Flight training at Sumter Aviation

Aircraft: $155/hr

$155/hr covers its glass-panel trainer with fuel included, and a second, better-equipped aeroplane is $240/hr, also fuel included. Both figures are published per aeroplane rather than on a rate card.

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?Missing from their site

   Both aeroplanes are priced with fuel included and the instructor is not priced at all.

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 Sumter Aviation's rates. The middle of what 3 South 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. Sumter Aviation is not in it.

What we checked

Two aeroplanes, both priced with fuel included, and no instruction rate. On Eagles' Wings shares Sumter Airport. Checked August 13, 2026.