Flight training at GreyCat Aviation

Flight instruction: $80/hr

GreyCat's two aeroplanes are a 1941 Cub Cruiser and a 1943 Stearman, both flown for tailwheel training rather than as trainers for the certificates it teaches. Its own page quotes ground and flight instruction at $80 per hour on the flight-instruction page and at $75 per hour in the Stearman section of the tailwheel page.

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

   Do the published aircraft rates include fuel, or is fuel billed separately?

   The site does not say, and it is the difference between two rates that look identical and are not.

4. 4

   If I do not own an aeroplane, what would I train in and what does it rent for?Missing from their site

   GreyCat's own framing is instruction "in the comfort of your own airplane". Its two published aeroplanes are vintage tailwheels for endorsements, so there is no rate for a trainer to take a Private or an Instrument rating in.

5. 5

   Is instruction $80 per hour or $75 per hour?

   The site quotes both figures on different pages.

6. 6

   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.

7. 7

   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.

8. 8

   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 GreyCat'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. GreyCat is not in it.

What we checked

An instruction-first operator rather than a rental one: GreyCat teaches Sport through ATP plus CFI, CFII and MEI, and expects you to bring the aeroplane. The two aeroplanes it does publish, a Cub Cruiser and a Stearman, are for tailwheel endorsements. It is here rather than in the rated directory because there is no rate for an aeroplane you could take a Private in. Checked August 13, 2026.