Flight training at Dover AFB Aero Club

Flight instruction: $42/hr

Flight instructor $42/hr and ground instructor $32/hr, from the club's 2025 brochure, which also sets a $35 initiation fee and dues of $32/month or $352/year with family members free. The same brochure lists a Cessna T41A, a 172N, two 172Ps, a 182RG and a Redbird MCX simulator and prices none of them; the club's web page prices the simulator at $40/hr. Membership includes $1 million of insurance cover.

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

   Am I eligible to join, and what does base access involve?Missing from their site

   The brochure lists who may join, from active duty to federal employees and Civil Air Patrol, and base access comes before any rate matters.

4. 4

   What does each airplane cost per hour, and is that wet or dry?Missing from their site

   Five airplanes are listed in the brochure and none carries a rate.

5. 5

   Is the club Part 141, and can VA benefits be used here?

   The brochure describes an FAA-approved curriculum and compares itself with commercial Part 141 schools without stating its own part.

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 Dover Aero Club's rates. Delaware has too few published rate cards for a state median, so this is all 521 schools we track, to hold your phone quote against.

From the schools here that publish full rate cards, the same sample behind the Flight Training Cost Report. Dover Aero Club is not in it.

What we checked

The Air Force aero club at Dover, and the only Delaware operator found by the September 2026 per-airport sweep that publishes any rate. Its 2025 brochure prices the instructor, the ground instructor and the dues, lists five airplanes and prices none of them. Eligibility is a list rather than a wall, but it is still a list. Checked September 5, 2026; the brochure and the veterans-access PDF were both read.