Flight training at First Flight Corporation

Flight instruction: $55/hr

First Flight prices instruction by activity: $55/hr covers the Private, Commercial, a rental checkout, a flight review, CFI training, a Mexico checkout and a high-performance endorsement; $65/hr covers tailwheel, Instrument and an IPC. No aircraft rate is published anywhere on the site.

1. 1

   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.

2. 2

   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.

3. 3

   What do your airplanes rent for per hour, and does that include fuel?Missing from their site

   They publish instruction by activity and nothing for the airplane, so this is the missing half.

4. 4

   Does the $55/hr rate assume I bring my own airplane, or is it for instruction in yours?

   The list mixes training with rental checkouts and endorsements, which usually implies both kinds of customer.

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 First Flight's rates. The middle of what 53 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. First Flight is not in it.

What we checked

Checked the instructors page on August 3, 2026. Instruction is published in two activity-based tiers and no aircraft rate appears anywhere on the site.