Flight training at Prairie Air 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 are your hourly aircraft and instructor rates if I go past the hours in the package?Missing from their site

   Every price is a package with fixed hours, and the site does not say what an extra hour costs. That is the number that decides what the course really costs.

6. 6

   I am over 190 lbs. Is the extra $1,000 the whole difference, or does the 172 also cost more per hour?

   The weight surcharge is published as a flat $1,000 on the Private, and it is unusual enough to confirm.

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 Prairie Air's rates. The middle of what 4 Kansas 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. Prairie Air is not in it.

What we checked

An accelerated, fixed-price course operator at the Beech factory field, priced by certificate rather than by the hour, and cheap: $3,340 for a Private in four weeks. It is not listed in academies.ts because these are individual certificate courses rather than an integrated zero-to-career programme, and not in directory.ts because there is no hourly rate to estimate from. The 190-pound weight rule is the most unusual pricing term found in any state so far.