Race City Flight Operations - SVH

"Whether you’re aiming for the airlines or wanting to fulfill your dreams of becoming a Private Pilot I highly recommend Race City Flight Operations - SVH! Race City has the very best instructors around. Plus with its convenience to I40 and beautiful 7000’ runway Statesville Regional is a great airport to learn to fly. So call Race City and schedule a discovery flight today!"

"Ok this is going to be the review that I wanted to see when I was looking for a flight school. TL:DR Race City is by far the best flight school for anyone wanting to get a FULL education in aviation, from flying planes to making amazing connections with other people/pilots. At the end of the day, aviation is about people. Ok so get comfy. During 2021 I made the decision to become a pilot and totally change my life. I have a tech desk job and was just tired of the same day on repeat. I wanted to complete my licenses while working my 9-5 and then quit once I was ready do CFI full time. This brings us to the first hurdle, getting the loan. Getting a full loan for flight school isn't the hardest thing ever (hopefully), but you do want to make sure they work with the school regularly to cut down any hurdles that could pop up. Race City already has a loan servicer that they work with, and the process of picking a package and getting the loan was pretty quick and painless (minus the nice chunk of new found debt). But even going from zero hours and no idea how to fly, to getting a full loan to cover everything all the way to commercial and becoming an instructor, it is about $30,000-$45,000 LESS than ATP. I'll say that again $30k-$45k LESS THAN ATP!! Huge point for RC. Next I wanted a place that would actually let me in the door and give me a chance. I'm about a biscuit shy of 300 pounds ex-football lineman, so clearly over the weight limit for ATP (250 pounds). When I called ATP they wouldn't even let me tour the campus, they said "call us back when you lose the weight". Not the case with Race City. The Weight and Balance of the plane is within the safety envelope, and I've never had any issue at all. Next I wanted a place that afforded some freedom in the form of training. I didn't want to go to a rigid school where you are on a super tight leash and if you mess up 2 lessons in a row then you're thrown out the program. I 'struggled' with stalls. Meaning I grew up not really liking heights (found out a lot of pilots don't like heights) and the idea of "falling" in a plane just didn't sit right with me (also found out a lot of pilots don't like stalls). So Patrick (the owner of RC) did a full lesson with me on everything surrounding a stall, like slow flight and the falling leaf, until the point that I didn't hate stalls. Now I just don't like them :-) . But being able to have that time and specialized attention really made me a better and safer pilot. So it's not all cotton candy and rainbows. Here's the "bad". Like every other school planes do break down, luckily RC has about 7 Cessna 172s and if there is an issue the plane is back in service in about a day or two tops. Different planes have different avionics in them which really affords you the chance to get a great knowledge of the different Garmin products, and when they break they are repaired about 1-2 days also. So maintenance issues are addressed and addressed quickly. Instructors. I think at this time there are about 5-6, could this be more? Maybe, I'm sure there's a fine line to walk with making sure everyone is being utilized. Having said that the schedule can get full but I can honestly say 9/10 times I've flown when I wanted and have ALWAYS flown when I needed to, like getting close to a stage check or check-ride. Side Note: when you are scheduled to fly make sure you are PREPARED FOR YOU LESSON!! Make the most of every moment. Every single instructor is awesome and can answer every question and will put you at ease if you ever get nervous during different phases of flight like I did. How can I say every one of them are awesome? Because I've had most of them! This is the last "bad" thing. I hope you can tell by now that the "bad" stuff isn't that big of deal because everything is addressed quickly and properly. KSVH was without an instructor and Patrick, and the other instructors filled in until a new CFI was hired. No break in training, and the new CFI has Charter experience which shows first hand what it takes to be a professional pilot."