Flight training at Mauna Loa Aero

The 172N and Arrow II rates come from the accelerated instrument course page and the Seneca II from the multi-engine page, where it is $480/hr plus a fuel surcharge and tax. Ground instruction is $58/hr on one page and $53/hr on another. The instrument budget prices "dual instruction" at $255/hr, which equals the Arrow's rate, so it may be the airplane with an instructor or the airplane alone; a flight instructor rate is never stated on its own. Typical course totals are published for the Private ($9,200), the single-engine CFI ($7,745) and the CFII ($4,170).

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

   Do the published aircraft rates include fuel, or is fuel billed separately?

   The site does not say, and it is the difference between two rates that look identical and are not.

4. 4

   What is the flight instructor's hourly rate on its own, and is the $255 "dual instruction" figure the airplane plus the instructor?Missing from their site

   The only dual figure equals the Arrow's rental rate, so the instructor's share is unknown.

5. 5

   Are the 172 and Arrow rates wet or dry?

   The Seneca is published plus a fuel surcharge and the two singles say nothing either way.

6. 6

   Which airplanes are based at Kona and which at Honolulu?

   The company has both bases and the fleet page assigns nothing to either.

7. 7

   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.

8. 8

   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.

9. 9

   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 Mauna Loa Aero's rates. The middle of what 3 Hawaii 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. Mauna Loa Aero is not in it.

What we checked

The airplane school inside the Mauna Loa Helicopters group, with bases at Kona and Honolulu and the only published twin rate in Hawaii, a Seneca II at $480/hr plus fuel surcharge. Three airplanes are priced and the instructor is not, because the one dual figure on the site equals the Arrow's rate and could be either. Crawled across 30 of 44 pages, September 5, 2026. The group was dropped as helicopter-only in August 2026; the fixed-wing site is separate and was found by the September per-airport sweep.