Universal Air Academy

I made an appointment to talk to someone about flight school.
When I arrived to my appointment I was told nobody was there and I should of made an appointment. I informed the gentleman I had an appointment and he just gave me a brochure and told me the person i was meeting must of left early because it rained.
It would have been nice to receive a call so i wouldn’t drive 50+ minutes in traffic.
He mentioned I should come back tomorrow. .
Ha! I think not. If this is how you business, I rather take my business elsewhere.

I earned my instrument rating at Universal Air Academy. The instructors are very professional. They have several instructors on staff, which made it easy for me to find an instructor that fits my schedule and learning style. What impressed me the most about the Universal Air Academy was their teaching style. Even though flying is only a hobby for me, Universal Air Academy trained me like I was going to fly for the airlines. They are well structured, organized, very methodical and thorough in their instructions. I’ve never seen a flight school conducted their operations this way. Because of my flight training at Universal Air Academy, I feel confident that I can safely operate an aircraft.

I bought the action sports adventure pass and was beyond stoked for my first flying lesson. I have always wanted to learn how to fly a plane, and thought my intro lesson here might be a good jumping off point to start the process of getting my pilot’s license. Not so much.
The Italian guy who took us up and taught me was great. He was really funny, took pictures of my friend and me, and was very knowledgeable about the plane. He explained things clearly and we had an absolute blast with him!
So why two stars?
The girl at the front desk. She is a complete psycho. I originally had the flight scheduled for a Wednesday, and while I was driving all the way up there she called and cancelled fifteen minutes before the flight! So rude! Then the next week we drove all the way out there and she couldn’t tell us how to get from the main airport to them. It’s the building next door. So unhelpful. It took us twenty minutes to figure out which building it was. After the flight she tried to charge me almost double the price we agreed upon when we went up! I couldn’t believe it! She said we went over our flight time, but made absolutely no mention of it when we first got there. It was so dishonest. She was glaring and me and basically told me tough cookies. I threw a fit. I had had it with her at that point. I told her if she didn’t give me the price I was originally told, that I would dispute it on my credit card. We continued in the stand off until someone intervened and called her boss. Her boss said, «OF COURSE CHARGE HER THE PRICE YOU QUOTED HER.» Absolute insanity. This wasn’t just bad customer service, this was full on hateful, malicious behavior. I will never go back. I am going to get my license somewhere else.

Went here for a checkout flight to be able to rent from their fleet to build flight time. They have really good rates which is why I went here for rentals.
The CFI (Flight Instructor) that did the checkout with me was good. He answered all my questions and went over all their procedures in detail.
The one thing that was a BIG turn off was when we landed back. Well to go back a little, I’m not used to flying planes with less than 180 hp and i was being checked out in one with less than that. Needless to say my first landing wasn’t that smooth and a bit rough since I got a little slow. Well… on the way back, as I said earlier, as I was getting out of the plane, the mechanic who was working on another plane yelled out «That was a F*ck*d up landing you guys did.» He then went on to say some other things that we were messing up his airplanes.“We” i guess he thought I was a student there and not a renter only. But he kept yelling about this and that using fowl language.
Well, what surprised me the most, was that the CFI who flew with me told me that the guy yelling was their only mechanic and he is a very «mean guy.» Also the CFI advised me to treat the planes well around him or else that mechanic would get mean.
I don’t mind if that guy criticized anything but I do mind greatly the way he used fowl language and his demeanor. Also I found appalling that the personnel there would be afraid of him like that.
Hmmm…I don’t know if I will be back. Honestly the owner should talk to the mechanic and advise him that the school there is a business and that students and renters are customers who pay not only for the aircraft but for a form of good customer service.