California Flight Center

Great experience!!! What a RUSH — LOVED IT! I got the discovery flight Groupon as a gift from my wife for father’s day and it was absolutely amazing! At first I was skeptical about how much hands-​on experience I was gonna get, but i was wrong! the instructor was awesome! (I can’t feel horrible enough about forgetting his name — unusual name, starts with a D, possibly Japanese) .he clearly loves his job as he was very high-​spirited in thoroughly explaining the preflight checklist and going over relevant plane anatomy. with his superb coaching, I was able to fly the plane from take off to landing!!! He was also nice enough to take pictures of me as I flew the plane! Will definitely recommend this place to family and friends, and come back myself! =)

Ive been crazy about airplanes and flight since I can remember. I went on a discovery flight to see how I felt in the air and to see if I would be interested in pursuing my private pilots license.
Max, my instructor was friendly and enthusiastic. I got to fly the Cessna 172, old but a classic.
I was hooked! Max gave me a log book and recorded the flight towards my private pilots license.
Unforgettable experience!

We went for a flight lesson, it was an amazing experience. The flight instructor knew everything and took the time and patience to explain everything! Thank you MAX!!!

If you are going for a flight training, it’s probably a good place, because they have well maintained airplanes, however do not go there if you want to rent an airplane for your own flying.
The place seems to a be a busy place (with a lot of international students), and the fleet of the aircraft is mostly overpriced (rightfully so, maybe).
I have rented from several places, and those make you feel home from the first the moment, unlike this place which presents itself as if you they would do you a great favor buy allowing you to fly their airplanes.

Got a Groupon deal for two and brought my husband here for his birthday to learn how to fly a plane and he loved it. We had an awesome instructor who answered all of our questions and was very nice when I threw up lol… If you suffer from motion sickness I recommend not to fly in a little plane because it moves a lot. My experience wasn’t as great as my husbands, but as long as he enjoyed it, I was happy. The view is for sure amazing!

All I can say is, what an AMAZING experience!
I went here for my first discovery flight experience. Like most people, I saw a groupon for a considerably good discount for one, and jumped on the opportunity. This was hands down one of my best impulsive decisions. I chose California Flight Center mostly because it was in Long Beach and I wanted to fly over the ocean.
Booking my flight was very easy, I was able to schedule it for a month in advance on a nice Saturday afternoon around 1! Pretty much one of the best times to go! If you’re doing one of these experiences, make sure to book between 10 — 3 since those seem like the best times for clear weather.
Unfortunately, I forgot my flight instructor’s name but it was a guy. My experience far surpassed my expectations and it was amazing. My flight instructor was not only friendly, but he was helpful and let me do a lot of the flying. He also answered all of my questions regarding attending flight school and FYI, it would set you back around 7−10K.
The plane — Cessna — was in great shape, not too outdated. The only problem was the headsets as I couldn’t hear him as well as I hoped; this can be easily remedied. Everyone here was friendly and made the experience wonderful! Would come back even without the groupon if I had money to spare! Highly recommend!

Went with a friend to fly around from Long Beach to Catalina Island. Everything went smooth, however the oil temperature gauge was slightly off and it ended our trip prematurely. Good thing it wasn’t in the ocean.

I tried going to this place. The people were very nice but pretty busy and didn’t have time to answer all my questions.

Well, This is not the most reasonable place to go flying. Actually it’s one of the most expensive out there. The people are plastic and tell you what you want to hear to get your biz. Then once you start with them you find out the truth about them. They want your money. However, If you have the cash you can buy a check out whether your safe or not does not matter. Try somewhere else and you will happy and your pockets will not be as empty.
Some of thier instructors are good. but most have to big of egos.

FYI: The correct address is the Spring St address listed on the info page.
WOW! My first helicopter ride was amazing! I felt welcomed through out the whole experience unlike some other school (check my other review)! The staff made accommodations for me and made it happen! Sonny, the Chief Flight Instructor, took me up on a Demo Introductory ride. That guy has some skills! Talk about multi tasking!
We took off and flew down to the Trump course and down through the coast at low altitudes! We were flying at about 500ft over the beach checking out the scenery. We flew along side the Queen Mary. It is something else up there! Loved it!
The facility was clean and looked professional. They have a very nice Pilot Shop with many books and materials to choose from. Everyone was in good spirits and happy to be there. Where else would you want to be?
The best part about the experience is that I got to control the, «stick and rudder» at high altitudes and very low altitudes. I even got some hovering practice done no more than 10 feet of the ground! The flight lasted about an 1 hour from the time the engine turned on until we landed.
I would recommend this flight school to anyone that wants to take a demo heli ride and possibly train there. 2 thumbs up!
Thanks California Flight Center!

FYI, please note, the address has changed, hopefully Unilocal will update it. The correct address is
2830 E Wardlow Rd
Long Beach, CA 90 807
Phone number is still the same!
I’m writing a review here based on my experience when I walked in into this facility. I didn’t take any discovery lesson from the staff, but my friend was looking into getting a teaching credential’s certification, so he asked me to be his guinea pig, pretending to be his student. Hey, who doesn’t want a free flying lesson eh? :)
Discovery flights here usually takes about 45minutes of flying around Long Beach ports and altitude of about 4000 feet max, but since my friend was still learning, we went beyond the limit =) and I spent about 1hour 15mins. Not bad at all. Okay, enough about my flight, now I want to talk about the crew and staff on the ground.
While I was waiting, I saw a boy and his dad were trying to take on discovery flight, the pilot were very friendly in explaining to them the general knowledge what’s the flight gonna be, also the staff was very friendly when I came and ask for directions and looking for my friend plus his coach. For $ 169, I think the price is not bad at all and the planes that they had there mostly were Cessna, so if you’re expecting a brand new plane like Cirrus, forget it.
Overall, my experience with them was great, there’s a pilot that my friend warned like talk a lot, but hey as long as the topic ain’t boring, I’m fine with it. =) They also have parkings right in front of their tiny store, but since it’s like in cul de sac, it’s okay to park by the street, there’s nothing else by this facility. Will I be back for a lesson? Maybe, not anytime soon though. It was real fun.