Ultimate Air Academy

Reviewers Male / Female Recommend Yes / No Number of Reviews Instruction & Ground School School Facilities Aircraft & Courses Cost Total Average Rating
7 / 1 6 / 2 8 7.50 7.12 7.75 7.75 7.53

Date Submitted: October 26, 2011
Flight School: Ultimate Air Academy
Location: FL - Daytona Beach, United States
Instruction & Ground School: 9 out of 10
School Facilities: 7 out of 10
Aircraft & Courses: 10 out of 10
Cost: 10 out of 10
Recommend: Yes
Review: pleasant surprise - dont judge a book by its cover
I will be honest. I dropped off a reputable flight school in Daytona Beach and only wanted to go with the cheapest place possible. So i tried another flight school and was still disappointed with my instructor. Then I only cared to time build and reached out to Ultimate Air Academy because of the low prices. The facility is rather small but what the heck we cant have everything in life. I flew the first 4 hours on the multi and I loved the airplane. I continued flying and all i can say is that i wish i reached out to them from day one.
Comments [ 0 ]
Submitted by: Joshiah
21 year-old   ::   Male Reviewer   ::   Ormond Beach, FL

Date Submitted: October 24, 2010
Flight School: Ultimate Air Academy
Location: FL - Daytona Beach, United States
Instruction & Ground School: 10 out of 10
School Facilities: 10 out of 10
Aircraft & Courses: 10 out of 10
Cost: 10 out of 10
Recommend: Yes
Review: Really Nice Flight School
Hello, im Kostas from Greece and Im 25. I was previously flying at a flight school in South Florida, but was extremely disappointed with the rates and flight instruction because the money that I had in my account flew away in no time! So, when a friend recommended Ultimate Air Academy I figured I had nothing to lose. I was excited with the rates since they were the lowest I had encountered so far, but also with the environment and the low attitude of the people working there. I took a test flight and was extremely happy that the airplanes were well maintained and taken care of. So, I moved to Daytona Beach and finish my PPL, Instrument and Commercial licenses there really fast since I could fly 24/7. Boy, I enjoyed those night flights! Christos was my instructor and although he is tough, he makes sure you learn what you're studying and I had no failures whatsoever. :D To make long story short, if you can do without those big fancy flight schools, you'll get your certificates done really fast. I highly recommend it! Enjoy your flights and see you in the skies! :D
Comments [ 0 ]
Submitted by: Kostas
25 year-old   ::   Male Reviewer   ::   Athens, Greece

Date Submitted: October 23, 2010
Flight School: Ultimate Air Academy
Location: FL - Daytona Beach, United States
Instruction & Ground School: 10 out of 10
School Facilities: 10 out of 10
Aircraft & Courses: 10 out of 10
Cost: 10 out of 10
Recommend: Yes
Review: Practical Airmanship
I had first come across Ultimate Air Academy incidentally , since they had a duchess and I needed to log ten hours in order to convert my license to DGCA (India). At this point I had no intention of completing my Instruction Certifications whatsoever and certainly not at a school which I had just happened to come across in Google search. Indeed I had become very cynical with regards to flight schools in general as I had increasingly bad experiences during the early as well as the more advanced phases of training.

So I basically expected the same "train for the check ride" mentality and was fully prepared to do so and happily finish the first phase of formal training and move on to the next step of my personal growth in aviation.

The reality of the situation was far different from my expectations and unlike my previous experiences it differed in a positive way. Though we got the job done quickly and efficiently there was an element of the training that had come as a total surprise. That brings me to the title of this review; Practical Airmanship.

While training to the check ride standards we went deep into the essential knowledge needed for commercial piloting. Many of my peers had received this rating without knowing the things that would get them through the rigorous vetting which is a part of the process for any airline. More importantly , the knowledge which is essential for any airman to keep themselves and their passengers safe. It affected a change in my thinking towards such things as pre-flight actions , hazardous attitudes, emergency situations, situational awareness , resource management , passenger management, weather forecasting , special emphasis areas etc , etc.

Of course none of these concepts were new to me and I could pretty much regurgitate most of the information on these subjects and more when it came to the verbal portion of a practical exam but in truth I had not considered the importance of these area knowledge and certainly had not practiced them in a real world setting. In hindsight, I can admit that my instructors had held my hand until they assigned me to an FAA examiner and I passed most , failed some but never really walked away from the experience with confidence in my abilities. The significance of the approach these area of knowledge and the reason that I even mention it all is because of the connections that I was helped to make. Up until this training these were separate pieces of information , independent of one another and though I had great deal of knowledge about each element I had no grasp on the larger picture.

But soon enough , while we were doing the training that was required in any case, my instructor guided me through what could be reasonably referred to as a "Socratic" approach. I'm sure there is a technical name for this of which I am not aware, but basically I was guided to come to ask my own questions, seek out the knowledge and come to the logical conclusions by myself. In this process it is hard to quantify the amount of knowledge that one comes by. The knowledge is learned but much more importantly I learned how to think like an aviator.

I am not the type of person who simply accepts information and make it "my own" even though I know that it is correct and "alive" in the sense that certain parts of it change as we gain more information or come across different circumstances. Of course I always had a great deal of respect for all of this knowledge since we got alot of it because of the people who pioneered aviation and also as a result of many tragedies along the way.

So if one can learn to start with the basics but follow through by thinking these things through , correlating it with our own experiences and confirming our own ideas by engaging with FAA materials and the general consensus then we can truly benefit from the experience of others. Taken into the realm of application we can avoid a thunderstorm since we know where it will likely be forming and moving or react with confidence to a real engine failure and not turn a reasonably safe situation into an emergency by not responding correctly and turning it into a stall/spin situation.

All of the materials are there for us but we need the ability to navigate through it. I should have gotten there before I had even received a private pilots license but for whatever reasons I had not. The fault and possible consequences are mine alone so I do not blame anyone else but a patient, guiding hand would have really helped. It was at Ultimate that I eventually came to figure these things out and that is exactly why I decided to stay and get my instructor ratings. In whatever situation I end up teaching, I truly look forward to sharing my passion for aviation with others and am grateful for my experiences at Ultimate.
Comments [ 2 ]
Submitted by: Bob Weinstein
36 year-old   ::   Male Reviewer   ::   Dayton Ohio USA

Date Submitted: October 23, 2010
Flight School: Ultimate Air Academy
Location: FL - Daytona Beach, United States
Instruction & Ground School: 10 out of 10
School Facilities: 10 out of 10
Aircraft & Courses: 10 out of 10
Cost: 10 out of 10
Recommend: Yes
Review: The most affordable flight school in central FL!
Hi, my name is Sam. I have been doing flight traning at Ultimate Air Academy in Daytona Beach for some months now. I am impressed with the high level of instruction provided and a very reasonable cost. It's also the cheapest place to rent airplanes around here. I would recommend Ultimate Air Academy to everyone without reservation. Happy landings!
Comments [ 1 ]
Submitted by: Sa
45 year-old   ::   Male Reviewer   ::   Orlando, Florida

Date Submitted: October 23, 2010
Flight School: Ultimate Air Academy
Location: FL - Daytona Beach, United States
Instruction & Ground School: 9 out of 10
School Facilities: 10 out of 10
Aircraft & Courses: 10 out of 10
Cost: 10 out of 10
Recommend: Yes
Review: Wonderful Service
My name is Alejandro from Spain and I would like to express my feelings in regards of Ultimate Air Academy. Just for yours all information I went to Ft. Lauderdale to Aussie air where I lost my money, they pretty much stole them from me, I was lost and I didn't know what to do. After all I made few phone calls and talked to some people that informed me about Ultimate, I called some guy named Christos and I spoke to him, In the very beginning and with my highest honesty I was suspicious that I was facing another scam, after few hours of talking with Christos I decided to go ahead and go all the way to Daytona Beach and meet with him. The meeting went great and I was excited but not that happy that I had to buy a block of hours in order to get a discount. Finally I did buy 30 hours multi engine on a duchess. My training was only a week and I got my Commercial Pilot License. Christos is an experience and good flight instructor but definitely not a good sales man. hehe. If you just do what he sais no matter how it sounds you will get your training done and achieve your goals. Today I was browsing the internet in regards of aviation schools and stuff just for personal information and I found that wonderful web-site that I will be referring my friends to see before they attempt to go to any flight school and I though that Ultimate deserves this review and know that I was really happy as a student there. If you have any questions please don't hesitate to contact me.
Comments [ 1 ]
Submitted by: Alejandro
27 year-old   ::   Male Reviewer   ::   Spain