Flight training at Thornapple Flying Academy

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 do the aeroplane and the instructor cost per hour?Missing from their site

   The site names four aeroplanes and prices none of them. Its flyer gives about $7,000 for the whole Private, which is a programme estimate rather than a rate.

6. 6

   What does the Mooney cost, and is complex and commercial training priced differently?

   The Mooney is described as the advanced and cross-country aeroplane, so it is the one that sets the Commercial's cost here.

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 Thornapple'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. Thornapple is not in it.

What we checked

SERVED OVER PLAIN HTTP ONLY, so anything that force-upgrades to https sees this school as dead. Four rental aeroplanes, a 1975 Piper Archer, a Cherokee 180, a 1976 Cessna 150 and a complex 1968 Mooney with a GTN-650. Its PDF flyer says the Private runs about $7,000, roughly $5,000 of aeroplane and $1,000 of instruction, which is a whole-programme estimate and not an hourly rate. Licensed by the State of Michigan. Checked August 14, 2026.