Flight training at Backcountry Flying Experience

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 aeroplane cost per hour on its own, and what does the instructor cost?Missing from their site

   Every published figure here is DUAL, an aeroplane and an instructor in one number, so neither half can be separated out.

6. 6

   Do you train the Private certificate, or backcountry and tailwheel endorsements only?

   The named products are all endorsements and specialty courses.

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 Backcountry Flying's rates. The middle of what 5 Montana 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. Backcountry Flying is not in it.

What we checked

EVERYTHING HERE IS PRICED AS DUAL. Backcountry training in the Super Cub is $375/hr, tailwheel training the same, and floatplane dual is $450, each an aeroplane and an instructor in one figure, which the README's rule says is never an instructor rate. Ground school is $75/hr and is the only figure that is one thing. The $895/hr elsewhere on the site is a Glacier seaplane TOUR. A specialist rather than a primary school. Checked August 14, 2026.