Flight training at Fort Dodge Flight Support

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 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.

4. 4

   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.

5. 5

   Do you train to a certificate, or is instruction mainly flight reviews and checkouts?Missing from their site

   Training is one line in a services list on an otherwise fuel-and-maintenance business, and the difference decides whether this is a school at all for your purposes.

6. 6

   What aircraft is available to rent, and at what rate?

   No fleet is named anywhere on the site.

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 Fort Dodge Flight Support'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. Fort Dodge Flight Support is not in it.

What we checked

An FBO first: full and self-service fuel, maintenance and annual inspections, with pilot training listed among its services and given no further detail. Eight pages crawled, no fleet named, no price published. Checked August 6, 2026.