We have been approved for both our FAA 141 and FAA 142 certificates under Nepal CAAN approval.
AeroStar welcome pilots from the Top of the World!
Category: Ab Initio Pilot Training
How to Find the Best Flight School – Use This Checklist!
Shopping for the best flight school is daunting! It’s important to make the best decision, but you may not know what questions to ask! To help students evaluate their options carefully, we’ve created this checklist and provided our information.
We suggest you research the equivalent information from at least two other sources before making your decision. And give us a call if you have any questions!
| Item | Aerostar Training Services | Option Two | Option Three |
| Courses/Ratings Available | |||
| Orientation Flights | Yes | ||
| Private Pilot | Yes | ||
| Instrument | Yes | ||
| MultiEngine | Yes | ||
| Commercial | Yes | ||
| CFI | Yes | ||
| CFII | Yes | ||
| Type Rating – A320 | Yes | ||
| Type Rating – B737 | Yes | ||
| ATP CTP | Yes | ||
| Professional Courses | |||
| Interview Prep | Yes | ||
| MCC/Jet Transition | Yes | ||
| Professional Pilot Instrument Refresher | Yes | ||
| Simulator Observation | Yes | ||
| Cockpit Resource Management | Yes | ||
| Written Test Prep | Yes | ||
| Certificate Conversions – ICAO/FAA | Yes | ||
| Facilities & Resources | |||
| Location | Kissimmee, FL | ||
| Instructors | Airline/Regional/Corporate Career Pilots, not fresh inexperienced CFIs | ||
| Sims | Redbird
Level D (Full Motion) A320 Level D (Full Motion) B737 |
||
| Online Instruction | iPad Required, courseware provided. |
||
| FAA Certifications | Part 141
Part 142 |
||
| Financing | |||
| USA Veterans Education Benefits | 100% Approved | ||
| GI Bill | See Details here. | ||
| Work Opportunities while in training | See Details here | ||
You may be a high school student looking at possible careers as an airline pilot, or you may already be a professional pilot looking for your latest type rating or updated training.
Whether you’re an international student looking for the best flight school on Earth, or just looking for the best flight school in Florida, this checklist should help!
Interview with an Airline Captain
Instructor Babbitt interviews Airline Captain David Santo:
1) What happens when there’s an emergency on the airplane?
2) What is it like to be an Airline Captain?
3) How do flight crews work together?
4) How is flying an airliner different from flying a general aviation aircraft?
5) Why is everything scripted below 10,000 feet?
6) How do you prepare for a type rating program?
Ready to get started on your own flying adventure?
Never flown before? Explore our Pilot Academy for options for your first demo flight and your first lessons.
Looking to advance your career to the next step? Earn your ATP-CTP Certification.
Need a Type Rating for an airline job? Check out or Airbus 320 or Boeing 737 options.
What is IACRA, and what should I do before I start flight training?
Hello. My name is Richard Greenwood. I serve as the Training Center Manager for the FAR Part 142 Training Center here at Aerostar Training Services.
I’d like to speak to you today just for a few moments about IACRA.
IACRA is an electronic system used by the FAA to process airman certifications and ratings. The benefit to using IACRA is it decreases errors and it helps you to get your permanent license a lot faster.
Before coming to train with us, we need you to do one thing for us, and that is make sure that you have an account set up in the IACRA system. The website is IACRA.FAA.gov. Once you set up your account, you will be issued what’s called an FTN number. It begins with a letter and has a series of numbers behind it. Make sure that you write that number down, take a picture of it with your phone, or some other way that you’re going to remember what it was. Also make sure you write down your username and password because you’ll need that to the system. Armed with all those things, we can guide you through the process of doing your application once you arrive here.
The process is not long, but it can be confusing if it’s your first time. Not to worry, we will guide you through it every step of the way. These tips were intended to help make your transition smooth and to help you get the most out of your training. We look forward to having you train with us and we’ll see you soon.
AeroStar Training Services – The Overview
In this short video, Captain David Santo answers questions about AeroStar Training Services, including
- How is Aerostar different from other pilot training organizations?
- What credentials does AeroStar hold?
- What pilot training programs does it offer?
- How about beginners with no aviation experience?
- Who will we be working/studying with?
- How do we get started?
How is AeroStar different from other pilot training organizations?
Hello, my name is David Santo, and I’m the Chief Training Officer at AeroStar Training Services. I wanted to take this opportunity to let you know a little bit about AeroStar, and what we have to offer you. AeroStar was formed by a group of airline professionals with one goal in mind. We wanted to help aviation career dreams take flight. What that meant to us is we had enjoyed successful careers as airline pilots, and we wanted to be able to provide a pathway to help others to obtain the career goals, and success that we had.
What credentials does AeroStar hold?
AeroStar is an FAR 142 type rate training organization. What that means is, we operate under the FAR that allows a pilot to obtain a aircraft type rating, or add an airline transport pilot certificate by using advanced flight simulation technology.
When we started we dry leased airline simulators, and aircraft manufacturer simulators all over the country. Today we now have in our own facilities two Level D A320, and Boeing 737 full flight simulators. These simulators are state of the art technology. They sit on six axis hydraulic motion basis. We had 220 degree wrap around collimated visual systems that represent exactly the aircraft, and airport environment that you would be able to operate in. A Level D simulator is the highest level of simulator certification. With this simulator, and they’re called full flight sim’s, you can actually complete 100% of a type rating, or an ATP check ride without ever having to go out and fly the aircraft itself.
Tell us about the instructors.
Our staff is comprised of some really fantastic people who have years of airline, and training experience that we bring together for you. This includes CFIs, CFIIs, MEI, It includes airline transport pilots, current active and retired airline captains, and first officers.
What pilot training programs does AeroStar provide?
Today AeroStar offers a number of different programs. We offer type ratings under two different formats, initial, and what we call the fast track program. We offer an upgrade transition type rating course for those who already have experience time and type. We offer recurrent training for those who are actively flying the aircraft, and need to accomplish a PC check, and we are one of a few schools in the United States that offers the airline transport pilot certification training program, or atp ctp.
How about beginners with no aviation experience?
Under our 141 part 61 certificate we’re able to provide the private instrument commercial multi-engine flight training, so together we can take an applicant from zero flight experience all the way through type rating, airline placement ready all on one location here in Kissimmee, Florida
Who will we be working/studying with?
We have a wonderful staff who are manning our phones, and are able to answer emails. I’m very proud to say that our admissions specialists are all pilots themselves. They’re all eager to help you.
How do we get started?
If we can do anything to give you guidance, answer questions, help you realize your dream of becoming an airline pilot, or a commercial pilot, then please I encourage you to call us at (407) 888-9011. That’s here in the U.S.
You can also reach us at [email protected] We’d be very pleased to work with you, and help you in any way we can. On behalf of myself, David Santo, and the entire team here at AeroStar, thank you for watching. We look forward to working with you, and seeing you out on the flight line.
Rent our 172 in Kissimmee – A Fantastic Way to Build Time!
Aerostar is a flight school in Kissimmee, Florida. Our 172 is available for students and others who need to fulfill you currency requirements, brush up on specific skills, build time toward a goal or milestone.
Or, if you’re feeling the need to just GO SOMEWHERE! Kissimmee is wonderful, but it’s also crowded. It’s great to take a friend or two, get above the noise and traffic!
Rent this 172 Skyhawk for $149/hour, wet!
This Skyhawk Features:
- 172S Model (180 horsepower)
- 53 gallon fuel tanks
- Brand new Garmin G5 ADI and HSI
- Brand new Garmin GNX 375 Touchscreen moving map
- Full IFR certification
- KAP 140 2 Axis Autopilot
Fun Places to Fly Near Kissimmee:
Since Aerostar is a Flight School in Florida, our instructors and students have some great “inside information” about some local destinations. Here are a few suggestions:
- Bartow, FL (BOW / KBOW) – Get a “hundred-dollar hamburger” at Ninis Restaurant.
- Lakeland, FL (LAL / KLAL) – The home airport of the annual Sun & Fun Event.
- Merritt Island, FL (COI / KCOI) Visit the Kennedy Space Center at Cape Canaveral!
- Tampa International (KTPA) Lots of nightlife, a mall, lots of walking destinations
- Albert Whitted (St. Petersburg) (KSPG) – Lots of nightlife, Salvador Dali Museum, St. Pete Pier – Lots of fun walking destinations
- St. Augustine (KSGJ) Visit America’s Oldest City! Fantastic seafood restaurants
- The Bahamas – check out this AOPA article for pre-trip planning for a tropical getaway.
- Gatlinburg – Arrive in the Gateway to the Smoky Mountains in 5 hours!
Let’s go somewhere! Call 407-888-9011 to reserve your time.
Deidra Toye on Mentoring in Flight Training
Did you know that as of 2017 only 7.01% of pilots were women? With such a minimum number of women within the airline industry, AeroStar is a shining exception.
Since 2015, the CEO of AeroStar has been a woman: Deidra Toye. Under her leadership, AeroStar has gained recognition as one of the finest aviation-training providers in the world, by serving the needs of individuals as well as flight schools, colleges/universities, government agencies, and airlines across the globe.
In addition to her success in the flight training industry, she is Owner and Chief Operating Officer of Spectrum Aero Maintenance Services, also located in Kissimmee, FL (KISM). Deidra is not only AeroStar’s CEO, she is also mentoring her former mentor.
Around 12 years ago, Deidra worked at American Flyers as a Customer Service Rep with Jason Gledhill. Gledhill went above and beyond his boss duties to help mentor Deidra about the aviation industry. When looking back on those days Deidra stated “I was super excited about aviation, and with that excitement, I wanted to learn all I could. Jason never stopped teaching me along the way.” With Gledhill’s invaluable advice, Toye was able accelerate her success advancing within the industry to own and operate a both leading aviation training and an aircraft maintenance organization.
In a twist of fate, Deidra is now mentoring Jason by offering him an a320 type rating course through AeroStar, which he has now successfully completed. In response to her transforming from the mentee to the mentor, she said “To me, what’s satisfying, and I think Dave (Santo) would say the same, with us at AeroStar where we’re training so many pilots every day, all the time, as we travel across the world and we’re going to trade shows, and we’ll look up in the cockpit as board an airplane and there have been so many times where we’ve been like, hey, we know you; you graduated from AeroStar!” “it’s an amazing experience”. In addition, Toye spoke on the basics of her mentoring relationships. “It takes dedication on both sides. There have been times where “I’ll see a diamond in the rough, and be like, you know what, this person has so much potential, so much raw talent. And I’m just drawn to want to mentor them. But if they’re not a hundred percent into it and they’re not dedicated to it, at the end of the day, no matter how great they could be, if they’re not wanting to apply themselves to do it and they don’t have that passion for it, it’s not going to work out in the long run”.
At AeroStar Deidra has been able to utilize her mentoring expertize to help organize her team into becoming the best mentors for their students. In speaking of what she has learned from her mentor Toye stated “(Gledhill would) show me the fun side of aviation. How he mentors other people and how it’s important to mentor people throughout your aviation career. And from there I just really took it to heart and I adapted and adopted that mentality. And now I am delivering the same kind of message to my team and customers here at AeroStar.” Operating and growing two amazing companies, Deidra is becoming a prominent role model for Women in Aviation.
If you’re at Aerostar’s Kissimmee campus, you may find yourself in a casual conversation Deidra Wilson, having a great conversation about ATP CTP certification, type ratings, mentorship and pilot careers.
How is the US Government Shutdown Impacting Flight Training?
AeroStar Training Services is open for business during the government shutdown.
Our instructors are holding courses, students are enrolling and graduating, and things are progressing as normal with a few exceptions.
- Most flight training courses are being held as scheduled!
- Our instructors are teaching
- Our Redbird and A320 Sims are available
- Students are completing lessons and logging time toward their goals!
- We have an in-house Visa agent that can approve student visas.
- We can issue FAA temporary licensing on -site so that pilots can start using their new licensing or type ratings right away.
That said, there are a few things that may have temporary delays:
Foreign License Certifications/Conversions – Are currently on hold.
FAA Medical Certificates – for student pilots and others are currently not being issued, although Aviation medical examiners may still issue certificates to qualified pilots at the time of a regular FAA physical exam.
https://aerostartyperatings.com/pilot-training-articles/type-rating/It’s a great time to upgrade your skills, get the credentials you need – everything from initial pilot training, ATP-CTP certification, B737 and A320 type ratings, and advance your career.
Have concerns? Give us a call at 407-888-9011 and let’s get your questions answered!
New Red Bird Simulator Lands at AeroStar
AeroStar has added another flight training device to our simulation efforts, a Red Bird FMX, which will be used to support Career Pilot Academy students here at our Kissimmee training campus. This device is the third recent addition to AeroStar’s simulation portfolio. We acquired an A320 simulator in late 2017 and a B737 simulator has also been purchased and will be delivered at the end of the year.
“With all the space our new hangar facility provides us with, we are able to bring a variety of simulators in-house and fully cater to our student’s training needs,” said Dave Hensely, AeroStar’s Training Center Manager.
AeroStar Announces Part 141 Certificate
KISSIMMEE, August 22, 2018 — AeroStar is pleased to announce that we have obtained our Part 141 certificate. The Part 141 program enables students to secure a private pilot certificate in 35 hours instead of 40, and for an instrument rating, 30 hours instead of 40, as is required from a Part 61 school. This reduction in hours can save students greatly on training costs and time. Having this certificate also allows us to add our training curriculum to the list of SEVIS-approved flight schools, allowing international students to train here on an M1 visa.
While both Part 61 and Part 141 training programs follow the same policies set forth by the FAA, Part 141 training establishments are often geared towards career-minded students and use a more professional-oriented curriculum. Becoming a Part 141 training school is the perfect fit for AeroStar because we help students from their first time in the cockpit to securing an ATP certificate and other advanced training courses including type ratings on A320 and B737.
AeroStar’s Part 141 certificate is valid for our Private Pilot and Instrument Rating programs. AeroStar has held its Part 142 certificate since 2008. Contact us to learn more about our training programs at (407) 888-9011.
