Tampa FL

hockeyrcks9901

hockeyrcks9901

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hockeyrcks9901
Anyone have any recommendations for flight instruction in the Tampa area?

I work in the Mulberry area and visit St. Pete quite often so nearly any school in the area could work. Probably fly around once a week due to work and other commitments.

I've visited Plant City and have mixed feeling about it. Took a discovery flight at Albert Whitted two years ago and liked them but they're under new ownership and prices have increased a fair bit. Also just reached out to Tampa Bay Aviation.

Thanks for any tips!
 
About 40 min East of Tampa is Tailwheels in Lakeland...great school.
 
Plant city is pretty reasonable. Planes aren't new by any means but haven't heard of any big problems. Several good instructors. Obviously I fly out of there. I will second that tailwheels is a excellent school but you will pay for that. Great people however.
 
Haven't flown at Tampa Bay Aviation, but they do have some nice planes.

St. Pete Air at Albert Whitted is cheaper than most schools around if you join the club, which costs about an hour in the air, but saves you a ton on rental costs.

What license are you going for? If commercial, I'd stick to St. Pete Air and Tampa Bay Aviation.

Cirrus Aviation in Sarasota is great, but they have some higher than normal prices for aircraft.
Universal Flight Training is also an option in Sarasota, or if you're willing to go all the way to Venice, there is Sarasota Aero Club, also good.

For me, I've flown at all of these places mostly to keep aircraft rental costs down. If I decide to go up for currency or just a spin to the east coast and back, I definitely rent the Arrow from St. Pete air. It's $153/hr wet which is cheaper than anyone around and it's a nice plane, just had an overhaul.

Sarasota Aero Club has great prices for planes and the membership cost is pretty low as well, so if you wanna go take a Cessna 150 or a PA28 140 up, you can at lower than normal costs.

Lots more to say about the schools and instructors, just start a conversation with me if you wanna discuss.
 
Theboys said:
I think plant city's rate on a 152 with the prepay discount is 85$ per hour. That's pretty cheap
Click to expand...

Definitely a very good price however I'm pretty sure with an instructor that we would be close to or over gross. I'm 190lbs so any full size adult would put us pretty heavy. I spoke with them and they highly recommended the 172 due to that.


Someone else asked about which license:
Private pilot to start and would probably due IR quickly after.
I may eventually opt to go for CFI and due instruction part time as I really enjoy flying. At work recently, one of my projects has enabled me to fly in a Robinson R44 a handful of times and I love it. In fact, the pilot allowed me to take control and I was able to successfully hover with all controls and make a couple landings and takeoffs.
 
I think the 172 is 105 per hour and if you prepay blocks you get 10% off that. Still pretty reasonable. I'm not positive on the price as I've never rented but I glance at the sign about every time I walk thru the lobby. Don't think there are any minimum blocks you have to prepay either. Just thinking if you work in mullberry it's close and you would probably fly more if you don't have to drive bunch to get to a airport. I flew yesterday 2 1/2 hrs. Only planned to stay in pattern but was such a nice day I decided to go for a cruise. Apparently so did about 60 other planes I saw on my traffic screen
 
I got my PPL from Tampa Executive.
I barely finished as they are efficient at charging you (Hobbs linked to master) In my opinion if you can look past the money I'd say they aren't that bad a flight school. CFI's will train you until you get annoyed they haven't signed you off yet for that next step in training. They have their own Simulator and Testing area for the written. The airport is clean and nice too with a bigger runway than what you saw at PCM. Last I was there, they charged $130/h for the C172 and 50/h for an instructor. Chuck who is the CFI and (Owns I think) part of the flight school. His demeanor is more businessman than CFI. So expect a very formal answer with small wiggle room.

Overall if you have the money, go to Tampa Executive.

Plant city is where I fly now because they have a better selection of aircraft and cheaper too.
Martin is a nice guy and very reasonable. They actually have a 152 for $80/h if you're trying to save money. Something I wish I knew before I started training. Their field as you may have noticed is small and so is the FBO. However, I love the atmosphere. I got my Complex and High performance checkout from them. Their CFI's are very flexible with your training but not always available. From what I heard, any CFI that gets a bad rap doesn't stay employed by them very long.

If money is tight, get lot's of bookwork done before each lesson and go to Plant City.

As for weight for N6A@PCM the C152 can hold something like 461 pounds full fuel and all.
They give you 10% for each block deposit over $500
 
Last edited:
Well that was a much better description of plant city policy than I was trying to give:) If your just starting doesn't hurt to take a flight at several of them and see where you feel the most comfortable and what is most convenient. When I was learning I would often fly twice a day so handy was important. Sorry about the no minimum block purchase discount misinformation.
 
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