Flight training at LA Flight Academy

Every rate is wet, and every airplane also carries a ten-hour block rate roughly $10 lower. A Gleim BATD simulator is published at $70/hr, or $60 on a block, and is not an airplane.

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 does instruction cost per hour, and does it differ between the Cessnas, the Cirrus and the twin?Missing from their site

   Eight aircraft are priced to the dollar and instruction is not priced at all. A Cirrus and a twin often carry higher instructor rates than a 172.

4. 4

   What does multi instruction cost in the Travel Air?

   The twin is $380/hr before an instructor, so the multi rating is the most expensive thing here by a distance.

5. 5

   What is the block-rate minimum and is it refundable if I stop partway?

   Every airplane has a ten-hour block price, so the discount is real, but the refund terms matter more than the discount.

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 LA Flight Academy'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. LA Flight Academy is not in it.

What we checked

Eight aircraft priced wet, each with a ten-hour block rate, spanning 172s and Archers through a Cirrus SR20 for TAA time to a Beechcraft twin for the multi ratings. One of the most complete published fleets in the directory, and not one instruction rate anywhere on it. Checked August 6, 2026.