Frequently Asked Questions

No. Most people who come to us have never touched the controls of a small aeroplane, and some have never been in one. Your first lesson assumes nothing: your instructor explains what’s happening as it happens, and you’ll be flying the aeroplane yourself at some point during it. Curiosity is the only thing you need to bring — everything else is what we teach.

Two ways. Book a discovery flight — one introductory flight with an instructor beside you, $200 for one passenger — and decide afterward whether you want to continue. Or call us at (916) 907-5812 and tell us what you’re after; we’ll explain how training works and what it costs before you spend anything. There’s no application, no enrollment, and nothing to sign up for.

Our minimum age for a discovery flight is 12, and a regular training programme normally starts at 14. The FAA sets the rest of the milestones: 16 to fly solo and 17 to hold a private pilot certificate. Anyone under 18 needs a consent form signed by a parent or legal guardian, and an adult has to be there for check-in and the briefing. For under-16s that adult stays at the airfield for the whole flight.

Not to fly with an instructor. You’ll need an FAA medical certificate before you fly solo, and a private pilot certificate requires at least a third-class medical, issued by an FAA-designated aviation medical examiner after a fairly ordinary physical. If you have a condition you’re worried about, sort the medical out early rather than after you’ve paid for lessons.

A government-issued photo ID — a driver’s licence, state ID or passport — is required for anyone 18 or over, and we check documents before escorting anyone into the controlled area. For a minor, bring a school ID or passport plus the accompanying adult’s ID and the signed consent form. Otherwise: comfortable clothes, closed-toe shoes and sunglasses. Bring water, especially in summer. Headsets are provided free of charge, though you are welcome to bring your own compatible one. Skip the heavy meal right before. Nothing to study in advance and no books to buy.

Yes — that is what a discovery flight is for. One flight, a published price, and no obligation afterwards: $200 for one passenger, $300 for two or three. There is no membership to join, no enrollment fee and no prepaid block of hours. If you decide to keep going, you pay lesson by lesson at $110 an hour, all in.

It depends almost entirely on how often you fly. Students who fly two or three times a week finish considerably sooner than students who fly twice a month, because less of every lesson goes to re-learning the last one. Weather, medical paperwork, and your own calendar all move the date. We won’t quote you a finish date before we’ve flown with you — anyone who does is guessing. See private pilot training for the full path.

The FAA sets a minimum of 40 hours of flight time for a private pilot certificate, including set amounts of instruction and solo flying. In practice most people need more than the minimum, and that’s normal: what decides your checkride date — your final flight test with an FAA examiner — is readiness, not an hour count.

More often than most people expect, especially at the start. Flying weekly, or twice a week, keeps skills from fading between lessons; leave three weeks between flights and you’ll spend the first half of each one catching back up. That’s the single biggest reason training gets expensive. If your schedule is tight, longer sessions less often can work — ours run from one to six hours.

Under Part 61: the private pilot certificate, the instrument rating, the commercial certificate (CPL ASEL), and the CFI and CFII, with ground instruction running alongside all of them. Multi-engine training, the MEI and rental hours are flown with other operators around the field — tell us what you need and we will point you to one.

Sessions run from one to six hours. A short one might be an hour in the traffic pattern practicing takeoffs and landings. A long one can hold a briefing, a cross-country flight to another airport, and a debrief in a single block. You book what fits your day — students driving in from farther out often prefer fewer, longer visits.

Whatever you want. Plenty of pilots stop there and fly for the pleasure of it: weekend trips, breakfast at another airport, taking family somewhere without an airline. The usual next step for people who want their flying to be useful in more than fair weather is the instrument rating, which we train in our IFR-equipped aircraft. After that comes the commercial certificate and the instructor ratings.

Every private pilot candidate passes an FAA knowledge test — a written exam on regulations, weather, navigation and how the aeroplane works — before the checkride. We support it two ways: a self-study online course from an outside provider (around $300, paid to them), and one-to-one ground instruction with your instructor. There are no scheduled group classes. Your instructor endorses you for the test once you have shown you are ready, not to free up a slot in the diary.

Yes — you don’t have to be a U.S. citizen to train with us. Federal rules require non-citizen flight students to be cleared through a TSA security program before flight training begins, so there’s paperwork and a waiting period to plan around. Start with our page on training as an international student, then call us.

You create and manage the application yourself through the TSA’s Flight Training Security Program, pay the government fee and provide your documents; we register as your training provider and endorse the training request. Covered training cannot start before the approval is in place. Plan on three to six weeks — that is realistic, not guaranteed, and it is not within our control. We have taken non-citizen students through it before. See international students.

Yes — with Denis Vyatkin, who owns the school and speaks English and Russian. Russian-language instruction is available by appointment rather than on demand seven days a week. You can have your briefings, questions and debriefs in Russian while you learn radio phraseology and standard terminology in English, because English is what you will use in the air and with an FAA examiner.

You’ll need working English. The FAA requires the ability to read, speak, write, and understand English for a pilot certificate, and your checkride is conducted in it. What that doesn’t require is fluent small talk. If Russian is your first language, we teach in it, and the aviation English comes with the training rather than before it. Didn’t find your question? Call (916) 907-5812 or send us a message — we’d rather answer it than have you guess.