Aspen Flying Club — Local services in Four Corners States

I like Aspen Flying Club, I like their business model. I completed my private pilots license at Flights Inc because I wanted 141, which Aspen didn't offer. Rumor has it that Aspen will be a 141 operation soon. So that's something to look forward to when I'm ready to start my instrument training.

After earning my private pilot certificate I decided to get checked out in the Cirrus SR-20 (I had the 100 hour minimum), and I also got checked out in the Katana DA-20. I was looking for something different to fly other then the 172, which I spent close to about 85 hours in.

The staff was very helpful in getting me setup as a new member.

The club has a social feeling to it, and it is very simple to network with other members in the club. Aspen holds fly-out events to other airports for their members. They also offer free, and low cost training courses.

I LOVE LOVE LOVE the fact that I can do a self checkout after hours. If you want to go flying at 3AM, you are more then welcome to as long as the A/C isn't scheduled during the time you want to fly. Aspen has a very simple after hours procedure, which gives you the ability to get up and go when you want. Unlike other flying clubs, you have to call to reserve the A/C prior to the office closing. But not at Aspen.

The reason why I give 4 stars instead of 5

I did have 1 issue where I contacted a CFI, wanting to get a good introduction to the club, and schedule a flight, and he didn't return any of my phone calls, and this particular CFI is one of their senior instructors.

I called the office, and they provided me with a couple more CFI's to chose from. The next CFI I contacted was eager to get me in the air. From that point forward I didn't have any issues.

The CFI's at Aspen all have different rates. My SR-20 CFI was 50 a hour, and the Katana CFI was 45 a hour.

A majority of all of their CFI's can teach in all the A/C. However I wanted to get checked out in the SR-20, and the Katana. I had to have two different CFI's. The SR-20 CFI couldn't teach the Katana, and the Katana CFI couldn't teach the SR-20. So that was two different personalities, and teaching styles I had to adopt to in a short amount of time. But don't get me wrong, the CFI's where both awesome!! I will have a hard time choosing which CFI I will want to do my IFR with, because both instructors where great, and knowledgeable about everything. They are very very patient (which I can be a slow learner at times it took me 80 hours to get my ppl if that means anything) and they will make sure you are safe, and really understand whats going on.

I give my professional recommendation to this club if you are a perspective member. Around the clock A/C rentals, and...

I've been pursuing my private pilots license for about a year with Aspen, flying after work, very early AM, and on the weekends. Recently, I ended my membership to pursue it with another school.

Aspen is likely going to be the first company that comes up when you are looking into flight schools, but I strongly encourage you to look deeper into alternatives and understand the difference between a part 61 and part 141 school. It is also a good idea to reach out and speak with an actual flight instructor there or a manager and get firm commitment on what they are going to be doing for you and what your program is going to look like. This process is incredibly expensive (easily $14k+) and choosing the wrong school can set you back thousands of dollars and hours of your time. It can also be incredibly discouraging when CFIs and the management team are not invested in your success and in some cases completely dismissive of what you are trying to accomplish.

To give you an idea of the management attitude here vs at other schools, I brought my complaints (misrepresented costs, unreliable CFIs, zero structure) to the attention of management and the owner. The response was essentially "Sorry, but that's how this works. Leave if you want to". I tried on multiple occasions to meet in person with the owner and it was either brushed off or cancelled the day of. I ended up reaching out to another club, got ahold of the owner, and he went out of his way to meet with me in person and talk through the specifics of what I needed to finish. Aspen's poor management has sent me way over the costs they initially provided me, so once my money is settled again, I will finish at this other school.

After reading this, I hope you will take the time to examine and contact a few other schools, don't just pick the flashy one that comes up first like I did, and understand the difference between part 61 and part 141. Pursuing a pilots license should be an awesome experience and there isn't anything else that compares to being able to successfully execute a flight plan by yourself. Don't let a poor choice of flight school ruin this experience for you....

I've waited a while to post, hoping it would get better, but...

Everything sounds great when you're trying to find a club, whether a beginner or seasoned pilot.

Once a member and utilizing systems to reserve planes, they suck. How do you screw up by scheduling a maintenance OVER a reservation already on the books WITHOUT cancelling the reservation which will send automatic notice to the member? These guys are experts at that: wasting your time! You can't call to correct after hours. The person at front desk is constantly screwing up some part of the scheduling process. (How am I seeing this person still here, employed, not better?)

Speaking of scheduling, if you belong to both of the owner's clubs in this area, and you are trying to reserve a plane, you have to CALL IN and ask someone to switch your user profile to the other club to schedule that club's planes, which means you can't conveniently schedule between the two clubs on your own time, using the internet. Bonkers!! What the effety eff? And this is their UPGRADED system.

At APA you'll already be wasting time and gas just being in line to take off. Having an inefficient scheduling system means surprises that'll keep you from...