California Flight Academy, in San Diego, is a certified training facility approved by the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Federal Aviation Administration. Students can get a basic pilot's license or continue on to become eligible to be an Airline Transport Pilot. The cost of the training depends on the amount of flying time needed to master safety techniques as well as the type of license the student is seeking.
Aerodynamic Aviation offers training to students looking to become private or sport pilots. Private pilots are able to fly most single-engine aircrafts in both day and night light conditions. The sport pilot license requires fewer hours of training and enables pilots to fly light two-seat airplanes. A 10-hour course in aerobatics is offered for pilots interested in learning how to perform loops, hammerheads, stalls, spins and rolls. The school has locations in San Jose and Salinas.
California Flight Center is in Long Beach. Courses are offered in fixed-wing aircraft, both single and double engines, as well as helicopter flying and aerobatics. The training facility has a program for students to become licensed as private pilots or as commercial pilots. Commercial pilot training is more intense, requires more hours and is more expensive to complete, but enables graduates to fly multi-engine airplanes in a commercial capacity. An instrument rating course is required for a commercial license, which provides knowledge about using instruments in bad weather.
SAA Flight Training in El Cajon offers programs for people interested in becoming professional pilots. This 12-month program focuses on classroom instruction as well as hands-on flight experience. Students learn about meteorology, instruments, navigation, performance, operational procedures and flight planning. The program includes 229.5 hours of flight time in addition to detailed classroom learning. Once a student completes the program, she becomes eligible to obtain her commercial pilot's license.