Flight training at Chennault Flying Service

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 are your current hourly rates for each aircraft and for instruction?Missing from their site

   The school's own instrument page tells you to ring for exactly this. The published course totals are built on those rates, so you cannot check a total or compare it against another school without them.

6. 6

   Does the quoted course total assume the Part 141 minimum hours, and what happens if I need more?

   The totals are labelled minimum costs and the Part 141 minimums are lower than Part 61 by design, 35 hours for the private and 195 for the commercial. The school's own private page says to budget several thousand above the minimum.

7. 7

   Which of my ratings would be Part 141 and which Part 61?

   Chennault runs both and assigns students to one or the other depending on prior experience, training frequency and whether VA benefits or a university partnership is involved. It affects the hours you need.

8. 8

   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.

9. 9

   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.

10. 10

    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 Chennault's rates. The middle of what 11 Nevada 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. Chennault is not in it.

What we checked

A Part 141 and Part 61 school at North Las Vegas with a 20-plus aircraft Diamond and Cessna fleet, multi-engine self-examining authority, and degree partnerships with Liberty University and Purdue Global. It is here rather than in the rated directory for one reason: it publishes what each certificate costs, not what an hour costs, and its own instrument page directs you to contact the school for current hourly rates on aircraft and instruction. Its published minimums, each quoted against a stated number of aircraft, flight instruction, ground instruction and simulator hours, are $11,750 to $13,500 for the private with a recommendation to budget $15,000 to $18,000, $11,000 for the instrument, $28,500 to $33,000 for the commercial, $4,600 for the ATP, and instructor courses from $11,000 for the CFI, $6,500 for the CFI-I and $9,000 for the MEI. Those are course totals rather than rates, so no estimate is built from them. Its accelerated zero-to-career program carries no published price at all, which is also why it is not listed as an academy. Note that the private pilot page quotes its own minimum twice and differently, $11,750 in the cost panel and $11,500 in the FAQ below it.