Sterling Aviation

If you are considering a pilots license, Sterling Aviation is the place to go. They have the planes and the staff to back it all up. It’s a blast and you will become a very good new pilot. Concord makes for a fantastic training ground. Location, location location. Training grounds just a couple of minutes from the airport, lots of tower and non tower airports also within minutes. New simulator if needed. Great instructors and awesome staff. Friendly and very professional always. Go take a test flight sometime, you will agree.

Awesome flight instruction couldn’t get any better. Everybody’s relaxed and friendly and always wanting to help. everybody’s always super excited to see you fly and happy to help you in anyway they can. and you can’t beat the price is very reasonable.

I am currently finishing my training for Private Pilot’s license at Sterling Aviation. My instructor is Kevin McLaughlin who is a Chief flight instructor at Sterling. Kevin is very experienced (thousands of hours of flying time) flight instructor who is passionate about teaching and fully committed to his students to become knowledgeable, confident and safe pilots. He knows how to fly any airplane whether it is a little CHEROKEE or a commercial jet. As an experienced commercial pilot Kevin holds his students to higher standards than required minimum to get the pilot’s license. Kevin Soloed me, taught me how to communicate professionally on the radio, and most importantly made the learning to fly FUN! For the cross country portion of the training Kevin transformed every lesson into an unforgettable adventure to all the fun airports in the San Francisco Bay area. This allowed me to build my real life flying skills and confidence to fly and land in any airport. I always felt safe with Kevin whether I was doing «touch and gos» at Sacramento and Oakland International flying with Boeing 737s or mountain flying and landing in Nevada County Airport in Sierras. I was always impressed about his knowledge about airplanes and sharing this knowledge with his students. Because of training with Kevin now I love to fly with cross winds and enjoy the beauty of the night flying. I am really fortunate and grateful to have Kevin as such an AWESOME flight instructor!

WOW, JUST WOW! Mike Corclan at Sterling Aviation is SOOOO AWESOME! I wanted to surprise my boyfriend for our 2 year anniversary with a flight since he’s been constantly talking about getting his pilot’s license. I called a couple places which quoted me high prices and had bad customer service. When I called Sterling, they transferred me to Mike who was SO helpful and flexible.
We talked a little about my boyfriend getting his pilot’s license and what it would take. Mike suggested trying an intro lesson first to make sure my boyfriend actually liked being behind the wheel. We scheduled the lesson with ease but before I hung up, I asked if there was anything bigger we could do… maybe fly to Half Moon Bay? He thought it was a great idea for a gift and even suggested we stop in HMB to have dinner! I told him I would think about it and he gave me his personal cell number to follow up. After a couple hours, I couldn’t stop thinking about it and text him. He replied saying we could do the HMB trip and gave me all the details.
Fast forward a month and I’m finally surprising my boyfriend on our anniversary. The night before, I text Mike making sure we were still on and he confirmed. Then, the next morning I get a text from him saying that the weather wasn’t looking too well and that he would keep me updated. He text me constantly through the day to give me updates and made sure we planned ahead. I ended up bringing my boyfriend there anyways to make sure we could get an up-​to-​date forecast for our trip. When we arrived @ Sterling, Mike was super friendly and wished us happy anniversary. He even bought us a bottle of champagne to celebrate– how SWEET is that!!!
Eventually we couldn’t go on the flight but we easily rescheduled with Mike. He was checking the weather constantly to make sure there was no way of going. While we were waiting, he gave us ALL the info needed to get your pilots license. Once we found out we couldn’t go, he taught my boyfriend in the stimulator for 45 minutes at no extra cost which I thought was SO sweet. My boyfriend had a great time and can’t stop talking about going back! Everyone at Sterling was so friendly and helpful and I’d highly recommend them for an intro lesson or for even getting your pilots license!

I fly with Sterling and I can tell you that they have AWESOME instruction. All their instructors are high time meaning they’re not going to string you along so that they build time off of you. They will train you to be a safe and proficient pilot. Everyone is very friendly professional.

I use Sterling whenever I fly into the east bay. Their service is impeccable and you can’t beat their fuel prices. Their shop is busy but somehow when I’ve needed work done they’ve always been able to help me out and the work has always been competitive and well done. I’ve brought in aircraft for everything from a weak battery to an annual and always been pleased with the results.
Recently they acquired a Redbird simulator, which I tried out the other day. It is a motion simulator and much more realistic than the usual «static» kinds. It also has a «wrap around» view that uses multiple screens to provide views from more than just the front. Of course in IMC simulation this doesn’t really matter!
In many ways Sterling harks back to how service used to be in the old days when the proprietors of a business knew their customers and paid attention to what was delivered. Sterling is family run and I have very much enjoyed that. The place just has a good, relaxed feel, and you’re treated like a real person.