u/Imaginary-Knowledge4

Just looking for some honest feedback on CAE Phoenix in Mesa, AZ.

I recently applied for the Southwest 225 Cadet Program, and one of their partner schools is CAE Phoenix. I was pretty excited about it at first, but after reading reviews online, I’m honestly getting a little concerned.

I know people are usually more likely to leave reviews when they’re upset, so I’m trying not to judge too quickly. But flight training is a huge investment (110k$ at CAE till CFII), both financially and time-wise, so I really want to make the right decision.

Does anyone here currently train there or recently graduate from CAE Phoenix? How was your actual experience? Would you recommend it for someone trying to go the airline/cadet route?

Would really appreciate any honest insights, good or bad.

TLDR: Applied for the Southwest 225 Cadet Program and CAE Phoenix is one of their partner schools. Online reviews are worrying me a bit. Looking for real feedback from people who actually trained

Hey everyone, just wanted to give a quick update.

A few days ago I made a post here about my checkride and how unprepared and rusty I was feeling after multiple reschedules. I was honestly pretty stressed going into it.

Well… I passed my Private Pilot checkride!

It actually went way smoother than I expected. Once it started, everything kind of clicked back into place. The nerves were there at first, but after getting into the flow, it felt like just another flight. The DPE was fair, the scenarios were reasonable, and overall it turned into a really solid experience.

Looking back, I think a lot of it was just anxiety from the delays and feeling out of rhythm. The training was there all along, I just had to trust it.

If anyone remembers my last post or is going through something similar right now, just know that feeling unprepared doesn’t always mean you actually are.

And seriously, thank you to everyone who commented and shared advice on that post. It helped more than you probably think.

Now onto the next step… instrument training.

My private pilot checkride is in 4 days, and honestly I don’t feel ready at all.

This whole process has been dragging for the past 2 months. My checkride has been rescheduled about 3 times because of weather and DPE availability, and I feel like it completely threw off my momentum. Every time I got close, something pushed it back again.

Now that it’s actually happening, I feel rusty.

My last two flights were not good. I was behind the airplane, my maneuvers felt off, and overall I just didn’t feel like myself in the cockpit. It’s messing with my confidence a lot.

I know I’ve put in the work. I’ve trained for this, I’ve done the hours, passed the written, and I’ve had good flights before. But right now, it just feels like everything is slipping at the worst possible time.

I don’t know what to do, I don't feel I’m actually ready.

TLDR: Private pilot checkride in 4 days after multiple reschedules. Feeling rusty after bad recent flights and not confident at all. Not sure if it’s normal anxiety or if I’m actually unprepared.