Flight training at Lightning Aviation

Lightning also sells multi-engine time building in ten-hour blocks at $4,000, starting at eleven hours.

1. 1

   What do you charge per hour for flight instruction, and is ground instruction billed at the same rate?Missing from their site

   This is the number that is missing from the site. Ground is often billed separately and at a different rate.

2. 2

   Does the instructor rate change for the Instrument, Commercial, or CFI, or is it flat across everything?Missing from their site

   Plenty of schools charge more for advanced instruction. A flat rate quoted for the Private can climb later.

3. 3

   What does instruction cost, and is the tailwheel or multi rate different?Missing from their site

   Four aeroplane rates are published across three very different categories and no instruction rate for any of them.

4. 4

   Does the multi-engine time-building block include an instructor?

   A ten-hour block is priced but the page does not say whether a CFI is in it, which changes what the hour is worth toward a rating.

5. 5

   Do you offer block rates or prepay discounts, and what is the refund policy if I stop partway?

   Block discounts are common and rarely published. The refund terms matter more than the discount.

6. 6

   What do you charge for the written test, the checkride, and the examiner's fee?

   The DPE fee alone runs $800 to $1,200 in most of the country and is almost never in a quoted hourly rate.

7. 7

   How many trainers and how many full-time instructors do you have right now?

   Availability decides your pace, and pace decides your total more than the hourly rate does.

What to compare their answer against

Not Lightning Aviation's rates. The middle of what 5 Alabama schools charge, to hold your phone quote against.

From the schools here that publish full rate cards, the same sample behind the Flight Training Cost Report. Lightning Aviation is not in it.

What we checked

A seven-aeroplane 172 fleet plus two tailwheel types and a Twin Comanche, all priced, with no instruction rate anywhere. Checked August 13, 2026.