Flight training at Airmen Academy

Aircraft: $85/hr (dry)

The $85/hr is DRY and billed on TAC time, meaning engine running time rather than Hobbs, which is a different and usually smaller clock. Airmen Academy's own estimate of the all-in cost once fuel is added is $95 to $100/hr on Hobbs time, and that figure is the school's estimate rather than a rate it charges. Membership is $80/mo plus a $250 application fee, with a 30-day trial available.

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

   Your published rates are dry. Roughly what does fuel add per hour on the trainer?

   The published figures leave fuel out, so they understate the real hourly cost until you add it.

4. 4

   What does instruction cost per hour, and is it included in membership or billed on top?Missing from their site

   The club prices the aeroplane and the membership and never prices the instructors, four of whom it names.

5. 5

   How does TAC time compare with Hobbs on this aeroplane, in practice?

   Billing on engine running time rather than Hobbs changes what an hour costs, and the club quotes its own all-in figure on the other clock.

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 Airmen Academy's rates. The middle of what 13 Michigan 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. Airmen Academy is not in it.

What we checked

A one-aeroplane flying club rather than a school selling hours: joining buys into ownership. TWO TRAPS ON ONE PAGE. Its rate lives on a members-only Wix plan page reachable only at a /challenge-page/ URL, and that page also shows a $85.00 'Single Payment' which is the 30-day trial fee and happens to equal the hourly rate exactly. AOPA lists it as Part 61 teaching Private through CFII. Checked August 14, 2026.