Flight training at Storm Flying Service

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

   What does the airplane cost per hour, and the instructor?Missing from their site

   The only prices on the site are at the fuel pump.

6. 6

   How much of the operation is crop work in season?

   Storm also flies aerial application. Spraying season is short and intense, and it is worth knowing whether instruction competes with it for aircraft and pilots.

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 Storm Flying'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. Storm Flying is not in it.

What we checked

Trading since 1968, and one of the few operators here that combines flight instruction with aerial application. It publishes two dollar figures and both are FUEL PRICES at the pump, 100LL and Jet A, not rates for anything a student buys. Five pages crawled at the site's requested fifteen seconds apiece. Checked August 6, 2026.