Flight training at Chinook Flight

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 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.

4. 4

   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.

5. 5

   What do the club's aeroplanes cost per hour, and do I have to join Puget Sound Flyers to train with you?Missing from their site

   Chinook does not own the aeroplanes. Its fleet page says it partners with the Puget Sound Flyers Club, which owns the three aircraft, so the aeroplane price and any membership condition are set by the club rather than the school.

6. 6

   What does an instructor cost in the aeroplane, as opposed to in the simulator?Missing from their site

   The $50/hr difference between the simulator's with-instructor and without-instructor rates is a simulator figure and need not be what a CFI costs in the air.

7. 7

   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.

8. 8

   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.

9. 9

   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 Chinook'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. Chinook is not in it.

What we checked

The inverse partial, with a twist: Chinook publishes instruction rates for its Redbird FMX and nothing for the air, because the three aeroplanes at Paine Field belong to the Puget Sound Flyers Club rather than to Chinook. Subtracting the simulator's two rates gives $50/hr, and that is a SIMULATOR instruction figure, not the school's CFI rate in an aeroplane. The claim on the home page that the FMX saves "upwards of $60.00 per hour" is a comparison, not a price.