Flight training at Farnham Aviation Services

The rate sheet does not say whether fuel is included. Two of the four airplanes are tailwheel, which is unusual for a training fleet this size and makes Farnham a real option for a tailwheel endorsement. The $80/hr figure also on the site is the maintenance shop rate, not instruction.

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 does an instructor cost per hour?Missing from their site

   Farnham publishes four aircraft rates across its PDFs and no instruction rate in any of them.

5. 5

   Which tail number goes with the $125 rate and which with the $115?

   The rate sheet is a picture grid, so the Champ and the Citabria have their prices in a separate column from their tail numbers. The two Cherokees at $135 are unambiguous; these two are not.

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 Farnham's rates. The middle of what 5 Iowa 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. Farnham is not in it.

What we checked

The whole rate card is a PDF, so nothing shows on the web pages themselves. Half the fleet is tailwheel (a 1946 Champ and a 1980 Citabria) alongside two Cherokee 140s. No instruction rate in any of the four PDFs read. Checked August 6, 2026.