Birch Creek Aviation
Flight training from Private Pilot through Airline Transport Pilot at Merrill Field.
Checked September 13, 2026 by Samip Shah, CFI, CFII, AGI
At a glance
- 3 aircraft types.
Basics
| Certificates | Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine (AMEL), Flight Instructor, Instrument Instructor, Multi-Engine Instructor, Airline Transport Pilot |
|---|---|
| Website | birchcreekaviation.com |
| Phone | (907) 343-9886 |
Aircraft and rates
3 types
- At this school
- 3
- Built
- 1973 to 1975
- Rate
- $180 to $210/hr
| Tail | FAA model | Built | Rate (fuel basis not stated) |
|---|---|---|---|
| N5339HCessna 172M150 HP, Garmin 430 WAAS, IFR certified. $170/hr club. | Cessna 172M | 1975 | $180/hr |
| N21403Cessna 172M150 HP, Garmin 430 WAAS, IFR certified. $170/hr club. | Cessna 172M | 1974 | $180/hr |
| N6863TCessna 172MAll glass with autopilot. $200/hr club. | Cessna 172M | 1973 | $210/hr |
Model and year from the FAA aircraft registry, November 9, 2026.
| Instruction | Not published |
|---|
Each aircraft has a standard rate and a club rate roughly $10/hr lower, and the website doesn't say whether fuel is included. Packages are sold per certificate: a Private 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, plus a multi-engine add-on, CFI, CFII, MEI and a float rating at their own prices. A further aircraft is $375/hr standard and $365/hr club.
Checked September 13, 2026 · Birch Creek aircraft rentals page
Airport
Weather
What counts as a flyable day
Clouds no lower than 3,000 feet and visibility of 5 miles or more (VFR weather) for at least half the hours between 9 am and 5 pm. Hourly observations from the airport's own weather station, 2016 to 2025. Source: Iowa Environmental Mesonet ASOS archive, Iowa State University.
Discovery flight
$199
Checked November 3, 2026
The school does not say how long the flight is.
Paying for it
Two ways to pay for it.
Win what you can first, then borrow only what is left.
- Money you keepScholarships you could apply for43 open to anyone, plus 1 in Alaska. Top awards reach $22,200.
- Joe Stancil Jr. Flight Training Scholarship$3,000 · Check dates
- 44
- Money you pay backLenders that fund flight trainingSix lenders, compared on the limits and rates they publish. That is what is on offer, not whether you would be approved.
- 6
What to ask when you call
Not on their website
What do you charge per hour for flight instruction, and is ground instruction billed at the same rate?
Ground instruction is often billed at a different rate.
Do the published aircraft rates include fuel, or is fuel billed separately?
Two rates that look the same can differ by the cost of fuel.
What does an instructor cost per hour in the air, as opposed to the $75/hr you quote for ground?
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.
Also ask
What does the club membership cost, and does it pay for itself?
Every aircraft has a club rate about $10/hr below the standard one, and the price of joining is not published.
Do you offer block rates or prepay discounts, and what is the refund policy if I stop partway?
Block discounts are rarely published, and the refund terms matter more than the discount.
What do you charge for the written test, the checkride, and the examiner's fee?
The examiner's fee alone runs $800 to $1,200 in most of the country.
How many trainers and how many full-time instructors do you have right now?
Availability sets your pace, and pace drives your total more than the hourly rate.
Called them? Send us what they said.
Send the number over and Birch Creek Aviation gets a full listing with an estimate, marked as sourced by phone on the date you called.
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Track your training at Birch Creek.
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Is this your school?
Send Birch Creek's rate card and this page gets an estimate. Or have it removed.
Sources
- That the school exists
- Birch Creek Aviation flight training pageChecked September 13, 2026
- Rates
- Birch Creek aircraft rentals pageChecked September 13, 2026
PilotBound is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Birch Creek Aviation. School names are used only to identify the school. Rates shown are the school's own published figures with the date they were checked. This page carries no PilotBound estimate, because the school does not publish enough for one. Disclaimer & removal policy.
Plan the money before you commit.
A program price only makes sense next to what each rating costs on its own, what scholarships exist, and what borrowing actually looks like.
What each rating costs
Per-rating ranges, with the fees most quotes leave out.
Scholarships first
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If you borrow
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