Flight training at Leighnor Aircraft

Leighnor rents DRY and publishes the whole decomposition per tail: a dry rate, a consumables figure covering fuel and supplies, Arizona TPT tax, and a total hourly. The dry rates are shown here because that is the field's meaning; the school's own all-in total is quoted per tail alongside. The consumables figure tracks the fuel price at Prescott, which the school states is updated weekly, so the totals move week to week: they are $1.20/hr lower on every single than they were on August 12, 2026, at a posted fuel price of $6.95/gal, while every dry rate is unchanged. No instruction rate is published anywhere on the site, which lists CFI, CFII and MEI instructors and prices none of them.

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

   Your published rates are dry. Roughly what does fuel add per hour on the trainer?

   The published figures leave fuel out, so they understate the real hourly cost until you add it.

4. 4

   What is the hourly instruction rate, and does it differ by rating or by instructor?Missing from their site

   Leighnor publishes the most detailed aircraft rate table in Arizona and no instructor figure at all, so this one number is the whole gap between a rate card and a budget.

5. 5

   What does the consumables charge run right now, and how often does it move?

   It covers fuel and supplies and tracks the airport fuel price, which the school updates weekly, so the total you pay is not fixed at the number you first read.

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 Leighnor's rates. The middle of what 10 Arizona 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. Leighnor is not in it.

What we checked

Worth reading the rate table before you call: Leighnor is unusually transparent about the parts of an hourly rate, showing dry, consumables, tax and total per tail rather than one blended figure. It also runs a second base at Prescott's KP52 and lists a Redbird FMX. The one thing it does not publish is what an instructor costs.