Flight training at ExcelAir8

All three aeroplanes are priced per wet hour. ExcelAir8 also sells fixed-price programmes: about $65,000 zero to hero including the multi-engine add-on, $51,000 starting from an instrument rating and $39,000 starting from a commercial certificate.

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 does instruction cost per hour outside the fixed-price programmes?Missing from their site

   Three aeroplane rates are published and no instruction rate, so a pay-as-you-go student cannot work out an hourly cost.

4. 4

   What do the programme prices include and exclude?

   Three programme totals are published as single numbers with no breakdown of hours, checkrides or written tests.

5. 5

   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.

6. 6

   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.

7. 7

   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 ExcelAir8's rates. The middle of what 5 Missouri 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. ExcelAir8 is not in it.

What we checked

NOT IN AOPA'S MISSOURI LIST; found by the non-AOPA sweep at Columbia Regional, the same field as Columbia Jet Center which this directory already rates. Publishes both wet aeroplane rates and fixed programme prices, and no instruction rate to connect them. Checked August 13, 2026.