Trade Winds Aviation                Last Visit: 06.16.2009


Leading San Francisco Bay Area Flight School and Pilot Training Facility. As a Cessna Pilot Center we use effective learning tools to optimize flight training. We use newer Cessna aircraft and have an on-site, certified Cessna repair facility.

We're a flight organization based in San Jose, California
School Type:   Part 61.  

Training Area:   Local.  



Instruction Materials:    Jeppesen, ASA, Sportys, Gleim, King, FAA and Custom.  

Syllabus:    Jeppesen and Custom.  



Category:    Airplane (Fixed Wing).  

Certificates:    Private, Commercial, ATP, CFI and CFII.  

Ratings:    VFR, IFR, Commercial, CFI, CFII, Multiengine and Multiengine Instructor.  

Class:    Single Engine Land and Multi Engine Land.  

Engines:    Single and Twin.  

Endorsement:    Complex, High Performance and High Altitude.  

Recurrent Training:    Flight Review, Instrument Proficiency Check, Aircraft Checkouts and Insurance Checkouts.  

Training Orientation:    Career (Carrier, Commercial, Military), Business (Private) and Recreation (all non-commercial flight).  

Career Focus:    Commercial (includes air taxi, survey, ambulance, etc), Corporate Flying, Regional Airlines, Flight Instruction and Major Airlines.  

Type of Curriculum:    Ground School, All-inclusive, Accelerated (full days, intense), Mountain Flying, Self-Paced and Career Oriented, structured.  



Technically Advanced Aircraft:    Glass Cockpit(Garmin G1000), etc, TCAS - Collision Avoidance and Autopilot.  

Type of Rental:   Licensed Pilots.  

Type of Airplanes Available:   Cessna 172, Piper Archer III  

Aircraft Rental Rates:   $124-$143  



Training Facilities:    Dedicated Classroom, Lounge, Dedicated Study Area, Flight Planning Area, Lending Library (books, videos, software), Pilot Ready Room, Private Rest Quarters, Snack Room and Simulator.  

Airport Facilities:    Control Tower, Weather computer terminal and Pilot Shop.  

Airport Locations (codes):   KRHV  



Special Offer:   Affiliated with Sallie Mae, Pilot Finance  

Financial Assistance:    Third Party (bank, etc) and Student Loans.  



Admin Support:    Job Interview prep or coordination and VA - Veterans Affairs.  

Professional Affiliations:    AOPA, EAA, Ninety-Nines, Cessna Pilot Center and Cirrus Standardized Training Center.  

Total Instructors:   12  

Foreign Languages:   German, Spanish  

Awards of Merit:   Cessna Pilot Center excellence of training  



Weather:   Year round flying  



School Description
Established in 1988, Trade Winds Aviation is the San Francisco Bay Area's leading flight training facility! A Cessna Pilot Center, Trade Winds Aviation is dedicated to providing safe, high quality flight instruction, using the industry's best training aircraft and advanced training tools. Come by for a tour of our facility and aircraft, meet the staff, and find out how we can help you achieve your flying goals!

Staff Qualification
Trade Winds Aviation prides itself on hiring only the most professional, well trained, and safest flight instructors for our flight school. The flight training staff consist of full and part time instructors and includes airline and corporate pilots, aircraft mechanics, and airplane owners just to name a few. Several of our instructors are multi-lingual and all combined our staff has taught hundreds of students how to fly and logged thousands of hours of instructional flight lessons. So whether you need a high performance endorsement for your new Cessna Skylane, or an instrument proficiency check, or this is your first time in an airplane - Trade Winds has the right instructor for your needs.

More About Us
Our high standards of Quality and Safety in all we benefits the student in becoming a safe pilot and being well prepared for any activity in aviation.

Testimonials
I learned to fly, and received my private license while flying with this FBO. Can I recommend this school to a prospective student? Yes, of course I can. If good instructors, friendly staff, well maintained (safe) airplanes, and a thorough program are important, then Trade Winds is hard to beat. They also offered the ability to schedule online, something some FBOs (I cannot imagine why not in this day of technology, and in the Bay Area!!!) do not offer. I had probably the best flight instructor I could have ever met. She was always very nice, honest, patient, and willing to go that extra step to help. She also ensured that I had plenty of motivation to meet my goal. The staff was always very friendly, and the office area is very clean and professional compared to many flight schools I have visited. My experience was very positive at Trade Winds.” Tom Schoepf - Private Pilot “The San Jose Flight Standards District Office (FSDO) recognizes Trade Winds Aviation as one of the leading sponsors of the aviation safety seminars in the district.” Jack Hocker - FAA Safety Program Manager


Photo Gallery




Trade Winds Aviation in the blue Hangar

Trade Winds Aviation Facility

G1000 Glasscockpit

C172/G1000