Flight training at In The Pattern Flight School

Flight instruction: $60/hr

Instruction is published twice and both readings agree: the school's sport-pilot cost breakdown gives ground instruction at this rate outright, and subtracting its published solo rate from its published dual rate on the same aeroplane gives the same figure. What is NOT published is the rate for the aeroplanes a Private student would actually fly. The only aeroplane priced is the light-sport Vashon Ranger, at $135/hr solo, while the fleet page lists many Cessna 152s, 172s and a 182 without a price against any of them.

1. 1

   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.

2. 2

   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.

3. 3

   What do the Cessna 152s, 172s and the 182 cost per hour?Missing from their site

   The only priced aeroplane is the light-sport Vashon Ranger used for the Sport certificate. The fleet the Private, Instrument and Commercial students fly is listed but never priced.

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 In The Pattern Flight School's rates. The middle of what 47 Texas 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. In The Pattern Flight School is not in it.

What we checked

THE PRICED AEROPLANE IS NOT THE TRAINER. The school publishes a complete sport-pilot breakdown, which yields its instruction rate two independent ways, but the aeroplane in that breakdown is a light-sport Vashon Ranger. Its fleet page lists a dozen Cessnas and prices none of them, so applying the Ranger's rate to a Private estimate would price the wrong aeroplane. This is the opposite of the Pennsylvania light-sport case: there the LSA was the whole fleet and therefore the trainer, here it sits beside a real trainer fleet that is not priced. Two bases, Denton and Granbury, filed by AOPA as separate rows. Flat package prices are published for the multi-engine add-on and a four-week CFI academy.