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OBTAINING YOUR INSTRUMENT RATING
Pinnacle Aviation Academy offers a unique way to obtain your instrument rating. This cost effective program utilizes the AST 300 Flight Training Device (Simulator), the Cessna 152 and the Cessna 172.
Many schools believe you must fly a fully equipped Cessna 172 for the entire instrument rating course. For pilots who want to reduce training costs, it is not necessary. The first third of the instrument course curriculum focuses on basic instrument attitude flying. During this section of the course, minimal radio navigation is used. The Cessna 152 may be used at this time because it is an excellent trainer for basic instrument attitude flying. The Cessna 152 has less dihedral than the Cessna 172 so that when you make the transition later in the curriculum, the Cessna 172 will appear to be easier to fly!
Additionally, during introduction of basic instrument tasks such as holding patterns, DME arcs, NDB approaches, VOR approaches and ILS approaches, the AST 300 simulator is the very best training tool to develop the procedures required in the airplane. The simulator also has a "pause button" which allows your instructor stop and explain concepts to you during the introduction of new tasks. Once the tasks are mastered in the simulator, it will be time to further practice them in the Cessna 172.
Under the FAA approved school program, which applies to Pinnacle Aviation Academy, *35 total instrument hours are required for the instrument rating. For non-approved schools, the total number of instrument hours is *40. Occasionally we are able to graduate pilots from the instrument rating curriculum with just over *35 hours, however the national average is approximately *50 hours.
Accordingly, we have examples of training cost based on the FAA approved school minimum along with the national average training time.
*Also, most schools do not explain that the required hours are based on instrument time and additional cost must be considered for taxi time, runup time and brief flight time without a view limiting device or actual instrument conditions. This can add an addition 15% to 20% to the minimum FAA flight time.
FAA MINIMUM TRAINING HOURS
| *10 hours Cessna 152 @ $72.00/hr. |
$ 720.00
|
| *10 hours AST 300 Simulator @ $35.00/hr. |
350.00
|
| *20 hours Cessna 172 @ $100.00/hr. |
2,000.00
|
| *35 hours Flight Instructor @ $45.00/hr. |
1,575.00
|
| *05 hours Stage Check @ $55.00/hr. |
275.00
|
| *05 hours Ground Instruction @ $45.00/hr. |
225.00
|
| Total Flight Training Expense** |
$5,145.00
|
NATIONAL AVERAGE TRAINING HOURS
| *15 hours Cessna 152 @ $72.00/hr. |
$ 1080.00
|
| *10 hours AST 300 Simulator @ $35.00/hr. |
350.00
|
| *30 hours Cessna 172 @ $100.00/hr. |
3,000.00
|
| *45 hours Flight Instruction @ $45.00/hr. |
2,025.00
|
| *05 hours Stage Check @ $55.00/hr. |
275.00
|
| *05 hours Ground Instruction @ $45.00/hr. |
225.00
|
| Total Flight Training Expense** |
$6,955.00
|
** In each of the above examples, the cost of the study materials, instrument charts, written test fee and examiner's fee are in addition to the flight training expense.
