Take Flight San Diego

"My reasoning for the lower than 5 star rating and my absolute biggest complaint with Dave was money. I never felt more ripped off in my entire life. On day one it was obvious I would never be close to a check ride in five to six days. By lunch I was so frustrated with his style of class teaching my head was pounding. He could read my body language and see by just how much I was struggling in his class. After lunch he told me he thought it would be best if I cancel a few days for the next week. He had already cancelled two days that we had agreed on to “get another student ready”. I agreed 100% and we cancelled those days. Watch him with the simulator! He will turn the meter on and then be teaching on the board or fumbling with the ipad for a while during this that meter is going and you’re getting charged. I turned it off a few times while he was teaching on the board or on the ipad and one time he turned it back on. He even kept it on while on a personal phone call. I paid for him to talk on a personal call. Day two I come in and the class/simulator portion started up and once again I just wasn’t learning from his style of teaching. I told him it just wasn’t working and I wanted to go back to my original instructor. He encouraged me to give him a chance and I did. He finally taught me in a method that made perfect sense. We went in my plane and flew the holds he was teaching and they worked out great. In the process I began having altimeter issues so we returned to KSEE. It was obvious we couldn’t train on the Thursday as we had plan. Honestly I didn’t see the value to continue. By this point I was 14 hours into training with Dave and all I really got out of it was learning holds and he improved my landings. In my mind that was $1400 and whatever the simulator cost. I told Dave I rather just finished with my previous instructor as I was learning much more at almost half the cost. I could tell it irritated him I didn’t want to pursue my training further with him. He told me I would be charged for a full day because I made him miss the Thursday which I couldn’t help due to my airplane having an unexpected maintenance issue. I didn’t agree or like that at all. He then said lets settle up. He added up the simulator time which to me was inflated and charged me $40.00 an hour instead of his original quote of $35 (published on website). This aggravated me also. He then charged me two full days at $1600 total. His new total came to $1808. He looks me and says “I owe you some money”. I was thinking he owed me much more than $192 but he said “I owe you $192.00”. He then says “I am not paying you because you cancelled days with me. I lost money in this and won’t be able to fill your spot”. I got ripped off really good. I took two days of vacation from my employer. I agreed to $100 an hour and $35 an hour for his simulator which I feel was inflated on time but I will agree to the time. I should have owed him for the following: • 14 hours training @ $100 an hour = $1400 • 5.2 hours simulator @ $35 an hour = $182.00 That’s a total of $1582.00. I agreed to that and I owe that. I paid him $2000 prior to class. That means Dave owes me $418. I don’t argue in person as it gets you nowhere. I do plan to dispute this further. So I feel I wrote an honest review. As far as Dave’s instructing I would say it was two personalities not mixing. His teaching style did not coincide with my learning style. In the end I paid $2000 and lost two vacation days at work. All I gained was learning how to do holds and a better landing technique in VFR weather. I also got ripped off for $418.00. I personally felt like I lot bigger loss than what’s on here. Dave is all about the money. My advice is go interview Dave in person prior to paying him a dime. Get everything in writing that you will agree to. He will screw you out of your money if you don’t. Dave works perfect for many people. So go meet the man and make your own opinion. But I wanted to warn every one of my experience."

"This is a great place to learn how to fly, programs are very thorough and flexible. I believe that the focus on safety separates Take Flight from other schools. The one on one approach also provides a much more customized experience."