Flight training at FlyCarolina

Aircraft: $120/hr

A CLUB, and the aeroplane rate is only part of the cost. The student level joins for $50 and flies the 172s; Bronze is $300 to join plus $200 a month with half credited to flying, and Silver and Gold cost more and unlock the retractables, the Cirrus, the Bonanza and the Baron. Cessna 172s run $120 to $152 wet across three fields, the Cutlass and Arrow are $178, the Cirrus SR22s $248 and $268, the Aztec $428 wet and the Baron $248 DRY. On wet aeroplanes, fuel bought away from base is credited back at the home field's price rather than what you paid.

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, and is it set by the club or by the instructor?Missing from their site

   Twenty-odd aeroplanes are priced to the dollar and the instructor is not priced at all, which in a club often means the CFIs set their own rates.

4. 4

   Which base would I fly from?

   The fleet is split across Concord and Monroe in North Carolina and Rock Hill in South Carolina, and the same model is priced differently at different fields.

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 FlyCarolina's rates. The middle of what 9 North Carolina 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. FlyCarolina is not in it.

What we checked

One of the largest published fleets in the directory, about twenty aeroplanes across three airports, and no instruction rate. Note the state line: its Rock Hill aeroplanes are in SOUTH CAROLINA, so the fleet a Concord student can reach is smaller than the list looks. Checked August 13, 2026.