Ken Levins. Explosive temper. When I screwed up he treated me as an idiot…read more He screamed at me to turn in my OAK badge. I did as complied. He failed to tell OAK when I mailed in my badge to OAK. Literally cannot fly out of there because we had "words."

Great rates and instructors but found it difficult to get security deposit and an inadvertently…read morecharged $500 fine returned. Board is highly unresponsive and takes 5+ follow ups over multiple weeks for a response. Though it sounds like I am not alone in difficulties with club leadership based on a few other reviews.

Took lessons here. It was a very fun experience. What made it more fun was the fact that the owner…read morewas very much a good guy who's always around. They have an instructor assigned to you from the beginning. I liked my instructor. Except when he makes me dip the plane to the left when he knows that's what I'm scared to do :). Dipping right was never a problem for me. He was very good and patient that on my third week I could land the plane on my own. Reasonable private lessons. Their planes are clean and never a wait to start a lesson. Loved every minute of my time at this school.

Unfortunately I was late for my appointment so i dont know whether i got the full allotted time or…read morenot. Since I was late i got put into the flight simulator asap and before i knew it i was in the damn plane lol. Overall, I had a great experience. You get a lil nervous when you taxi the plane on the runway. More jitters when it starts to go faster and then bloop uve taken off and are suddenly airborne. It was totally cool and Jonathan my instructor (at least I hope its Jonathan) let me do most o the flying but always made sure we were safe. If you are worried you can always let the instructor take control (and sometimes he will) but theres no fun in that. The intro to flying lesson I got was from Amazon local deals. Like i said it was a great experience and I would definitely recommend you try flying vikings if ur in the area as its not too far and the instructors are definitely knowledgeable and friendly.

Stanford flying club is a very good aviation school. The instructors are strict, patient and…read morefriendly. I have a very good learning experience with my instructors. They all have solid aviation skills and knowledge. Highly recommend this club!

I love this place!! Called to gather information ~2 month ago and I am already going through my…read moreflight trainings! It does get a bit anxious when I first tried to contact them. Bert gave me a call back and it was such a nice call! He is very humorous, which may lead to people feeling that he is unexperienced. I learned a lot and decided to come for an introductory lesson. My flight instructor is Sharon. She is the best!!! She is knowledgable and reliable. I really look forward to continue learning with her!

I have flown with a few 4 different clubs and I have had 4 different instructors. I passed my…read morepractical exam (checkride) thanks to Mathew at Red Sky Aviation. I highly recommend Red Sky Aviation!! Their rates are reasonable and their focus in on helping students achieve their goals. In my opinion, they are one of the best schools in the SF Bay Area.

I wanted to introduce our daughter to flying and on impulse, stopped by Red Sky Aviation, at the…read moreairport in Livermore, CA. My impression is that this may be the place for my girl to learn to fly. The owner and instructors have good communication skills and the patience to teach someone a new environment. ADDITION ------ 06-13-2013 Okay.....(sigh), our daughter, " just isn't very interested in flying." Sure, go ahead and break your father's heart. However, her littler brother is showing interest! Out to Red Sky to give our son an Introduction Flight! At Red Sky Aviation, we met our Certified Flight Instructor Pete. Pete understood we didn't just want to go for an airplane ride; we wanted to get our son excited about flying. Pete put the focus on our son and included him in the preflight process; explaining why we check the aircraft for safety. Our son is little - Pete got cushions and positioned him so he could control the plane and increase his visibility. Our son is shy. However, Pete was able to get past that and had our son control the aircraft during take off and flying. After the flight, our son had a Big Smile across his face. If Pete can get a shy boy to smile; he can get you to be happy you went to Red Sky Aviation. ADDITION ------ 10-26-2013 I haven't flown since 1980 but, wanted to find out if there was still enough of the Pilot in me to get back up there. I have this dream - my son and I go flying together and when he is older; gets his Pilot's License too. I went back to Red Sky Aviation and explained this to Pete. I may have a dream but, a Certified Flight Instructor is biased in reality. In in the cockpit, Pete handed me the checklist and observed as I slowly fumbled my through it. He didn't rush me but, guided me from time to time by diplomatically pointing to where I should be looking on the instrument panel. He let me taxi out to the run-up area, do the run-up and proceed to take off. I was surprised how much I still remembered and intuitively knew when to trim, check for traffic/airspeed/altitude and more. Yes, I was very rusty after 33 years. However, with Pete nudging me with positive comments was able to do 3 touch and goes. Now, do I think Pete can walk on water; well no.....but, if my wife and I have another baby boy, we are going to name him Pete.

I recently started training with Jato Aviation and have had a great experience with everyone I've…read moreworked with. From the beginning, April (CEO) and Jim (Client Relations) made onboarding fast and straightforward, clearly outlining what I'd be learning and what to expect. My flight training with Jack has been exceptional--efficient, structured, and high quality. I've trained with instructors across the U.S., and he's genuinely top tier. He guided my transition into the G7, was responsive and available by text, and consistently emphasized the key safety considerations and how to mitigate them in real operations. Excited to continue learning with them.

They charged $200 for a 172 and instructor rate was $95 at least in my case. For a checkout I had…read moreto do 2 hours ground with the instructor. They were very proud and protective of their g1000 planes, it was surprising that one of the screens went completely dark right after the takeoff, but they charged me full price anyway. Maybe an OK school. I will never know, because for me just doesn't worth the price.

Kelly, my instructor, was fantastic! She's a highly professional CFI with excellent situational…read moreawareness and a very thorough approach to flying. I really appreciated her attention to detail throughout the training. Just a heads-up--this is a tough club to get access to if you're not already a member, especially when it comes to booking both a plane and an instructor. But if you get the chance to fly with Kelly, you're in great hands!

Pretty nice club however the checkout process is unlike anything I have ever seen with any other…read moreclub. I understand that the club has its own policies regarding club entry and has every right to choose its entry process, this is more of a personal opinion on that. Because you need to do multiple scenarios, that will pretty much equate to multiple flights with an instructor which can add up a lot of capital. This can be a pretty large barrier for those that do not have the healthiest finances. Aviation itself is already super expensive. My previous club consisted of one ground and one flight. Which would be around 500-600 dollars total. This club costed me about 2000 dollars for the flights I had to do to get checked out. They have multiple scenarios, which some should be combined. Scenario A- Flight proficiency in aircraft Scenario B- Bay Area flight operations Scenario C- Mini XC flight Scenario D- IFR Flight A and B should be combined. Scenario C is just another money grabber for the company completely unnecessary since Scenario B would show your proficiency in flight operations ADM, risk management, etc. From my previous club which is one of the largest in the world with a good safety record has a better checkout process. They are efficient and are aware of cost barriers. So they would combine multiple scenarios into one flight as opposed to separating it into multiple flights/scenarios such as this club. In that club we did one flight to one airport and on the way would perform the required maneuvers, diversions, emergencies, etc. Every member might have had a different experience than mine when entering this club, but this is from my point of view. Scenarios A, B, and D make sense to me, C is completely unnecessary. Other than the rigorous checkout process, the staff and instructors are very nice, the largest downside was the cost to get checked out due to multiple scenarios.

I'm learning to fly here at WVFC. It's a fun low key club with lots of planes, lots of instructors…read moreand two airport offices (KSQL and KPAO). They also offer ground school and have a few simulators you can rent. They do a lot of club activities in the Palo Alto office. The onboarding for a new pilot who's learning to fly is great.

I've been a member of West Valley Flying Club for a little over a year and I recommend it highly. I…read moream 61 years old and have always wanted to fly but my wife and I raised five children and until recently, the priorities of family life consumed all available time and money. My instructor is Scott Stauter and from the very first demo ride I felt safe and confident in flying with him and learning from him. I also attended ground school at West Valley with Wes Irish as the instructor. Due largely to excellent instruction, I was able to pass both the written and practical private pilot exams on the first attempt. It is a large club with a large and diverse fleet of aircraft as well as a large number of instructors. I suppose with ~40 affiliated instructors there may be a few bad apples in the bunch but I've flown with six different instructors for various check rides or special instruction and they all demonstrated a high level of professionalism and competence. Each instructor provided constructive criticism and suggestions for improving my game that I felt were given in good faith and in my best interest. The fact is I don't pick things up as fast as I did twenty years ago but none of the instructors that I flew with left me with the impression that they were trying to run up the clock. The planes I have flown (five so far) are maintained well and the mechanics are accessible, supportive, and helpful as is the office staff. Scheduling planes and instructors is easily accomplished through an online scheduling system. I fly out of Palo Alto once or twice a week and there have only been a couple of instances when I couldn't schedule a plane when I wanted to. The club has a strong culture of safety and proper preparedness for flight. They have implemented several checks and balances to assure proficiency of both students and instructors as they progress through the training regimen. An argument can be made that they've gone a bit overboard with this and I can understand how this might frustrate some people. But I have to tell you that I went into the PPL check ride feeling calm, competent, and confident and that is exactly how I now feel when I take off with my grandchildren in the plane. All in all, I am very happy with my experience at West Valley Flying Club.

My wife and I went on a flight tour around the bay. It was an awesome experience, we felt very safe…read morewith our pilot Sebastian who was friendly and entertaining. 10/10 recommend.

Hayward Flight School is incredibly professional, and truly passionate about teaching the next…read moregeneration of pilots. Every interaction has been open, honest, and supportive. You can tell their team genuinely cares about their students and takes pride in helping them succeed. Highly recommend for anyone looking to start or grow their aviation journey!