FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
Aircraft Rates
1World Aero aircraft rates are comparable to other area operations considering horsepower, construction year, and avionics package. Our rates are most advantageous when you fly more than two hours a month.
Instructor Rates
We strongly believe that proper instructor compensation is an insurance policy that will pay you back as it allows us to retain experienced, qualified, capable instructors, despite the current professional pilot shortage. Ensuring qualified instructor retention allows us to make you a safer pilot, and allows you to progress faster. Instructor rates are tied to corresponding experience level.
What portion of my lesson block will I be charged aircraft and instructor time?
You only pay for the airplane when the engine is running. Your instructor is generally charging you for all the time that is spent supporting or teaching you. Flight Instruction time will be billed identically to aircraft rental time. Additional instructor ground time typically varies between forty-five minutes to an hour for each flight. The more that you can do to prepare on your own (such as weather briefing, filing, and preflight), the less time the CFI needs to charge for. Our goal is to empower you to prepare for each flight independently.
Scheduling
Once you begin training, you will be given a username and password to schedule online at your convenience. Due to the nature of flight school operations, we strongly encourage you to stay a couple weeks ahead of the schedule. Many clients start and stop and start again for a variety of reasons, and therefore schedule loads vary. Clients can reserve up to 30 hours at a time, which is intended to translate into recommended bookings of dual weekly three hour blocks of dual training one month into the future, including two or three solo simulator sessions during that time. Clients are recommended to add a reservation after the completion of each lesson.
How often can I fly?
We are optimized to fly once to three times a week with clients. The ideal rhythm is twice a week. Flying three times a week requires a commitment from both client and instructor. New leads may need to be turned away to support clients in accelerated training. We start scheduling clients three times a week only after they have completed orientation lessons without short notice cancellations.
Can I fly weekends or after work?
Matching instructor and client availability is key to facilitating successful training. Availability from our full time staff is generally at a premium during the prime flying season months (April to November), therefore we may well need to start by matching you with a part time instructor that matches your availability. Saturday aircraft and instructor slots tend to fill first, then weekday afternoons. Where practical, being able to get away for a flight during regular work business hours will therefore be helpful to you. 1World Aero may alter your reservation to insure that Saturday blocks are scheduled efficiently and three clients can access the schedule in one day.
When do classes start?
Unlike a college class, there is no enrollment date or set start and finish date. Clients use the online schedule to reserve their assigned instructor at times that have been mutually agreed to be convenient, considering weather and aircraft availability.
I have a very hectic schedule. What happens if I have to cancel with short notice?
Things come up and occasionally clients and instructors alike need to reschedule for a variety of reasons, however when a pattern of short notice cancellation emerges, we will charge cancellation fees.
What is your Lesson Cancellation policy?
If a cancellation is received within 48 hours of the scheduled block, then $40 per blocked hour is charged. Note that part of each lesson debrief will pre-establish if a ground lesson is planned or not in the event weather is not adequate to fly on the date of the next lesson.
What is Accelerated Training?
We consider any frequency of three times a week or greater to be an accelerated pace. Accelerated training requires a commitment from the instructor and the organization to divert extra resources away from other clients in order to move you to the finish line. Additionally, once a student commits to an accelerated pace, our No Show and Cancelation policy will always be applied unless we cancel a reservation. Accelerated Training must be pre-approved by the Chief Pilot based on seasonal workload. Accelerated training does not qualify for Rewards Rates and requires a deposit prior to scheduling.
What does it take for you to prioritize a student?
As students get closer to completion of a stage, instructors will try to protect their schedules to insure that that student can clear a hurdle. Similarly it is common for instructors to massage the schedule to fly more intensively with students towards the brush-up phase prior to the final exam Practical with an examiner. Aircraft availability is also prioritized towards clients who have an upcoming checkride. We do not consider a temporary one or two week uptick to three times a week in preparation for a test to be accelerated training.
Average Training Length
Training length is a function of many variables, including: student availability, motivation and aptitude, instructor capability and availability and weather. Plan on the national averages if you are not in accelerated training.
I just want to rent an airplane to do some occasional VFR fair weather flying. What can I rent?
Our two basic trainer Piper Warriors are prioritized for PPL and initial IFR training. After obtaining a PPL or VFR checkout in the Warrior renters are soon steered towards our Piper Arrow, and strongly encouraged to pursue an Instrument Rating within the next several months. All renters commit to flying at least 25 hours a year and to follow our Minimum Personal Proficiency Plan, which is found in the Dispatch Authorization Guide in the Resources page. Most Instrument pilots should expect to perform 2-3 approaches with a company instructor every two to three months. We are interested in building an ongoing training relationship with clients, and are interested in clients who value that support.
What is your general instruction and business philosophy?
We always follow a gradual building block approach to training. Quality instruction needs to provide relevant challenge to clients so they can progress. That instruction must be provided in a consistent, supportive, and objective manner. We also recognize that general aviation safety lags far behind that of commercial airline aviation. Note that 1 fatality occurs per 100,000 General Aviation Flight hours compared to 1 per 20,000,000 Airline hours flown. Further note that 80% of FAA Pilot Deviations are against General Aviation Pilots. This disparity is not only a reflection of the difference in equipment and infrastructure between privately owned light aircraft and the airlines, but also one of mindset. Having made a conscious decision to limit the size or our operation in favor of quality over quantity of operation, most will find that we are comparatively more stringent and exacting in our teaching style and in the care and operation of our aircraft. We want every renter, student, and instructor to be in the best position to handle unexpected, challenging, abnormal, or even emergency situations. To this end we promote regular client recurrent training, crew resource management, and standardization of procedures. We look for focus from our renters just as they look for patience, understanding, and persistence from our instructors. We also recognize that certain clients may prefer a more purely recreational experience with another operation and encourage every prospect to find an operation that provides the best fit for them.
How long is a typical aircraft checkout?
Aircraft checkout lengths vary greatly between a couple to several hours based on general experience, currency, and proficiency, as well as familiarity in make and model. That said, a basic trainer check out will trend between a couple and a few hours, where as an Arrow checkout will typically take a few to several hours. Instrument checkouts are treated separately and can be treated as an IPC. Night landings are required to obtain a night checkout. An instrument rating is required for night operations outside the pattern.
I would like to schedule a Flight Review.
Please note that we prefer to see that clients have been flying regularly over the last couple of years in order to complete the Flight Review in a single flight. If you do not have 50 hours over the last two years, expect the BFR to involve minimum of two training flights. Expect the ground portion to last between two and four hours depending on the client's level of preparation and needs. Completion of a Personal Minimums Checklist and development of a jointly agreed upon Personal Proficiency Plan and Ongoing Training Plan will be standard to your Flight Review.
Clients who are Minors
All clients must have their own source of reliable transportation, the ability to control their own scheduling, a dedicated payment credit or debit card in hand to settle invoices on a lesson by lesson basis, and a clear understanding of the time and financial commitments outlined in the Learn to Fly section. Minors are taught in the same manner as adults and are held to the same expectations as our target adult client base.
I want to train in my own aircraft.
If your aircraft has not been frequently operated over the last few years, then we may prefer to train in our aircraft. For new clients, review of airframe and engine logbooks is required prior to initiating training, and Time Since Major Overhaul and a picture of last two airframe and engine annual sign offs should be sent before we agree to schedule. For single engine aircraft, we strongly prefer to know that the engine has not exceeded TBO by more than 5% of its hours limit, nor 30% of its time limit. Oil analysis is preferred within 20% of TBO. Floatation devices are standard in our aircraft for operations along the Chesapeake Bay, Delaware Bay, & Atlantic shorelines, and are strongly preferred for training in those sectors. Further, Shoulder harnesses, copilot access to brakes, a crash axe, and first aid kit are standard in our single and multi-engine fleet aircraft, and we prefer to see these in prospect aircraft.
Do you have financial aid arrangements, or can I use GI Benefits at your school?
Unfortunately, the GI Bill does not pay out to us as a FAR 61 school. However, lines of credit for pursuing a rating can be obtained through Pilot Finance.com.
Can I put a block of money down to get a discount?
Discounting is purely tied to your flying over two hours per calendar month, and to your Loyalty Rate. All flight time over two Hobbs hours per month is discounted 10%. Additionally, we offer a $5.00 Military discount per Hobbs hour on aircraft rental.
What are Loyalty Rate Discounts?
We provide a permanent discount to each renter for each flight hour once a pilot completes a rating in-house or logs 100 hours of rental flight in-house. Please see the Rates page for details.
What is the Registration Fee?
The $125 charge is applied to each client prior to start of training for a rating or certificate. This covers document collection, access to our online scheduler, and access to our online learning portal in the Document Section while in good standing. A $75 registration is charged new clients seeking aircraft checkouts.
Do you have any interest in leasing back more aircraft?
We are always happy to discuss the possibility of adding an aircraft to the fleet. The right leaseback airplane will truly allow you to train when you want in your own aircraft at cost, while defraying your ownership expenses.
We also offer the ability to join our existing leaseback partnerships to provide extra risk sharing. Our leaseback partnership is perfectly suited for students, allowing clients to complete their PPL in the partnership Piper Warrior, their IFR in the partnership Arrow, and use the aircraft for pleasure and business at cost. Please see our Partnership Opportunities brochure or contact us for more details.
We seek to match our growth with that of the population and accessibility of seasoned Aircraft Maintenance Technicians required to safely keep pace with student and renter use demand. We also monitor the limited supply of experienced professional flight instructors who are willing to serve long term in a full-time capacity. Both considerations are industry structural problems.
