Flight training at Barnstormers Aero Services

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 is the hourly rate on your cheapest trainer, and which airplane is that?Missing from their site

   This is the number that is missing from the site, and it is the largest line on your bill.

4. 4

   Is that rate wet or dry, meaning does it include fuel?Missing from their site

   A dry rate and a wet rate are not comparable. Dry rates can run $40 to $60 an hour lower for the same airplane.

5. 5

   What does the Cessna 172 rent for, and what does instruction cost per hour?Missing from their site

   The 172 is the only primary trainer in the fleet and neither figure is published.

6. 6

   You offer instrument training single and multi. Which twin would the multi instrument be flown in?

   No twin appears in the published fleet, so either one is not listed or that training happens elsewhere.

7. 7

   What do the aerobatic and tailwheel endorsements cost in the Pitts and the Champ?

   Barnstormers teaches spin, upset recovery and formation as well, which is unusual and usually priced separately.

8. 8

   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.

9. 9

   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.

10. 10

    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 Barnstormers's rates. The middle of what 60 California 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. Barnstormers is not in it.

What we checked

An unusually broad little school at Lompoc: Private and Commercial, instrument single and multi, CFI and CFII, plus tailwheel, aerobatics, spin and upset recovery, and formation flying, on a fleet of three aircraft, a Cessna 172H, a Pitts S2C and an Aeronca Champ. Not one price anywhere on the site. Checked August 6, 2026.