co-pilot seat belts list A&A., take fuel sample tell if contaminated, inspect fuel Shutoff Valve is it functional, inspect engine mounts list A&A, inspect Induction Air Cleaner list A&A, remove, inspect, and reinstall Airbox hdwr, inspect exhaust/shroud, identify 1ea. fuel, air, and oil line on engine, identify how air enters and exits engine cooling shroud, check oil level and identify if it is within legal flight limits. I'm 36 yr old prior service Marine 5 yrs CH-53E and 10yrs UH-60A-M. Plenty of experience for what many refer to as a learning license. read more

Extremely professional and courteous staff. I got my private and instrument rating with them. Always felt safe. The instructors are incredibly thorough. Neil, the CFO, is one of the nicest persons I know. I would highly recommend them. read more

I have always wanted to be and now am a pilot. The entire operation here is like no other that I know of. The Ground Crew is a bunch of helpful young men making sure these aircraft are constantly clean, fueled and ready to roll. The Operational Assistants at the front desk are ever so helpful and greatly appreciated when it comes to scheduling lessons and helping manage your specific training needs as well as career goals. Flight Instructors here understand there is a romance to flying as well as a high level of professionalism. Everyone here is clean cut in a shirt and tie. I have never felt so connected to the Aviation Industry until I found a new home, Heritage Flight Academy. read more

This school is a scam. If you are trying to get your A&P go to a different school. All these ratings on google seem fake, talking about kitchen utilities and one line reviews. Here is my experience: I went there to get my A&P in August, 2018(Big mistake) and was told over the phone that we will practice for 2 days. I assumed hands on but surprise it is just 2 days of an old guy talking with his powerplant slides and showing you videos. Complete waste of time. They will pocket all of your money first and forcefully schedule you with a DME. The scammer Steve admitted that he does that so that you can't back out when you realize that you got scammed. He will take full advantage of your situation. If you fail first try and trust me you will (no matter how smart or even if you memorize the book they give you word to word), then you have to wait one month and pay another $850 to retake the test. They will lie to you over the phone if they think you are a potential victim. Complete waste of money and time. Do NOT make that $500 deposit. Hopefully you find this helpful and avoid getting ripped off. read more

Very professional , great prep , This is for review , and I felt it was great for that......I sailed through the A&P prepared and confident....... As far as previous yelp reviews , seems like some sour grapes....... I am 50 years old with ADD and they prepped me and I passed ...... Enough said , I was very pleased Alan Fox... read more