-And let's go into a nose-down and a tip.
-Whoo! -Make us go into a spin.
-Holy shit. -As you see?
♪♪
-Uh...
♪♪
So, as you may have seen on the last "One Star Reviews,"
I was in Los Angeles. Um...
Things got pretty intense there, to say the least,
There was, uh, some sort of shooting that took place here.
-Mm-hmm. Bad guys leave in body bags.
-So now I've actually relocated to Canada.
No longer in America at all
and, uh, not even gonna be on the ground at all.
This time we're gonna go into the sky --
the flying lesson.
♪♪
All right, so I'm actually seeing quite a few so far,
and I think it's also worth noting
this is actually my second time attempting this.
The first one did not work out so well.
[ Tape fast-forwarding ]
-Um, we have one concern before we start here, guys,
so we just need a minute.
-But as they say, second time's the charm,
so, uh, let's, uh...
fly away.
Whoa. All right.
Well, I've just stumbled upon Canadian Flight Centre.
And that one has 24 likes.
♪♪
I've put my body on the line more times
than I can count for this show., but today was different.
I was to put my life on the line.
To make things even worse,
we had just received information that the flying conditions
were risky due to poor visibility.
But I wasn't going to let that get to me.
This is my job,
and getting to the bottom of these reviews is my duty.
♪♪
Um, I'm Taji.
I'm here for my flying lesson today.
♪♪
-Good afternoon. Let's do the elbow.
-Oh, sorry. I'm Taji. Nice to meet you.
-I forgot. -Nice to meet you.
I'm Pedro. -Nice to meet you.
-Sounds good. Why don't you take a seat?
-Of course.
-So, uh, tell me a little bit about yourself.
Um, will you want to be doing a flying lesson
for, uh, becoming a private pilot
or a commercial pilot?
-I've never flown before,
and I'm kind of just interested in trying it out.
I would love to just get up in the sky,
fly around, like this, I guess.
Just flying around.
-We have a saying that the sky's the limit,
but, actually, we're going to be flying, so...
we will be -- we put the limits ourself.
♪♪
So, I have entered my signature here.
-Cool. -I will need you to sign
where it says "pilot."
Okay, so... -Thank you.
-You're welcome.
-It was time for liftoff.
I was about to head up to the skies with Pedro,
an instructor for a flight school
with one of the worst online reputations.
I have to say, on our way to the plane,
my confidence began to crash
with each aircraft wreckage I saw.
But Pedro would attempt to put me at ease
by taking me through a rigorous safety check
before putting me in control of the plane.
"Fire extinguisher charged and secure."
-It's charged and secure.
♪♪
Now, please open the window.
And now verbalize -- "Clear prop."
-Clear prop? -Yeah, but like, you know,
say it out loud.
-Clear prop!
[ Engine starts ]
-They scream at students and instructors
in front of anyone and everyone.
-These people are the lowest of the low
that you will ever meet. -They blackmail their students
into posting positive reviews. -If you fly with them,
you have to pray for your life.
-This is a scammer school.
-How are you feeling?
-Uh, I'm a little nervous.
-Tower, Cessna 152 Two Papa Victor on runway 1-8
ready for departure.
-Two Papa Victor, tower, left turn out proof.
Clear to take off, runway 1-8.
-Clear for take-off. Two Papa Victor.
-The runway was clear. There was no turning back.
I was to hit the skies with Pedro
and take control of the aircraft
and get to the bottom of these one-star reviews.
-Are you ready? -Sure.
-All right.
And now gently apply full power with the throttle.
[ Engine revving ]
Yep. Keep moving it until we have
full power, all the way in.
Perfect. Now look at the very far end of the runway.
Keep your hand on the throttle, please.
And now we're gonna start applying back pressure.
There we go.
[ Engine running ]
Okay, you're flying.
-All right, wow. We made it.
♪♪
-So, you have control of your aircraft,
and we're gonna start, uh, turning to the left.
So what I want you to do is to roll the control wheel
to the left, and you see how the aircraft
move to the left.
And how long have you been working for
this particular flight school?
-Oh, about a year, almost two years.
-Were you, um, flying before that
on a professional level, or...?
-I was flying for an airline before.
-So, you were flying commercially,
and now you're teaching? -Yeah.
-So have you enjoyed working so far?
-Oh, I love working.
-So far, so good.
I was in control of the aircraft,
and Pedro was being great.
But I could not get these reviews off my mind.
-They scream at students...
-They blackmail their students...
-If you fly with them, you have to pray for your life.
-All right, I have control.
-Have control. -Look in front of us, okay?
We're going to a full stall condition
and then apply left rudder.
-Whoo-hoo! -Make us go into a spin.
-Holy shit. -As you see?
The ground is moving, okay? -Yeah.
-So we're fully spin.
And now to recover, we apply opposite rudder.
And is out of a dive.
How did that feel?
-That was very fun, but I don't know
if it's like I ate too much Indian food last night
or what's going on, but, like, I feel, um --
whoo! -- a little bit nauseous.
I felt nausea unlike any I had felt before,
which did not feel good at all.
But regardless, this felt like a very good time
to bring up the business's one-star reviews.
But, yeah, I mean, for example, even before I came in,
like, I checked out some of the reviews before.
-Uh-huh. -And, you know, I noticed,
you know, there were quite a few one-stars.
I was wondering if, you know, maybe you could even
kind of address a couple of them?
"Don't believe the positive reviews on here.
They blackmail their students into posting
positive reviews before tests.
Some of the positive reviews on here
are from the employees themselves.
Unethical practices with no regard to students' safety.
-Uh, that's a...
that's a serious review that should be addressed.
-But in your time fling with the school,
have you come across anything like that?
-I have heard about bad reviews from the past,
but never while I was working for them.
-But what do you think of a review like that?
-Let's do the plane landing check.
-I mean, someone even mentioned, like, old aircrafts.
But from what I'm seeing, it's...
-Ah, it's interesting because I don't think
you will find aircraft equipment like this
in any other flight school in the Vancouver area.
-I mean, this seems like a pretty nice plane.
Why do you think someone would write something like that?
-I don't know.
And we're gonna descending.
Two Papa Victor is on drive downward for a full stop.
-Two Papa Victor, tower is good to land [indistinct].
-Clear to land, tower 20.
[ Speaks indistinctly ]
You can start moving the throttle back.
Move the throttle back all the way out.
-Okay, all the way out? -Yep.
Keep your hands on the controls,
and where you look -- we're looking at
the very far end of the runway all the way to the tarmac.
And we have touchdown.
-Right. Well, I'm glad we landed,
'cause I'm not gonna lie.
I feel like I could vomit any minute now.
-Okay. -But I'll hold it in.
I didn't really feel that I had fully gotten
to the bottom of the reviews while in the air.
But to be fair to Pedro, he had more important things
to concentrate on, and I respect that.
So now that we were back on the ground,
I felt the need to press him a little further.
-I do believe that each review should be addressed.
Um, I haven't particularly checked each one of them,
but I know some of them are not, uh, positive reviews.
-So, I mean, to your knowledge, the students are pretty happy.
They don't feel like they're getting scammed.
You know, they're --
-Absolutely That -- that is mine.
That is what I believe in. That's my knowledge.
-And they feel pretty safe? -Yeah.
-"If you fly with them, you have to pray for your life
because the planes are extremely bad conditions."
-They are very safe aircraft, very well equipped,
and very well maintained.
So, and that's the main reason.
Bear in mind that I spend six days a week here.
So my message to these people writing those reviews --
get in touch with us and try to --
we'll try to work things out.
♪♪
-"I went to Canadian Flight Centre
with the intention of taking some time off the land,
and that I did."
-Okay, you're flying.
-"Before going in, I had read reviews mentioning
a lot of yelling and a lack of learning
taking place at the school.
However, my experience was the complete opposite --
no yelling and all learning."
-Now, show me a bank added to the left.
Very nice. -"There are also reviews
that had me concerned for my safety,
mentioning planes in extremely bad condition.
Yes, there were a couple out of commission,
but the one I flew on was in tip-top shape.
Pedro paid very close attention to all safety protocols
and talked me through every step of the way.
-I have control. -Have control.
"The flight certainly activated my nerves and nausea,
but I came out feeling confident and packed with adrenaline.
I guess you could say it was smooth sailing,
or as Pedro taught me, smooth flying.
♪♪