Author Topic: Flight School price (Read 381 times)

parker00 · « **on:** July 17, 2005, 09:17:39 AM »

I've been thinking about taking some classes lately and was wondering if any of you thought these prices seem about right or not. I just want to make sure i'm not getting screwed because my choices of places are rather small. Here is the price on their website:

Estimated costs associated with primary flight training in a Cessna 150*:

Medical Exam $70
Books and Supplies $160
Knowledge Test Fee $70
30 Hours of Dual $3000
10 Hours of Solo $675
Rental of Aircraft for Flight Test $125
Practical Test Fee $250
TOTAL $4350 <------- Does this seem to be an average price or is this a little inflated?

http://www.allensrule.com/gardner/training.htm

Dago · « **Reply #1 on:** July 17, 2005, 09:25:43 AM »

About normal today.

Fishu · « **Reply #2 on:** July 17, 2005, 09:29:18 AM »

Cheap as hell, by finnish stantards

detch01 · « **Reply #3 on:** July 17, 2005, 09:57:00 AM »

Parker, seems like a very reasonable estimate to me. Those prices are very much lower than what you'd pay up here in Canada.
Good luck with your training and welcome to the aviation world:aok .

Cheers,
asw

Chairboy · « **Reply #4 on:** July 17, 2005, 10:00:25 AM »

Put 10 hours of fudge factor into your estimate. National average is 50 hrs in the USA, and it's better to have cash left over in the end then it is to run out near the end.

MarkVZ · « **Reply #5 on:** July 17, 2005, 10:07:37 AM »

I agree, you're going to be lucky to finish in 40 hours even. Chairboy's recomendation of at least 10 more hours is a good one.

I'm not trying to say that you can't do it in 40 hours, it's just rare.

40 hours is a minimum, not an average value. I would worry about a flight school if they guarantee you to finish in 40 hours.

Golfer · « **Reply #6 on:** July 17, 2005, 10:55:31 AM »

Your numbers rounded out very evenly...don't forget tax.

You'll also want a headset. There are so many choices, models, designs of headsets out there that you have a lot of choices with lots of options. I suggest to new students David Clark H10-13.4 simply because I've had mine for years and have had no trouble whatsoever. My former instructor had a problem with the jacks on his, sent it back to sportys and they fixed it up no questions asked.

A few other things you may consider:

Kneeboard. Very handy clipboard that is strapped to your knee for you to write down clearances, airport information, or to copy down the number to call when you just broke a regulation

Good Flashlight with Red and/or Blue filter. Invaluable for flying at night and the light filters will prevent you from being blinded by bright white light.

Stow the "whiz wheel" mechanical E6B and get yourself an electronic one.

Handheld GPS. Here again...so many freakin designs with so many freakin options it's not hard to find one that's for you. Garmin, Magellan and Lowrance make top of the line models. A local pilot shop will typically have literature on these and if not the internet is your friend... Sportys is a fantastic website with what I've found to be excellent service and when it comes to the things I'm mentioning...great prices. Just don't by the goofy stuff they offer. Electronic Checklists, cloud sights and other dork goober goods.

These GPS systems are very much capable and wonderful tools for flying various types of aircraft in a typical rental fleet. Usually these aircraft are not as well equipped as a privately owned one and it's fantastic to have a common piece of navigation equpiment no matter where you go. Most if not all screens rotate depending on how you want to mount them. My GPS didn't come with this mount...I bought it and tie-wrapped it to the yoke clipboard mount.

What I mean by the screen rotating...

Personally I own a Garmin Pilot III which I don't think is manufactured anymore. No problems and there are thousands of guys out there who have had no trouble with the other brands either...enjoy the freedom of having a choice

That's a few things off hand that will serve you well for YEARS. Good luck and have fun!

parker00 · « **Reply #7 on:** July 17, 2005, 11:00:37 AM »

ok thanks for the info guys!!! I did notice on the website that is says in small print that you will more than likely have more hours then just the 40. They charge something like $68.00 and up per hour depending on the plane your in. I think i will be trying their "Trial" special for $50 that last about an hour to see you really like it. I don't have doubts about doing it, just want to see what it's like to fly in the small planes without taking a bunch of classes before i even get to fly.

Wolfala · « **Reply #8 on:** July 17, 2005, 03:04:34 PM »

Quote

Originally posted by parker00
ok thanks for the info guys!!! I did notice on the website that is says in small print that you will more than likely have more hours then just the 40. They charge something like $68.00 and up per hour depending on the plane your in. I think i will be trying their "Trial" special for $50 that last about an hour to see you really like it. I don't have doubts about doing it, just want to see what it's like to fly in the small planes without taking a bunch of classes before i even get to fly. [/QUOTE

Parker,

The 4350 is a best case estimate for the required 40 hours to get the private. Now, out of the hundred or so students i've taught, i've only had about 2 who made it in 40 hours. The realistic average nation wide is between 60 and 70 hours - which puts you in the 6-8000 range. And of course the misc costs of headsets, charts and **** - less then 10K, but still up there.

Don't be surprised.

Wolf

Shane · « **Reply #9 on:** July 17, 2005, 03:09:35 PM »

but...

adding two .50's....

priceless.

moose · « **Reply #10 on:** July 17, 2005, 03:16:40 PM »

one thing i would like to make a note of here - the electronic E6B is a great tool, but i would suggest learning the ins and outs of the basic mechanical one first. around here, if you bring the battery powered one on your checkride the examiner will ask you to plot out your c-c with the basic one... its good practice anyway

CyranoAH · « **Reply #11 on:** July 17, 2005, 03:46:27 PM »

That's cheap, it costs about $7000 here.

Daniel

parker00 · « **Reply #12 on:** July 17, 2005, 04:35:59 PM »

I think i will have to pay them a visit this week to find out how it all works. I've lived close to this airport for 27 years and have never even made a stop there to see what all they offer. Thanks again for your help on this and hope to be able to start soon and let you all know how it goes. You think they would question me if i started asking what type of payload these things carry

Golfer · « **Reply #13 on:** July 17, 2005, 06:05:27 PM »

Just to clarify on your expectations...you're not going to "flying school"

You'll go through a series of flight and ground lessons until you've reached the point in knowledge and practical application you are safe to fly as a pilot with passengers. You are deemed safe by meeting certain standards in various tasks dealing with ares of operation when it comes to showing you have knowledge and proficiencey in things like preflight planning, flying the airplane and emergencies.

Like wolfala said...you're most likely not going to do this in 40 hours. Too many things are against you. Time, weather and money are the most common enemies when it comes to getting through basic flight training. The last figures I read on the "national average" for flight hours for a practical test applicant were up around 62. I'd suggest to plan on 70 hours so you'll most likely be under budget, but if not then you won't have too big of a surprise when you need to come up with a few more bucks. There is nothing more discouraging than literally running out of money when you're weeks or days away from being ready for your checkride!

I run into cost as an issue a lot with multi students, they've got the cash on hand to prepay for 10 hours of flying and instruction. If I was a heartless bastage with no soul then I'd take the money and fly around for 10 hours with them. Instead I tell them to pay for 15 and plan on 20. Not because I'm a time hungry weenie and not because I'm looking for an extra buck. Because a student of mine almost had a run in with Vmc on his checkride because of a silly mistake that wasn't specific to multiengine airplane flying. He simply didn't put the gear up on departure, he never had this problem with me but as I thought harder I had 'coached' him to put the gear up rather than give him a smack on the wrist when he didn't. This was my first student as a brand spanking new CFI/CFII/MEI and that is not something I'm going to let happen again. Before the checkride commenced I talked to the examiner, who was my private-multiengine examiner, and explained this was my first checkride. I asked for a few minutes afterwards for feedback on what I might do to be a better instructor because if my student was deficient in any areas, I see that as me not giving the student his moneys worth and also breaking the trust he has in me. When he got back he said what went wrong, attributed it to a bad day (it really was, a nearly direct crosswind sustained at 20 kts!!) and said to try again. I asked for a few minutes and his reply was "you did fine, this was nothing multi specific and he had a great oral." I was proud of this and hang on to it every day. The good thing is he passed the rest of the checkride with flying colors and 2 days later he put that gear up and got a white slip. I learned a valuable lesson and haven't had any checkride busts since! The examiner had also remarked during the initial meet-and-greet how low time he (the student) was with only 9 hours in the airplane. I took this as a not so subtle hint to watch my butt because he doesn't want a bunch of 10 hour wonders just barely meeting minimum standards out there with multi certificates...and neither do I.

Regarding flight times...DONT WORRY ABOUT IT! The most annoying thing for me nowadays is when you're hanging around the pilots lounge and you hear someone got hired. The first thing out of someones mouth isnt "congrats" or "well done" it's "what are your hours?" I HATE THIS! I look around and I'm surrounded by 400 hour dorks who put up a conversation on par with the intelligence of a clucking chicken. I don't know if this has been a new trend recently or it's just something I've noticed since I actually decided to become an instructor. When I was simply a glorified chauffer ferrying people around in scuzzy weather in their own airplanes because they wern't instrument rated I never ran into this. When I worked as a line guy I never ran into this. Now it's all instructors talk about...so don't get sucked into a conversation about flight time. It's the darndest thing, people try to race and finish the private in the shortest time possible and then they're the ones complaining about how they don't have enough flying time.

More about how we're all different...

I've had a student who was on track for a 40 hour checkride but weather conspired against him for a few solo cross country flights and he wound up going at 50 something because we flew anyway to keep him sharp and ready for his checkride. I've got another who is going to have at least 240 for his checkride, but his biggest problem is lack of time to actually make ANY solo flights. I fly for him on business trips around Ohio and the surrounding states in a Mooney M20J. He flies just fine, knows mor whats/whys of airplanes than a good number of commercial pilots I know (I credit a good teacher!

) He's got 60 hours of dual instruction from me alone in a few months and doesn't fly a lot of the time. He's never been in an airplane with fixed gear and might never the way he's going.

That pretty much covers both extremes right there!

(yikes...sorry it's so long)