Flight training at Birch Creek Aviation

Every aeroplane is published at a standard rate and a lower CLUB rate, roughly $10/hr apart, and the site does not say whether fuel is included. Birch Creek also sells whole-certificate packages rather than hourly instruction: a Private is quoted at $10,400 in the 172M or $8,800 in the 150F, an Instrument at $8,400, a Commercial at $4,725 or $3,550, a multi-engine add-on and CFI, CFII, MEI and a float rating each at their own price. A further aircraft appears at $375/hr standard and $365/hr club.

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

   Do the published aircraft rates include fuel, or is fuel billed separately?

   The site does not say, and it is the difference between two rates that look identical and are not.

4. 4

   What does an instructor cost per hour in the air, as opposed to the $75/hr you quote for ground?Missing from their site

   The packages bundle the flying, and the only hourly instruction figure published is for ground training. Anyone paying by the hour rather than by package has no figure at all.

5. 5

   What does the club membership cost, and does it pay for itself?

   Every aeroplane has a club rate about $10/hr below the standard one, and the price of joining is not published.

6. 6

   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.

7. 7

   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.

8. 8

   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 Birch Creek's rates. The middle of what 4 Alaska 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. Birch Creek is not in it.

What we checked

Five aeroplanes priced individually with club rates, a Seneca III twin, and whole-certificate packages alongside, on the busiest general-aviation field in Alaska. The gap is narrow and specific: no hourly FLIGHT instruction rate, only ground. Checked August 6, 2026.