!!!!BEWARE OF THIS PLACE!!! Ask the surrounding flight schools and pilots and just say 'OC flight lessons' and listen to what they have to say. I was a student here for 6 months. Very unprofessional and unethical ownership! planes with non working oil pressure gauges which are required instruments....malfunctioning radios...and charging an insane 275$ an hour hidden rental fee cost (photo attached) to fly in clapped out 1970's era Cessna 172's with steam gauges that break down and have to be emergency landed on the local freeway. (Photo attached) He even has his employees leaving fake reviews. Francesca and max are both employees of Omar Amin and they left the last two 5 star reviews. That's quite unethical. And notice how in every honest review Omar's response is 'this is a fake review'. Everything is fake except for himself. For a man who loves giving so much constructive criticism he has a hard time swallowing the honest truth himself and taking any accountability. He sells an airline pilot program that includes multi engine training. And he doesn't even own a multi engine airplane even though he has a photo of one on his website. This place unfortunately is a watered down bootleg version of ATP. Omar Amin is your best friend before he takes your money then doesn't care anything about you. I watch this show called 'lockup' on MSNBC and talking to omar feels like I'm in prison trying to tell the prison guard about the unfair conditions....it's a very degrading experience talking to Omar if you have problems with ANYTHING. He has WAY too many students for such a small little fleet of 7 airplanes. Once you sign up he will make you fly 3 hours a day 5 days a week for 3 months then he will throw you onto a shelf and bring in 13 more new 'kids'/victims into his 'program' who saw his tacky ads online and repeats the same process over. Then he will randomly call you up and tell you that you have a checkride coming up in 2-3 weeks even tho you have no cross country time...no hood work...and haven't even created your first NAV log yet and don't even feel comfortable doing your cross country solo flights either. And This just happened to one of his students who left that school fortunately 2 days ago before he got hurt. Safety is not paramount at that place!!! Money and greed takes priority over his students and instructors. I left that school fortunately to escape this hot mess of greed and unprofessionalism and in doing so omar refused to give me my full deposit back of 1,000$ ...he only gave me back 250$ With no reasonable excuse or even a response to where the rest of it is. Then he went and charged 2500$ for a early dismissal out of his 'program' even tho it's not even a program. Omar Amin 'low key' charges 275$ an hour for just the plane if you pay lesson by lesson which is ridiculous but he charges the same heinous amount even if your in his 'program'. I'm trying to figure out what the benefit even is if we pay all this money up front and we get charged the same amount as people who pay lesson by lesson. Omar Amin is a part 61 school but he charges more then a part 141 school. Omar is so unethical he won't even list his prices on his web site like all other normal flight schools because he knows once people see 275$ an hour they won't be showing up. Omar is so paranoid and unethical he's alleging people are calling from 'fake' numbers to get his true hourly rate. I don't even have time for that drama I work full time. So that tells me he's paranoid because he knows exactly what he does. His instructors 'low key' all hate working there. They verbally list all of Omar's unethical practices behind his back to the students and They are too afraid to voice their opinion out loud because they basically just want to get 1500 hours and leave which can be done fast at that place the way Omar Amin burns his students hours up. Everyone is underpaid at 20$ an hour under the table including his clutch secretary who has to deal with all the people Omar ripped off while he hides in his office like 'Saul Goodman' in an episode of 'Call Saul'. Omar plays both sides. Taking advantage of his instructors and students. I'm truly convinced any ethical good instructor wouldn't and can't work in that environment watching omar Amin jeopardize students safety and overcharge them at the same time. Which is why the turnover rate for instructors at that place is HIGH!!! Omar has good marketing for his school targeting young kids who know nothing about aviation and getting them in the front door BUT he has a hard time retaining any students!!!! On average a certificate is obtained in 70-90 hours. At Omar's school you'll be lucky to get your first solo flight in at 90 hours on average. My best advice to Omar would be telling him to spend less time worrying about online reviews and more time on his non existent syllabus and picking up his dogs feces from the carpet of the school so the students don't have to do it. read more

I wish I could leave negative stars! I highly DONT recommend this place. This place is EXTREMELY misleading which is why they target young teenagers out of high school who know nothing about aviation in tacky Instagram videos online because they have no good word of mouth recommendations. The owner omar Amin is also extremely unethical. Go to other schools in the area and just ask around don't just take my word for it. Several people signed up to this school because he offers multi engine certifications in the airline program......but the real truth is he doesn't even own a multi engine airplane. Thats misrepresentation and That's false advertising. He also advertises multiple certifications beyond commercial pilot. But he has a 200 hour cap on the program. Which basically makes the certifications unattainable without going over 250 hours and paying more then 96,000$. So I don't see how you can be a CFi or have any commercial multi engine certifications and be under 250 hours since it takes 250 hours to even be eligible for a commercial certification and his program only comes with 200 flight hours and 50 simulator hours. He's also extremely manipulative and arrogant. He actually tries to gas light people who want their invoices and receipts for training they've received. Paying 100,000$ for training you should be able to get your invoices upon request with no questions asked. At any other flight school you can see your invoices on Apps at anytime. At this school he doesn't want you to see them because he doesn't want you to know how much money you've actually spent. I can buy a cup of 6$ coffee and get a receipt but I can't spend 100,000$ and get one without being gas lighted and guilt tripped. Any businesses that gas light customers trying to obtain invoices should be a bright red flag . And when you figure out half the program is a literal scam and Omar doesn't even own the airplanes for you to complete the program and you find another school that can accommodate you Omar will charge you 15% of the cost of his program for 'administrative' fees to leave his scammy program which comes out to 15,000$ just to leave that place. He's even threatened people who wanted to leave the program after they've realized it's a Ponzi scheme by saying things like 'you don't want to leave it's a small industry' basically hinting he will mess with your future job opportunities by making phone calls. I've personally heard omar say this out loud about instructors who left when they found this place is just a scam. Omar even got fired from the airlines himself he has no weight in the industry. He's under FAA investigation and Nobody has ever even completed the program as he's advertised. They usually get the private pilot certification and go to other schools in the area. Not to mention the high failure rate. Only about 55% of applicants even pass the oral exam and that's due to the schools lack of any syllabus. All Omar cares about is burning your hours thru the roof....he doesn't care about your knowledge because he gets paid more to fly you 5 days a week for 3 hours a day which is unheard of. And before you know it you will have 200 hours and not even an instrument rating. Then he will sit back and blame you as the student like it's our job to know where we should be at in training like we wanted to fly 100 hours in a 30 day period. I'm trying to figure out what's more broken....Omar's program ...or Omar himself. Then when you decide to leave it will take him literally months to get your refund because he makes you pay in advance. This was beyond the worst experience I've ever had dealing with a legitimate business in my entire life. Complete fraud and misrepresentations from start to finish. And it's funny how every student at this place is gonna run out of hours before even the commercial certifications and he's gonna make it seem like it's the students fault. And Omar knows this. Which is why he will never buy the multi engine airplane he advertises because he knows your going to run out of hours before getting to that certification. So when you leave this school or whatever you wanna call it....you basically spent 96,000$ to be a commercial pilot which that certification at any local school costs about half that amount. It's completely ridiculous and the owner needs to be ashamed of himself. My advice....ask around before signing any contract with this dude. His contract is made to basically chain you down to his school after you find out it's a scam so he can keep taking what little money you have left. No shame. And he alleges he cares so much about his students in all his advertisements as he lists a program containing planes he doesn't even own! What a shame the aviation community has people in it like this. So if you want to be a airline pilot....it's not gonna happen here. read more

I don't recommend this school for flight training. The ownership is extremely unethical to say the least. I attended this school for 6+ months and accumulated 190 hours of flight training and haven't even gotten my instrument certificate and haven't even done my cross country solo flights. At one point ....I didn't even receive 'any' training for over a month while enrolled and made myself fully available quitting my full time job and even moving locally with an open schedule. Upon un-enrollment from the school i received my invoices for each lesson and I was charged 'block rates' which aren't defined or even mentioned anywhere in my contract I signed. Not to mention it took 3-4 months to even get my invoices. And going over the contract closely page by page things contradict each other. In the contract the owner states 'you must fly 20hours per week' failure to do so will result in a withdrawal from the program and any money in his possession that has been prepaid will not be refunded. Then 2 pages later he states 'the student must fly 2 times a week 3 times a week is what's recommended'. Well....how can you fly for 20 hours in 3 days. That's impossible if you're only flying for 1.3 hours (which is the average time of each lesson) twice a day you can't accomplish that even if you flew for 5 days a week. And he also states on that document he will refund your pre paid money with a 15% fee. But a page earlier he said it's not refundable. This contract is all over the place to say the least. Not to mention 'Omar Amin' the owner misrepresented himself entirely from the start in his advertising of this 'program' and doesn't even own a multi engine airplane. But he has money for a Rolls Royce and a recently acquired jet which has nothing at all to do with the school. One of his instructors is at another school right now getting his multi engine certification which is hilarious in itself because Omar claims to own a piper multi engine airplane in his advertisement for his airline program. He also has a 250 hour limit on his airline program. How can you be a CFi or have a multi engine commercial certification and finish with 250 hours when it takes 250 hours to even apply for a commercial certification with a single engine airplane. I've personally sat down and talked to 'MULTIPLE' people/victims and compared their invoices and stories and accounts and they were all virtually identical. That school is literally sending their students out of state to Oregon do their checkrides because most the local DPE examiners refuse to go to that school because the planes are just crap. They literally have 1 plane that's checkride worthy and even it is barely airworthy and have a photo of that specific plane landed in the middle of the street due to engine failure. Omar has had plane's emergency land on the road due to engine failure....multiple flap malfunctions mid air on student cross country flights and dual flights...he even recently had an alternator fail on a student doing his cross country solo to Camarillo and he had to talk to ATC via his cellphone.......he even had a plane crash land on the runway at John Wayne airport with a student inside barely escaping uninjured. I also found out the owner Omar Amin is actually under FAA investigation currently It's a small world and your reputation precedes itself good luck on that charter certificate with that jet when you can't even keep your fleet of c172's in order. Attached are my invoices and how I was billed .....his contract...his airplane landed in the middle of the street with a student inside due to engine failure......and his rate sheet which doesn't make sense. He literally charges people more money to be in his airline program for no reason whatsoever and we even pay in advance.. all it does is tie you down to his school while he burns your hours up and when you figure out how ineffective his 'program' is and want to leave due to his total incompetence he wants to threaten you and keep your money. This by far was one of the worst experiences I've ever had dealing with a legitimate read more

CAUTION*****Do not go to this establishment My experience here wasn't good at all. This school ran up my hours and the owner is extremely unethical and unprofessional. Its clearly all about money with this man and cares nothing about his students and his actions make that pretty obvious. It's his business he can run it how he wants but he's also gonna suffer the same consequences as one that has unethical practice. Omar sells an airline program but it's not even a program. After close analysis of my invoices I requested ----- he basically charged me 275$ an hour to rent a Cessna for each lesson. And everything is block rates. There's no place in California that even charges 275$ an hour to rent a single engine Cessna with steam gauges. I've looked for hours. Which is why he doesn't list his prices. How convenient. He also makes you sign a contract that if you choose to leave his program for a better cheaper program after you enroll he can charge you up to 15% the cost of the program for what he claims is 'administrative fees'. Photo attached for proof of this contract. He charges people outside the program lower rates... even tho everyone is flying the same plane and using the same instructors which doesn't make any sense. You also pay him up front in the airline program. Outside the program his customers pay lesson by lesson. So why are we paying 100$ an hour more? My experience at this school showed me there's not 1 single benefit of joining such a program. And when you decide to leave which in my case I did due to what I call low standards then your subject to a 15,000$ fee as his contract states. And many people made the decision to leave while I was there including myself so the numbers add up. My advice to pilots is before signing anything at any school. Go out and ask questions and feedback from local respected certified pilots first. If I would have done my due diligence before signing up I would have seen the 'Better business Bureau' complaints people have filed in the past. I mean Everything is public record. My biggest mistake is doing all the research after the fact. Among one of my safety concerns and why I left is because he scheduled me a checkride I wasn't ready for and wanted me to do cross country solo flights I didn't feel prepared to do with the training I had received. read more

Avoid this scam of a flight school. The owner doesn't even have the multi engine airplane he advertises. And the planes he does have are beat! So beat they have to be emergency landed on the street....inoperative oil pressure gauges...I've even personally seen him let a student take a plane up that he knew had cylinder issues and as soon as the student took off it had even more issues and almost had to be emergency landed. All this guy cares about is money. And taking yours. People have been enrolled in his airline program since COVID... for literal multiple years and can't even finish it because he doesn't even own the required planes he claims he owns in his own advertisement. Not only that ...he has a 250 hour cap on hours but he sells a program where 2 of the certifications can only be gained after completing commercial but it takes 250 hours to be a commercial pilot. His weak program comes with 200 flight hours and 50 simulator hours. I've personally seen this guy kick people out the school with 200 hours and not even a PPL pilot certificate. At that point you've failed your student. Most importantly Nobody up to this date has ever completed his program. Or whatever he wants to call it. The most you can get out of this place is a commercial pilot certification but he sells you much more then that. And he also raises his prices after you sign up. I signed up and this dude raised the prices twice during my enrollment. It's funny how this guy responds to petty reviews but doesn't touch these ones and the one under it. He loves to tell stories he should tell us the story how he got fired from SkyWest. I believe anyone can be an airline pilot if they put in the effort but going to this place it's simply just never gonna happen. Any school that chains you down with a unethical contract and doesn't even own the advertised aircraft is a HUGE red flag. And the fact he will do anything and everything in his power to not show you your invoices after you spend literal thousands of dollars drives the point home even further. Ask around other schools and do the proper research!!!! Choose wisely aviators your future depends on it ~the team ~the team read more

While needing a career change, I took a discovery flight at a different flight school in July 2022 and while I liked it, I felt very lost in terms of the process. I called Omar almost a year ago and was instantly able to speak with him. This was my first green flag, as I want to know the person I am giving money to. I asked hard questions and he was very straightforward with me about what this program requires from students. I understood you get out of it what you put in. The enrollment process was seamless and he was so informative. I started flight training 2-3 times a week while working full time as an admissions counselor. It was challenging but I wanted to succeed. Everyone knows flight training is expensive, but through my research in other flight schools, I found OC Flight Lessons to be in the middle in terms of out of pocket cost. I realized a huge reason for this is due to the amount of lessons on the airplanes, meaning more routine maintenance. Thankfully, there's an in house aircraft mechanic, easing my mind (and my parents) about the upkeep of the aircrafts. I felt like I was accelerating through the program nicely but I wanted more. I told my CFI, Zaeem, that I was going to quit my job, waitress, and do the airline program so I could finish quicker. Omar overheard this and knowing my background in school and loan counseling, asked if I would work at OCFL as a contractor (not an employee). Since then, I have put my entire life into flight training and acquired my private pilot certificate in December of 2023. I know I would not be where I am and with the love of aviation without this school and Omar. This was the best decision I have made and I am so happy I get to go to a school that is so supportive and motivating. I could not recommend OC Flight Lessons more! :) read more

Avoid this establishment at all costs. All the reviews on this place are all from discovery flights which the owner gives a discount if they write a 5 star review. Which is unethical along with everything else he does. Omar is a complete 180 from what he advertises. Speaking of discovery flights.....one of his instructors recently crashed the airplane with the student pilot inside. Luckily they both escaped unharmed but this just goes to show you the kinds of instructors he hires to work for him. And the FAA doing the inspection found a birds nest in the tail of the airplane (photo attached) and all of this was found on a plane that just had its annual inspection. Which tells us the plane wasn't even inspected. And if it was why was there a big bird nest inside of it. Your safety is paramount don't take that for granted when choosing your flight school. And how come there's no 5 star reviews from his bogus airline program. Ohh I know why because nobodies finished it. He doesn't even have a multi engine airplane and has already been sued in the past and still advertises that he has it. Everyone that's left this place realized they've been bamboozled!! And when we left this grifter charged us 2500$. Even when he takes your money under false representations he still keeps taking your money. Shocked how places like this stay in business. Well hopefully not for long. Been waiting for my refund and invoices going on 4 months now. You know your running a shady practice when you frown at people who want their invoices. What are you trying to hide? Dudes full of excuses. Typical con-man read more

I had a discovery flight and took a months worth of lessons back in 2020 and had to stop flight training because of covid. When I finally decided I wanted to come back to taking lessons in 2023 I wanted to stick with OC Flight Lessons and I'm so glad I did. I've now been at OC Flight Lessons since Jan 6, 2023. I got my PPL, instrument rating and CPL and am currently in CFI training with an expected checkride in March. I've had some amazing instructors like Cole, Stephen and Zaeem along the way. They really know their stuff and care about seeing their students succeed. I'm not going to lie, flight training is tough and you only get out of it what you're willing to put in. It's not enough to just do the lessons and listen to ground lectures. It is a ton of studying and a ton of hard work. I'm super glad the owner, Omar, from day one was real with me and didn't sugar coat how hard it would be. I've never worked so hard in school in my life and it's paid off and I'm proud of how far I've come. If you're looking for a flight school I highly recommend OC Flight Lessons. They also have discovery flights if you're not sure about commiting and want to see what it's all about first! read more

I went to OC Flight Lessons for a a discovery flight, a quick flight for absolute beginners with a flight instructor for about an hour. The experience was amazing. The flight instructor, Parker, was very kind and explained everything he was doing while checking the plane and flying, going over instruments, fuel, flight scheduling, really anything I had a question about. We got up in the air in a Cessna 172 out of John Wayne airport and flew above Newport Harbor and the coast. Parker explained the principles of takeoff while letting me take the controls to see how it felt to pilot the plane (after we were in the air). The flight lasted about 20-25 minutes and afterward I talked to Omar, the owner, about lessons. Omar was really positive and honest about the cost of lessons, what makes people successful in training, and the process of training a student for a private pilot license. He broke down the syllabus and showed me the facilities and tools they use, including a flight simulator. I got to see a little bit of a ground lesson between another student and a flight instructor. Overall, an amazing and smooth flying experience with really patient and positive people. read more

Long story short, I made an appointment for an intro flight with them. Drive there, couldn't locate the office. Asked for help and received none. Apparently the instructor was not even there. I waited for another 40 minutes and decided to go to another flight school nearby for the intro flight and possibly my ppl. The Omar guy just ditched me without saying a word or attempted to reschedule me another appointment. 6/1/2018 Update: Please Omar, cut the lying, my appointment was at 4:00. I call you at 3:55 only then you started to call the instructor and texted me at 4:06 "I'm trying to get a hold of him". There was no 1 hour prior notify, no text, no call, no email like you wrongfully states on your reply to this review. There was no follow up either after I have waited 40 minutes for you to get a hold on the instructor. I wasn't even mad, I gave you the benefit of the doubt that somethings might happen and you couldn't contact me. But your reply indicates that you are just a desperate liar. read more

I would highly recommend Omar and V1 Rotate. I started flying with V1 Rotate working towards my PPL and have been very pleased with my progress. Omar and Faris both have extensive knowledge of all aspects of flying and flight training. They are willing to take the time to make sure you understand and comprehend what you are doing. They work with you to make sure you get things right so you will be a very good and most importantly a safe pilot. I have never had any problems with scheduling and have always been notified of any cancellations in a timely manor. I really enjoy and look forward to my flight training with V1 Rotate each week. If you are thinking about getting your PPL you should check out V1 Rotate. read more

I've been flying with Omar and Matt for a couple months now, and I can safely say that the quality of instruction that I have received has been exemplary. Omar spends a lot of time with you in the office giving ground instruction, and while it may be disappointing to not be able to fly every single lesson, his doing so ensures that you have a good understanding of the fundamentals and theory of a concept before attempting to put it in practice in the air. Additionally, Omar will constantly give you reminders and point out things that you've done incorrectly, but will do so in a way that is non-critical and promotes learning. I highly recommend OC Flight Lessons. read more