Instructor Fees

K

KevinJH7

Well-Known Member
Hi,

I finished the private pilot program at my college about a month ago. Well I knew college aviation was expensive and I accept that but I just got the overage charge because I got my PPL with 55 hours and they only charge you for 37.5 hours. This is understandable though.

I looked at the fees and noticed that 1.5 hours of CFI tim costs you $120. This puts it at $80 an hour; of course the CFI only makes about $15.

I was just wondering what other colleges, FBOs, and freelance instructors normally charge because I do not know how I can pay this cost for the rest of my training.

Please do not take this as a complaint about the cost of flying because I understand aviation is expensive and I am willing to pay. It is just this seems a little bit too much.

Thank you,
Kevin
 
Is it possible that the $120 is for 1.5 hours of CFI and aircraft? That would make more sense.
 
KevinJH7 said:
I was just wondering what other colleges, FBOs, and freelance instructors normally charge because I do not know how I can pay this cost for the rest of my training.
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Here at UND the instructor charge is $39.00/hr. CFIs get anywhere between $10-$24/hr, depending on qualifications.
 
SteveC said:
Is it possible that the $120 is for 1.5 hours of CFI and aircraft? That would make more sense.
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:yeahthat: Thats what I pay for both instructor and the plane.
 
actually, some of the big pilot factories and colleges do charge that much for instructor time. It's high, and a rip-off, but they do it anyways.....I would go to whoever's in charge of collecting payments at your school and get a schedule of charges broken down for everything per hour, i.e. charge for the aircraft, instructor, oil, gas, whiskey, etc. etc. ... anything they charged you for....go back and compare it to what you were charged...mistakes do happen. Sounds like it could be legit depending on where you are going to school (Daytona Beach comes to mind).....if it does turn out to be too much for you, there are always other (cheaper) training alternatives.....
 
At first I thought that it for both the instructor and the aircraft but it is not. The aircraft is another $130. That puts you down about $250 for a 1 hour lesson.
 
very ouch

yea... ouch!

That is why I am now wondering whether I am better off paying less to get a useful degree and doing my flight training at an FBO.

-Kevin

The planes are really nice though! It's the instructor rate I am not liking.
 
I pay $26.00/hr for the instructor and $83.00/hr for the 1976 C 172 that I fly.
All and all one session ends up costing me around $150.00.
Just get your degree and do flight training on your own.
 
My rates in Austin, Texas:

65/hr for a Cessna 150 or 152
35/hr in the 150 or 44/hr in the 152 (different FBO's) instruction

I think prices are roughly 75/80/hr in a 172.

Haven't checked gas at the airport, but it's up to about 2.75/gallon on the roads around here (some schools adjust price with gas).
 
Flying Club
65.55/hr wet for a 152-cash/check, credit /debit is about 68/hr.
40/hr for CFI, at the club I fly with the CFI's are freelance and get every dime I pay them. That is a pretty good deal as long as you are flying a lot. I fly quite a bit so my CFI is happy.
 
KevinJH7 said:
Daniel Webster College

Nashua NH. It's a pretty small school but it's mostly aviation.
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I knew it was DWC. I had the same problem there so I bailed after the Associate's Degree and now I'm flight instructing full time and just recieved my bachelor's online through Riddle. It seemed like at DWC everyone had an overage. Really got me thinking that their program wasn't really trying to get students through. It's one thing to make sure people are safe and meet PTS standards but it's another thing to beat some of those lessons to death over the smallest mistake. Checkout east coast aero club, they are now open in KASH. If I could do it again I would fly there and stay at DWC for the bachelor's in ATC.
 
LouieP said:
I knew it was DWC. I had the same problem there so I bailed after the Associate's Degree and now I'm flight instructing full time and just recieved my bachelor's online through Riddle. It seemed like at DWC everyone had an overage. Really got me thinking that their program wasn't really trying to get students through. It's one thing to make sure people are safe and meet PTS standards but it's another thing to beat some of those lessons to death over the smallest mistake. Checkout east coast aero club, they are now open in KASH. If I could do it again I would fly there and stay at DWC for the bachelor's in ATC.
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Yea, I don't think anybody gets out without overages. I mean the lesson plan included 37.5 hours so if you pass every lesson without going over the time, you should be good. That does not even include any extra briefing. The worst part is thinking of the poor flight instructors who get almost nothing.
 
KevinJH7 said:
I looked at the fees and noticed that 1.5 hours of CFI tim costs you $120. This puts it at $80 an hour; of course the CFI only makes about $15.
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WOW - even ERAU wasn't anywhere near that outrageous. $40/hr for the CFI when I first got there, and when I left 3 years later it was $50/hr.

Sorry man - I did my private at ASH at the now defunct Keyflite Academy. Paid $77/hr for an older 172 and $40/hr for the instructor. I thought that was expensive!!!

I wonder what DWC charged their students for the Crusaders? Those had to be over $500/hr per student with markup rates consistent with their CFI rates. Crazy...

Even ATP, the company known for its cheap and efficient flight training program, is starting to get greedy.
 
Aero_Engineer said:
I pay $26.00/hr for the instructor and $83.00/hr for the 1976 C 172 that I fly.
All and all one session ends up costing me around $150.00.
Just get your degree and do flight training on your own.
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Wow so im not doing that bad then. I know my CFI i know's i dont have the money to just be splurging but he's on the conservative side on himself. Sometimes undercharging himself (which i dont like, im using his services he deserves to be compensated) but my plane is about 95 per hour, and 39 for my CFI and just last time we ran 1.5 hours and it only came out to be 165 bucks. Dont ask me how that works out...
 
KevinJH7 said:
Yea, I don't think anybody gets out without overages. I mean the lesson plan included 37.5 hours so if you pass every lesson without going over the time, you should be good. That does not even include any extra briefing. The worst part is thinking of the poor flight instructors who get almost nothing.
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to be honest tho the CFI's at DWC do ok. They get a weekly salary with an hourly pay for each hour of dual given. On top of that they also get medical benefits and only have their CFI-A when hired. After that they get free upgrades to CFII and MEI when they move up in "levels." Most of this stuff is unheard for a CFI job, but more power to them.
 
At the place I work the charge is $30/hr for the instructor. We get $15 of it. I usually charge anywhere between 20-30/hr for instruction when I do it freelance.

Definitely get your ratings at an FBO. Costs much less and a rating is a rating.

j
 
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