J.A. Air Center

Nickel and dimers. Did a checkout flight with J.A. 2 weeks ago, everything went fine. Wanted an option to be able to rent closer to home. I went in, did the flight, got the approval, and had my logbook signed and was on my way. I noticed a week later in the invoice I was charged .3 for ground instruction. Not a big deal, it’s $20. But I literally didn’t receive any ground instruction… I’m not a student at the school. I also took time earlier in the week the take pics and scan all my documents to get it to them. I filled out digital forms and gave them credit card info days before in order to be able to simply get on the schedule. Honestly, it was tougher to get on their schedule for a checkout flight than any other school I’ve visited. And I was warned of all the hoops they make you jump thru before I pursued them. When I reached out to ask a question and understand why I was charged, they couldn’t give me a straight answer. I wasn’t upset about it or asking for a refund, I just wanted clarification as to why/how that was justified. It somewhat felt like a money grab. If you told me it was for XYZ, great - thanks for explaining. Just help me understand and make it make sense. I’m writing this on a Friday afternoon at 1pm. This call took place about 2 hours ago. I had a plane rented tonight from 4-10pm to go down to the state fair in peotone which we’ve been planning for weeks with a group of friends. I get a call back within the hour from Gail to say that I’ve been refunded my entire checkout flight, & my reservation for tonight (in 4 hours that I have tickets and everything to and have planned for weeks) is now cancelled, and that I am no longer able to rent from J.A. that they’ll be changing their policy as of today to students only. All because I asked a simple question on “why was a charged ground instruction when I didn’t receive any?” This is my only experience with J.A but I’m fine with there never being any other experiences.

First, I’d like to point out that several of the negative reviews listed below are not even for this business: they are for an air charter and flight school with similar names. This review is for JA Air Center, the FBO and maintenance facility. JA Air Center, Tim, and Bruce handled the annual inspection for our 1979 Cessna T210N. The aircraft had many previous owners and many previous mechanics/shops had conducted its annuals. Not only did JA Air Center conduct a thorough annual inspection, they even went back and reinspected the prior mechanics’ work and paperwork. They spent a great deal of time and effort not only making sure that all the old work had been done correctly, but that all the required paperwork was squared away and accurate in the logbooks and with the FAA. JA Air Center, Bruce, and Tim were honest, open, and communicative during the entire process. They gave us options, opinions, and choices throughout the entire process. We felt that we were kept well informed of the status of our aircraft, which made it easier for us as owners to make decisions about how to move forward with the annual. I would highly recommend JA Air Center, Tim, and Bruce to anyone looking for a new shop, especially for Cessna 210’s.

Had a radio static issue with my Cirrus. The avionics team at JA responded immediately (on a Sunday afternoon) and followed-up over the following 48 hours to help me identify and resolve the issue. My experience could not have been better and I will be coming back to JA for service needs in the future.

I am a student a J.A. Flight training and I could not be happier. Having been to other flight schools in the past (I have a Commercial-IFR Helicopter rating), the level of which J.A. operates has exceeded any and all expectations I had about returning to a flight school to get my fixed wing certificates Leslie, Jim and Bill all went above and beyond the call of duty to help with everything I needed to get my fixed wing flying career up and going. I cannot thank them enough. J.A. flight training is not a pilot factory, It is a flight training community where the instructors care about their students and their true understanding of everything that comes along with learning how to fly an airplane(at least that’s how I feel). Every instructor I have met have been a pleasure to deal with, all offering their own little bits of helpful advice. The planes are maintained meticulously, all but one have glass cockpits and they are always clean and odor free. Once you have flown a well maintained aircraft, it's pretty easy to tell which ones are not looked after. If you are thinking about a career in flying or just want to see what it's like, I highly recommend contacting J.A. flight training. I was initially going to go to a different flight school elsewhere in the country, but after a not so pleasant experience with them, I decided to look elsewhere. Right from the first phone call with Leslie, I knew that J.A. was going to be a great experience. Jim and Bill spent countless hours doing research for me and shared all the information with me before the mention of any money, I have saved well over $30,000 by going to J.A. for one-on-one training versus the other school which wanted me to "join" one of their classes (12+ students per class) without any credit for ratings held. I have been training at J.A. for the past few months so I feel that this review has a leg to stand on, I have read the negative reviews on J.A. and have failed to understand a single one of them. Come on guys and gals, this is flying, there will always be weather and other restrictions that decide for you whether your reservation is going ahead or not, we are not in a perfect world. I completed my Helicopter ratings in sunny southern California, I have learned so much about weather and winter flying out here in Chicago that I almost wish I had found a helicopter school here all those years ago (Almost).

Good place for a TKS install. Bruce from JA is knowledgeable and communicated well throughout the whole process. I fly my Cessna 182T, N55RY, on average 40-50 hours per month and safety is very important to me so in Michigan where I live ice protection is a must. Installation turned out very good and provided a good opportunity to get some other preventative maintenance and minor paint work done as well. These installations can be tricky and involve considerable disassembly of the aircraft but these guys know the system well and are good at it.