A discover flight is the perfect chance to experience what it feels like to fly an airplane! Whether it’s to evaluate whether aviation is for you or just to have an unforgettable time, Discovery Flights are a safe, fun, and easy way for anyone to truly experience piloting for themselves.

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There are a variety of options when it comes to flight training! Unfortunately, most of them are saturated with pilots who are instructing in order build time and advance their career, not because they truly have a passion for teaching.

While I don’t fault any of those instructors or schools, I am convinced that an independent instructor who is passionate about teaching and aviation is the best way for you to learn to be a safe and proficient pilot. Since I’m not a big flight school, I’m not focused on quantity or forcing school-wide systems on you. I can tailor each course of training and individual lesson to you and how you learn best!

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A phrase you will hear me say often is, “I’m not trying to teach you the recipe, I’m trying to teach you how to cook!”. Unfortunately, too many piloting schools today are more focused on getting you to pass your checkride than actually ensuring that you have a deep working knowledge of the maneuvers or theories that you are being taught.

I am a big believer that we each learn differently, and therefore effective teaching should look different for every individual! While we will always be using the relevant Airman Certification Standards (ACS) to inform our training, you can expect that each lesson will be presented in a way that fits your learning style and your aviation goals.

Yes! To help you get to the airport and be prepared for our Discovery Flight or training session, you can view my “Before We Fly” page which answers those questions.

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My instructing fee is $70/hour and my airplane rental fee is $190/hour wet (wet means that fuel charges are included in the rental fee).

Discovery Flights are $250.

Flight Reviews and Mock Checkrides are at my normal instructing rate.

Average rental prices in the Bay Area for a well maintained Cessna 172 with a modern avionics “glass panel” are $200-220/hour.

While many schools will try and give a single number for how much an individual certificate or rating will cost, the reality is that the answer entirely depends on how quickly you learn. For students who are able to learn more quickly and put in time at home studying along the way, the cost will be lower than those who require more training hours and have less time available to study knowledge areas.

You can reference my aircraft and training fees above in order to estimate what it might cost for you. For example, the FAA minimum requirement to get your Private Pilot License is 40 flight hours, 20 of which must be training with an instructor. This would work out to be $9,000 for private pilot flight training.

In reality, the average student in the USA requires about 60 flight hours, and 30 training hours. This would be $13,500.

If you want to discuss pricing further, contact me and we can chat about your aviation goals!

A mock checkride is when a certified flight instructor imitates what your checkride will be like for a given rating. This can be imitating the oral exam, the practical flight portion, or both! These are incredibly useful in order to make sure you are fully prepared for your checkride.

While your flight instructor will certainly be doing this with you, having a separate instructor perform a mock checkride gives an unbiased and comprehensive picture of how prepared you are according to the ACS.

I recently spoke with a DPE who told me how in a recent month, her failure rate was 75%! That means that 3 out of 4 students who took their checkrides were told by their instructors that they were ready, but in the eyes of the examiner they were not. I have taken a checkride with this DPE and can attest to their fairness as an examiner. Rather, this points to the problem we have of inadequate instruction and preparedness.

If you want to ensure you are not one of those students, contact me to schedule a Mock Checkride!

The best way is by filling out the contact form on my website! You can also email hello@flyingwithshawn.com or text my number (925) 200-7985 at any time.