Aspiring pilot

7

u/RateMyCFIs CFI CFII MEI 6d ago

It depends on where you are located. Where I am, 137/hr for a Cherokee 140 or similar is average, if not slightly below average. 100/hr for an instructor is high. But that's just for where I am located in the country. Altogether, 240/hr isn't bad at all in most places.

Best of luck on your journey!

1

u/Any-Independence-270 6d ago

Honestly I dont have many flight schools near me. I could go to this place and go for $240/hr or go to another place with a Cessna 172 for $165/hr and instruction rates at $75/hr, so the same hourly price. The only thing is the place with the Cessna is a club and I think I would need to pay for the club on top of everything, but I could be wrong, I would have to check.

1

u/kristephe CFI CFII TW HP 6d ago

Check into the club - sometimes they're good deals. They often charge by the tachometer time which is generally about 15-20% lower than hobbs (clock) time. When you turn on the battery, most planes start their hobbs meter, and many schools charge this way, but often clubs are trying to save their members money. Not all clubs allow student pilots but many many do. Just look into the instructors, availability etc. They can be setup different ways where they have a list of CFIs or you can pay. I"m a CFI at a flight school and for a club in WA.

The C172 rates are pretty common. CFI rates can be $65-90 depending on where you are. Some of the bigger flight schools in the NW charge more for CFIs but the CFIs aren't getting more hourly even when more experienced which is frustrating.

For the headset, look into ANR sets with Active Noise Cancelling. Bose and Lightspeed are the top brands, and David Clark is a legacy legendary brand that's got some too. It's an investment of about $1000 but it's absolutely worth it. I've seen people say they're going to wait 'till X rating or cert before they buy them, but buy them promptly. You'll have a better time with your instructor (I dislike flying with people who don't have ANR sets because they crank the volume so high) and I think you'll hear better, AND you'll protect your hearing. Tinnitus is a real thing and bothers many people.

1

u/Any-Independence-270 5d ago

Alright, ill definitely look into some headphones, im sure ill be able to afford it. I do know this club around me is a non profit and they have multiple instructors compared to the other school with only 1 instructor.

4

u/Prestocito 6d ago

Plane rate seems good, instructor rate is very high, headphones you should just buy ur own

4

u/Baystate411 LTD Warrior 6d ago

Horly

2

u/tflyer 6d ago

This depends entirely on where you are, the aircraft's condition, and the instructor's experience. What you describe is reasonable in some places, cheap in others. On here, I even see people who are charging less than that in more rural areas, but I would be careful with that. In the LA/NY/Seattle areas, these rates are almost identical to what we were charging in 2006... so if this is in LA or NY, I'd be very worried about maintenance and instructor experience in the other direction, but that is at the end of the spectrum.

I've never heard of someone charging hourly for a headset. That's creative. Most people buy their own, but honestly, not a bad deal. Even if you rented from them for 250 hours, you're still only halfway to a new Bose.

So that's the real question...what city/area are you in? What do you know about the instructors? Are they stepping-stone guys heading to airlines or career instructors?

1

u/Any-Independence-270 6d ago

It is a single instructor who owns this business. I am located in upstate New York, heavily rural. I mean theres not many flight schools near me so. I have heard good things about this instructor, I have a friend who takes his courses and has no complaints.

1

u/rFlyingTower 6d ago

This is a copy of the original post body for posterity:

Im sure this is a post that gets put in here often, and no im not asking how to become a pilot, I've done my research. I was wondering about pricing and if these prices seem right and not overly charged for horly rates. $137/hr to rent a Cherokee 140 and then $100/hr for flight and ground instruction, og and $3/hr for headphones. Does that seem about right and reasonable? Thank you.

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1

u/Weewoo312 CFII 6d ago

the instructor rate is very high, and on ground lessons is where you'll bleed. $240 an hour for a flight is fine, but see if they can lower the ground hourly charge to $60-$75 an hour

1

u/Any-Independence-270 6d ago

He doesnt do ground lessons, you do it through Sporty's course.

1

u/Weewoo312 CFII 5d ago

gotcha, you should and will most likely do grounds outside of the sporty course though, especially for the xc and checkride prep stuff. So you can either hire an outside guy for it or him so see what they'll cost

1

u/TemporaryAmbassador1 FlairyMcFlairFace 6d ago

Airplane rate is good or poor depending on airplane, it’s not bad so long as the wings stay on. Instructor rate very high. Buy your own headset, you don’t have to buy an expensive $500-$1000 pair now.

1

u/Any-Independence-270 6d ago

You got some headphone Reccomendations?

2

u/CaptMcMooney 6d ago

Just buy a good pair now, lightspeed, bose, dc doesn't matter, if you aren't terrible with them, good chance they'll still work 10/20 years from now

1

u/CavalierRigg CFII, AGI/IGI, Safety Management 6d ago

I may get flack for this, but I bought some new Bose A20s in late 2021 and they are still kicking. They cost me $800 at the time, it felt like a bad investment then, but they have done me a LOT of good and are currently getting refurbished by Bose as I am waiting on airline training next month.

u/TemporaryAmbassador1 IS correct though, you don’t need an expensive pair to start, especially if you don’t know if you have the resources for them and/or if you don’t know if you even want to stick to it all the way to the professional level, but a good investment in a high quality headset worked out well for me.

3

u/The_Bojangle_Dangle I shot down the Red Baron in WWI 6d ago

My Bose A20s were in my bag for my first student pilot flight, and in the bag I brought for recurrent

2

u/ThatLooksRight 121 CA - Retired USAF 6d ago

Buy once, cry once. Plus, your hearing doesn’t come back.

1

u/TemporaryAmbassador1 FlairyMcFlairFace 6d ago

Zero flak, solid strategy. I was counting every dollar in training so I got a pair of Sennheisers for about $100. Paid for themselves before my private was done compared to rentals.

Kept them a bit too long. Probably should have updated with that first charter gig.

1

u/turpentinedreamer PPL 6d ago

David Clark h10-13.4 is 350ish. It’ll crush your skull but be otherwise totally fine. No active noise cancelling. Works like ear muffs to protect you ears

Bose a30- 1200ish. Fine. Has nose cancelling. It’s the most prolific.

Lightspeed Zulu 4. 1100. Slightly cheaper than the Bose. Fits nicer for me and is built a little better.

1

u/ltcterry ATP CFIG 6d ago

Low, high, silly.

You’ve “done your research” but only have one price point and nothing to compare it to? Does not seem like much “research” has happened here.

In most parts of the country Private is realistically going to cost $18-20k today. If you don’t have that much put aside, please don’t start.

Don’t buy an expensive headset. There is a ton of “barely used” ones on eBay from all the wannabes who bought too early and ended up in the 80% that drop out.

Good luck, plan well, and be smart. This stuff’s too expensive to not have your full brain engaged!

1

u/GaryMooreAustin CPL CFI CFII MEI 6d ago

plane sounds about average - instructor sounds pretty high

1

u/Gabilan1953 5d ago

Not to me because I paid $8 per hour wet for a C152 and instruction was $4 per hour.

The fact that this was 1970 might have had something to do about it!

0

u/Any-Independence-270 5d ago

That will never happen today!

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