Flight training at Alternate Air

Wet, stated as "fuel included", plus tax. The school notes that differing fuel costs are what drive prices at its two airports, though both currently price the same.

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

   Which instructors are available, and what does each charge per hour?Missing from their site

   The rate page prices the aeroplanes and then says only "Instructor Fees: please contact your instructor for payment options", so the CFI rate is set by the individual instructor rather than by the school.

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 Alternate Air's rates. The middle of what 19 Washington 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. Alternate Air is not in it.

What we checked

The missing half here is not an oversight, it is the business model. Alternate Air publishes its aeroplanes to the dollar at two airports and then hands the instructor question to the instructors, who bill you directly. That means there is no single school-wide CFI rate to record, and the total depends on which instructor you fly with. The site runs on plain HTTP at alternateair.net; the .com AOPA lists redirects there.