Flight training at Dorton Aviation

A VIs X flight simulator rents for $30 per hour.

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

   The aeroplane rate is published and stated wet, and no instruction rate appears on any of the site's four pages.

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 Dorton's rates. The middle of what 16 Virginia 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. Dorton is not in it.

What we checked

WORTH KNOWING BEFORE YOU TRUST A CRAWL OF THIS SITE. An automated pass scores Dorton as a full rate card and reports an instructor rate of $150. That $150 is the price of a HALF-HOUR DISCOVERY FLIGHT, quoted on /discovery-flight, and it is not an hourly instruction rate. One aeroplane, one published wet rate, nothing for instruction. Checked August 13, 2026.