Courses and Rates

Private Pilot hourly training

It is more economical to complete the private pilot training via the private pilot unlimited course above. Here is why:

Student pilots at most flight schools are expected to fly 3 times per week, at 1.5 hours of airplane rental ($180/hour) and 2.5 hours with the instructor ($85/hour). There are usually 3 weeks out of the month you can fly due to weather and maintenance.

Airplane Rental: $180 per hour (x 1.5 = $270)
Instructor: $85 per hour (x 2.5 = $213)

Each lesson costs about $483.
Three (3) per week is $1,449.
Three (3) flyable weeks per month is $4,347.

At 14.5 hours of flight time per month, it will take 5.2 months to reach the national average of 75 hours to complete private pilot training.

5.2 months @ $4,347/mo is $22,604 total to become a private pilot. (Not including books, gear, tests, etc.)

It is almost the same price as the unlimited course, yet with no unlimited guarantees, no priority scheduling, and no dedicated or motivated instructor.

A flight instructor who is getting paid hourly is getting ripped off for being efficient and for being good.

Your hourly rate CFI makes less money when he is really good. He has no motivation to work quickly or to fix your problems because he gets paid more for you being "bad" at flying.

Meaning that outside of hoping your CFI is an ethical person and won't actively try to rip you off, you're the one taking the risk paying hourly. 

But with the flat rate model in the unlimited package, your CFI is being paid the same fee whether he works 100 hours or 50 hours, which means that when he takes the time to really figure out what's going on and fix your problems once and for all instead of just sitting in the right seat just along for the riding, hoping you keep needing training so he can get paid.

Charging hourly is like paying for your steak based on how long it cooked.

When people say it takes 40 hours to get a PPL, they are wrong. The national avg is 75 hours. Plus who knows how good you're gonna be as a pilot if all you do is try to check the boxes and hope your CFI is as serious as you are. 

None of this to say that Wingman CFIs aren't serious. But it is very difficult to be motivated when your best tips, tricks, techniques and methods to "Get it done right the first time" cause you to make less money. Especially when other CFIs who do a worse job are making more money.

That said, we offer hourly rates on the following terms:

$175/hour for the Cessna 172.

$85/hour for the CFI (2-hour minimum).

We charge for block time, meaning the time you "block" the calendar with the CFI is what you will pay. The CFI is yours from the time the schedule begins to the time it ends. If the lesson exceeds the booking, the additional time will be billed in 15-minute increments. There is a 2-hour minimum for booking a CFI. If the lesson ends before the end of the booking time, the client will still be billed for the total time that the lesson is blocked. The client may leave or ask the CFI for additional ground instruction.