Cheapest Time Building in the USA

Our Time Building Rates (Wet, All-In)

Single-engine Cessna 172 / Piper Warrior / Piper Archer: $100/hr standard, dropping to $80/hr at 500 hours, $70/hr at 1,000 hours, and $60/hr at 1,500 hours. Fuel included.

Multi-engine Piper Seminole / Seneca: $200/hr standard, dropping to $180/hr at 100 hours, and $160/hr at 250+ hours. Fuel included.

No membership fees. No monthly minimums. No fuel surcharges. No instructor required for solo time building. Block discounts available — ask when you apply.

How We Keep Rates This Low

We own our entire fleet. We do not lease aircraft, which removes the middleman markup that drives most flight school rental rates.

Our in-house maintenance team runs 24/7 from our hangar at KFXE. We don't pay third-party shop rates, and our aircraft return to service faster — meaning higher utilization and lower per-hour cost.

South Florida fuel prices and high year-round utilization across our fleet allow us to pass real savings to time-building pilots, not just advertise low headline numbers.

Cheap Doesn't Mean Compromised

Every aircraft in our fleet is IFR-equipped with Garmin avionics. Every plane is on a strict 100-hour inspection cycle. We are FAA Part 61 certified with a roster of full-time CFIs and a published safety record.

We don't cut corners on maintenance, insurance, or instructor quality. We cut overhead — the parts that don't make you a better, safer pilot.

How We Keep the Hourly Rate Low

Cheap flying usually means one of three things: an old aircraft with deferred maintenance, a dry rate that hides fuel cost, or a broker taking a cut on someone else's airplane. Our pricing is low for a different reason — we own the fleet outright, maintain it with our own full-time mechanics, and fly it enough hours per month that fixed costs spread thin. That structure lets us quote a wet rate and still keep aircraft on the line.

The second lever is utilisation. An airplane that flies six hours a day carries its insurance, hangar and inspection costs across six times more revenue hours than one flying a single hour. Our twelve-hour, seven-day operation is what makes the published rates possible rather than a promotional teaser.

The Hidden Costs That Make Cheap Flying Expensive

When comparing quotes, price the whole block rather than the headline hour. Ask whether the rate is wet or dry, whether time is billed on Hobbs or tach, whether there is a minimum daily charge on cross-countries, and what happens financially when weather cancels. A $55 dry rate with a two-hour daily minimum and a fuel surcharge routinely lands above our wet rate once the invoice arrives.

The other hidden cost is downtime. If a school has three aircraft and one goes into an unscheduled inspection, a third of your schedule disappears, and the days you spend waiting are days of rent, food and lost income. A larger fleet with in-house maintenance is a financial feature, not just a convenience.

A Realistic Cost Plan

Before you book, build a simple plan: hours needed, hours per flying day, days available, and the fixed living costs for that period. Multiply the block rate by the hours, add accommodations if you are travelling, and compare that total against staying home and flying weekends at a local rate. For most pilots who need more than fifty hours, an intensive block in South Florida wins on both cost and calendar.

Frequently Asked Questions