Flight training at Paragon Air Adventures

Flight instruction: $120/hr

Published as 'Advanced flight or ground instruction: $120/hr', with mountain, aerobatic, high-performance, complex, tailwheel and TAA checkouts at the same figure. Half-day and full-day rates of $375 and $700 are also published, capped at 4 and 10 hours.

1. 1

   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.

2. 2

   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.

3. 3

   Can you recommend somewhere to rent an aeroplane, and roughly what will it cost per hour?Missing from their site

   Paragon supplies no aircraft at all, so the aeroplane half of your cost has to come from another operator on the field.

4. 4

   Does the half-day or day rate work out cheaper for the checkout I need?

   The day rate caps at ten hours, which is well above a normal lesson, so it only pays on an intensive.

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 Paragon'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. Paragon is not in it.

What we checked

NO AIRCRAFT RATE BY DESIGN RATHER THAN BY OMISSION. Paragon's rate sheet says in its own words: 'All instruction is conducted in client supplied aircraft.' It is one career CFI with 5,700+ hours selling instruction, checkouts and checkride preparation, so the missing half of the rate card is not a gap in disclosure, it is the business model. A student here needs a second operator for the aeroplane. Checked August 14, 2026.