Aces High Aviation - Long Beach, California

Cade

After visiting and taking demo flights at several flight schools in the Southern California area, I landed on Aces High Aviation. They offer a great selection of aircraft (as well as a simulator) at competitive rates. Their instructor-to-airplane ratio is excellent, and their mechanic is located right next door, allowing for quick maintenance turn-around times. I was able to earn my PPL in just a few months and am now working on my instrument rating. The instructors are knowledgeable and professional, and the school has one of the best safety records in the area. The location of the school is conveniently located next to runway 26R at LGB, which means less time taxiing and more time flying. Runway 26R is also perfect for practicing crosswind landings thanks to the coastal winds coming from the south. One of the things I appreciate most about Aces High, is the atmosphere. Everyone has been incredibly friendly and supportive from the instructors to the students, and especially the owner, Sam. From my first phone call to the school, to meeting with him in person, he was available to answer all of my questions. He is very involved in the day-to-day operations of the school, and his door is always open if you have questions, need help and/or guidance. His dedication to the school and the success of its students is very evident. I highly recommend Aces High Aviation to anyone interested in starting or continuing their flight training, whether it’s for a private pilot certificate, instrument rating, or beyond. If you’re considering flight schools in the area or just have questions, give Aces High Aviation a call, or better yet, stop by and have a chat with Sam!

JAY L.

Aces High is an outstanding flight school! The owner Sam is amazing, his dedication to students truly sets this place apart. The CFIs are extremely knowledgeable, patient, and always willing to go the extra mile to ensure you succeed. The planes are well maintained and reliable, giving you confidence every time you take to the skies. On top of that, the rental prices are very reasonable, making quality flight training accessible. Everyone is friendly and welcoming, creating a fantastic learning environment. Highly recommend Aces High for anyone looking to start or advance their flying journey. I'm really happy I've started my flight training here.

Nhi D.

Words can describe how thankful I am of Aces High. I came from another school that was extremely disorganized/shady/hectic, but that was my norm because I didn’t have any aviation influence in my life to guide me. Then I started at Aces and it was an immediate breath of fresh air. Maintenance inspections all accounted for on a spreadsheet, quick and easy scheduling, cheaper plane rentals, the owner (Sam) is always readily available to help, instructors are always willing to help regardless of how busy they are, and many more. Endless support at Aces with their wonderfully cultivated family friendly environment. I was able to zoom through my instrument rating to CFI license in just under one year. This school pushes you to achieve what you can handle all while telling you how to save money, which is HUGE. I’ve toured at a decent amount of flight schools and haven’t had one lay things out and directly tell me how to save money like the way Sam took his time to do. What a rad dude. Anyways, this school is a lovely place. Extremely satisfied with my time here.

Daniele A.

My colleagues and I chose to do the hours building here in California. From the outset, the owner Sam was very helpful, responding immediately to emails and phone calls, solving any doubts about this experience. The school is spotless, tidy and well organized. Sam immediately made himself available in the schedule of the flights so that we could fly every day and complete the hours building. The instructors are competent, nice and very helpful. Finally, aircraft are kept in a maniacal way: efficient, well maintained and clean. A really nice training experience and at the same time pleasant. Thanks for everything aces high <3

Fabio

I went with a friend to do hour building. Owner Sam is very helpful, we arranged for a customized hour package, and once we arrived, we were greeted by a really knowledgeable team of people. The instructors are top level, kind and very helpful.
After completing the license conversion process from EASA to FAA, we were finally able to fly the skies over California.
The airplanes are well maintained, all the people are available to help and recommend routes to fly.
Wonderful experience

James H.

Me and my partner came to Aces from the UK for hour building in April 22, and I would without hesitation recommend this flight school!

The checkout process was simple, thanks to Esther, and consisted of a couple of documents as well as brief, yet productive checkout flight.

Aircraft are clearly very well maintained, and we never had any issues with availability as Sam (owner) had confirmed the rental times even before we had arrived.

All throughout our hour building trip, Sam was supportive and accommodating, but also personable and a great chap who has a genuine interest in seeing people succeed.

Again, thanks Sam and team for making this an awesome hour building trip to remember!!

Biagio Q.

I and my colleagues started finding information about doing hour building in the US and 2 of our friends suggested to choose Aces High Aviation to do this. The flight school is based in Long Beach airport (KLGB) in a very strategic position for training because it’s in a very crowded area considering it’s surrounded by many big airports such as Los Angeles International (KLAX). So this position is very challenging for the training and puts the pilot in a very stimulating environment in which he has to be aware of many variables and makes the pilot very skilled in managing this much traffic.
About the flight school, from the beginning the owner, Sam, has been always so helpful giving us all the info necessary for the process of activating our American licence. Sam was very helpful in scheduling the first flights with the instructor for the flight review required by the FAA to activate our American private pilot licence based on the European one. The instructors at Aces are very very kind and always helpful and available to help the students with their doubts and questions and in flight they make the student comfortable with the new environment of the American airspace. We did the flight review with the instructor and then we started flying on our own to build the hours. Sam was just so rapid and smart in scheduling many many hours for us during our stay in Long Beach and in fact we were able to build 100 hours in just 24 days of flying! The airplanes were just perfect, very well maintained and very clean both inside and outside. The maintenance team was always ready to resolve the issues that could happen with the airplanes and Sam was very smart in scheduling the flights and organising the periodic maintenance inspections required. We always flew with the 152s, the schools owns 4 of them at the time of writing, and so we had so much room to fly even when one of the airplane was grounded for maintenance. The school building was very cleaned, very organised and well maintained. The scheduling is public and all digital and so you always know when you are gonna fly in advance, you have access to all the documents at any time, there are many classrooms to study and do ground time with the instructors. The access to the schools in 24 hours a day thanks to the airport badge so you could possibly fly at any time of the day or night without the need of Sam to be present. There is also a very good simulator which can be used when the weather outside is very bad, that is very very rare in Los Angeles, but that very few times when the weather is not good over the airport, you can fly in the sim. Personally, I would really really recommend Aces High Aviation for hour building because we had a very good experience flying in the US with those nice airplanes. Moreover, I would recommend this flight school also for all the licences needed for a pilot, from the Private Pilot Licence to the Commercial Pilot Licence, because the school has all the means to provide a very good training and many of the students with whom we talked were very happy with those parts of the training.
So to sum up, the experience at Aces High Aviation was very impressive and I would definitely choose this school again in the future!
Thanks Aces and thank you Sam for this experience of our life! ❤️

Chris B.

I’ve been at Aces High Aviation for over a year now and I couldn’t be happier with my experience. The entire building, ramp area, and airplanes are always clean and well maintained. All of the flight instructors are welcoming and highly knowledgeable. The owner, Sam, works tirelessly day in and day out to keep the operation running smoothly. In addition, I’ve met so many amazing pilots here with similar goals and aspirations that are always there to help you. Compared to other flight schools I’ve been to, Aces High Aviation stands #1 on all aspects.