Flight training at ACES Aviation

Every aircraft page states the rate includes fuel. A Diamond MATE AATD simulator is listed with no price.

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 does the Baron carry its own rate?Missing from their site

   All four aeroplanes are priced to the dollar with fuel included, and no instructor rate appears anywhere on the site.

4. 4

   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.

5. 5

   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.

6. 6

   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 ACES's rates. The middle of what 16 Pennsylvania 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. ACES is not in it.

What we checked

Four aeroplanes priced per tail and no instructor rate at all. It shares Beaver County Airport with Moore Aviation, which this directory rates, and runs the flight training for the Community College of Beaver County aviation programme.