Complaint Review: Florida Flyers Flight Academy

If you’re looking for a school where the people in charge are power greedy, petty, only passionate about stealing your money, will make your life miserable if you go against them, and don’t care about the students as much as they should, then this is a perfect place for you.

I’m a former student of this school and I was part of the flat rate program that they are very well known for. I can’t even begin to explain how my life got screwed over because of that program. But in order to tell my story, I have to explain the program first.

Basically, for about $42,000-45,000 (depending on the aircraft you choose to fly in initially) you have 250 hours to finish your training from private to commercial. But you don’t have to pay it up front. You can pay it through installments and as you progress with your training. During my initial training, it was going so well. I was so happy and proud of myself when I soloed and I did my best to comply with the rules.

Unfortunately, things started to go south while I was getting close to attaining my private pilot license. They forced us to pay another 30% of the fixed cost out of nowhere despite barely making progress. The deal was to pay more as you progress forward.

Their argument was we had a negative balance in our account due to flying too many hours. We did what they want but we needed a little bit of time to get the money and process what just happened. But they didn’t care at all until they got their money because they didn’t let me fly until we paid them.

After that, I thought things would get better but they didn’t. Just right before I’m about to be prepared for my checkride, they changed my instructor. They said the reason why they did it was because they know what’s best for me (even though they didn’t fly with me at all to evaluate my progress). I believed them when they said that because I trusted that they knew what they were doing.

The only thing that the “bait switch” did to me was double my hours. Now I have 150 hours as a private pilot and that’s quite a lot. The sad part about this is they blamed me for all this. They made it sound like not one bit of this whole scenario was their fault.

They said that I didn’t meet the expectations of my second instructor that was why I had to fly more and more and more. When I was literally about ready for the checkride before I was transferred to him. It would be believable that I wasn’t competent enough and it was my fault if they didn’t start doing shady stuff to us after that stunt they pulled.

After the switch, they changed something to my account. Before, I didn’t have to worry about having a minimum $250 balance in my account. Because that’s only for students who pay as they go or not part of the flat rate program. When I asked the vice president, Bettina, what was that all about, she told me (and I remember this perfectly) to just “keep putting money into my account to keep the minimum $250 and ask the front desk to do it for me”.

That was all she ever told me so I had no idea where the money was coming from. I thought it was from the second payment that we paid, the 30% ($15,000). To save you from a long story, they made an unauthorized credit card charges in my dad’s account for a total of $6,419.95.

They started stealing money from my dad’s credit card and when they were confronted about it they blamed me again. They said that “I knew” what was going on when she never explained it to me. Did they really think that if they explained to me what they were doing (which is stealing money), I would not be suspicious and kept flying?

They tricked me and they did it well because that’s their passion. I know I should’ve been more aware and investigated further but I trusted them because they are on top flight schools in Florida for a reason. And I was just a student so all I should worry about was flying and studying for the checkride.

We started drilling them after my dad saw the charges that he wasn’t aware of and that’s when they started making my life more miserable. Here’s what they did to me. They forced me to come to school Monday – Friday 8-12 a.m. and threaten to charge me for a no show if I didn’t. When I asked them why do I have to do that it’s because I wasn’t doing the 22 hours but if it was another student who wasn’t complying with that rule it was okay.

They treated me unfairly and made my life harder and they made sure I suffered good. Then, after doing the 8-12 for almost a month, they kicked me out of the flat rate when we didn’t follow up with their invoice. They were asking for another $15,000 when I haven’t even started my instrument training. This is after stealing the $6,500 from my dad. Not even a day went by after sending the invoice they kicked me out because we don’t want to give them money.  

I had enough of all this drama so I transferred to another school. I couldn’t train for 4 months straight because I had to apply for TSA again. Then, they sent another invoice for $2,500 training cancellation fee.  They want us to pay them for leaving the school. They probably need the money to wipe their tears. And then recently, when I thought everything was over because I’m in another school.

They forbid me to fly AS A PASSENGER with my friend who is still enrolled to their school. When they saw me walk in with my friend, they told the front desk to make sure I don’t fly with him. So ridiculous, unprofessional, and just petty. They had no right to do that.

 I came in there with my head down and respect despite all the trauma they did to me. I still hugged them goodbye when I left and thanked them for helping me get my private pilot license. I was still grateful for their guidance but this is what they did to me. I was gonna keep everything quiet because I care about the students and the instructors but SOMEONE NEEDS TO SAY SOMETHING.

They think they are entitled to do what they want and treat the students and employees however they want just because they are the reason why they were able to set foot on this country after all. They will use that “privilege” you got from them to threaten and manipulate you to keep your mouth shut and your wallet empty.

I feel bad for all the students who are being screwed over but refuse to stand up because they really do their best to make their life miserable and threats the students to call the cops on them if they don’t stop complaining. This school is filled with very bright students, amazing instructors, and hardworking staff.

A very nice community but just horrible people in charge. They think they can cover their crap and pretend they’re good people by treating the students in Red Lobster once a year. Yeah that’s nothing compare to all the money they steal.

And if I’m wrong with what I said in the very beginning I don’t want the owner throwing some bullcrap about attendance or violating the M1 visa rules and turning this story so it will be my fault. I don’t want you to believe the owner but wait for even a single international student who is studying here full-time to prove me wrong and defend the school. And I bet you no one will disagree to me because NOBODY SAYS ANYTHING GOOD ABOUT THIS SCHOOL.

I have all the evidence of what I’m talking about in the pictures. Don’t enroll to this school because if they keep doing what they’re doing, it won’t be a matter of time until they fall on the ground. If you have more questions about this school, feel free to email me.