Become a pilot with CFII

Whether you’re looking to become a professional pilot or simply learn to fly as a hobby, CFII is the place to start.

Riverside: KRALRiverside Municipal Airport
Orange County: KSNAJohn Wayne Airport
Contact us: (951) 564-0402(951) 564-0402
Every certificate: PPL to CFIIPPL to CFII, start to finish

Choose your path

Both paths come with the same quality of instruction, the same modern fleet, and every detail laid out up front so there are no surprises.

For yourself

Get your private pilot license on your own schedule. Two or three lessons a week gets most people to the checkride in four to six months, and you pay lesson by lesson. Fly your friends up the coast, come back for the instrument rating when you want it.

The private pilot license Book a discovery flight

For a career

The Career Track takes you from zero to commercial pilot and flight instructor in nine months, full time: six ratings, 282 hours, $89,000 with financing for the full amount. Then we pay you to build hours.

See the Career Track Pricing and financing

What we are known for

Zero to career pilot in nine months.

The Career Track takes you from zero experience to commercial pilot and flight instructor in nine months, full time. Six ratings, 282 hours and all of your instruction for one price, with financing for the full amount.

See Career Program

9 months: full time, from zero to instructor
6 ratings: and certificates, PPL to CFII
282 hours: in your logbook
$89,000: with financing for the full amount

A CFII instructor greeting a student beside a P-Mentor on the ramp

Start with a discovery flight.

The best way to get started is by booking a discovery flight with us! Take the controls of an airplane for the first time and experience the excitement of flying. No prior experience needed!

Already have some flight experience? Let us know, and we’ll tailor your lesson to help you learn something new while getting familiar with our aircraft.

Choose a time that works for you and book your flight at either Riverside Municipal Airport or John Wayne Airport in Orange County.

Book a discovery flight

A student smiling from the cockpit of a P-Mentor

A student standing on the wing of a P-Mentor, giving a shaka

A student crouched on the wing of a P-Mentor at sunset

A student leaning on the propeller of a P-Mentor

A student in a P-Mentor cockpit with a headset on

A student hugging the propeller of a P-Mentor

A student in a denim jacket beside a P-Mentor

A student sitting on the wing of a P-Mentor

A student with arms out like wings beside a P-Mentor

A student giving a thumbs up from the wing of a P-Mentor

A student by the nose of a P-Mentor with a flight bag

A student in the cockpit with a headset before a flight

A student sitting on the wing of a P-Mentor under a blue sky

A student with a hand on the propeller of a P-Mentor

A P-Mentor taxiing past the FBO with a student aboard

A student in the cockpit of a P-Mentor, headset on

A student standing beside a P-Mentor on the ramp

Trusted by many.

Join the many students who have had a great experience training with CFII.

Airplanes built this decade.

You train in factory-new Tecnam P-Mentors, on the kind of avionics you will fly for a living.

10 factory-new aircraft
A Garmin glass cockpit in every one
A parachute for the whole airplane

A student in the cockpit of a P-Mentor on the ramp

See the fleet How the parachute works

Our team in the hangar in front of a P-Mentor tail

CFII instructor walking the wing of a P-Mentor in the hangar

A student in the cockpit holding a new temporary airman certificate

Students beside the tail of a CFII trainer in the hangar

Every certificate, start to finish.

From the private pilot license to flight instructor, each one is a program of its own. Take them one at a time, or all at once on the Career Track.

Private Pilot License
The license that starts everything. Fly yourself, your friends and your family, anywhere in the country.
About the private pilot license
Instrument Rating
Fly in the clouds, on an IFR flight plan. The rating that turns a fair-weather pilot into an all-weather pilot.
About the instrument rating
Commercial Pilot License
Get paid to fly. The license every professional pilot career starts from.
About the commercial pilot license
Certified Flight Instructor
Teach people to fly. Get paid for every hour, and build the time that gets you to the airlines.
About the certified flight instructor
Career Track
All of them, in nine months, full time. Zero experience to flight instructor for one price.
About the Career Track

Our locations

We fly from Riverside and from John Wayne Airport in Orange County. Same airplanes, same instructors, pick the one closer to you.

Riverside Municipal Airport

KRAL, our home base in the Inland Empire: a towered airport with open practice areas minutes away. Every Career Track lesson starts and ends here, and so does the hangar you can come and visit.

Flight school in Riverside About the airport

John Wayne Airport

KSNA in Santa Ana, between Irvine, Newport Beach and Costa Mesa. Discovery flights and lessons toward your private pilot license leave from here, so Orange County students fly from their own side of the hills.

Flight school in Orange County About the airport

Questions.

Do I need any experience to start?

No. The discovery flight is lesson one: you meet your instructor, preflight the airplane together and take the controls in the air. Everything after that builds on it.

How old do you have to be?

There is no minimum age for lessons. You can fly solo at 16 and hold a private pilot license at 17. Plenty of our students started before they could drive.

Can I learn to fly on weekends?

Yes. Most hobby students fit lessons around work or school. Two or three a week is a good pace, and at that pace the private pilot license takes four to six months.

Do I need a medical certificate?

Before you fly solo, yes: a third-class FAA medical from an aviation medical examiner. It is a half-hour visit and most people pass without trouble. You can take the discovery flight and your first lessons before you have one.

What if I want to fly for a living?

That is the Career Track: nine months full time from zero to commercial pilot and flight instructor, 282 hours and six ratings for $89,000, with financing for the full amount. Then we pay you to build hours as an instructor.

Come fly with us.

Book a discovery flight and fly a factory-new airplane yourself, with an instructor beside you. Or come by the hangar first, walk the fleet and ask us anything.