Flight training at The Flight Academy

The rentals page prices the G7 fleet per Hobbs hour with a separate hourly consumables charge on top. The FAQ prices the older G6 fleet differently again, as hourly wet leases at $380 for an SR20 and $625 for an SR22T, and the SF50 Vision Jet at $1,500.

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, and does a Platinum CSIP cost more?Missing from their site

   The FAQ says ten full-time instructors, three of them Platinum CSIPs and three with Vision SF50 type ratings, and prices none of them. Cirrus schools commonly charge a premium for CSIP instruction.

4. 4

   Is the aeroplane rate really the Hobbs figure plus the consumables figure?

   The rentals page lists them as two separate lines, so an SR20 hour reads as $450 plus $150 plus tax rather than $450.

5. 5

   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.

6. 6

   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.

7. 7

   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 The Flight Academy'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. The Flight Academy is not in it.

What we checked

An all-Cirrus operation at Boeing Field, nine aeroplanes plus an SF50 Vision Jet, and the only school in this state that splits the aeroplane price into two hourly lines: a Hobbs rate and a consumables rate. Its own FAQ says outright that "instructor fees will still apply" when weather cancels a trip, and nowhere says what they are.