Flight training at Bismarck Aero Center

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 do the three 172s cost per hour, and what does an instructor cost?Missing from their site

   Each aircraft is described down to its avionics and interior year, and the rental page replaces every price with an invitation to get in touch.

6. 6

   Are rates visible once I register on your booking system?

   Booking runs through a third-party site, which is a common place for rates to sit behind a login rather than on the public pages.

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 Bismarck Aero's rates. The middle of what 3 North Dakota 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. Bismarck Aero is not in it.

What we checked

Three Cessna 172s named to the tail number with full avionics detail (N1664V glass with G500 TXi, N3609E and N1900U with GTN 750) and not one price. The crawl was capped by the site's thirty-second delay at seven pages, so its rental and flight-instruction pages were opened by hand; both carry the same invitation to call. Checked August 6, 2026.