FAQ

Affordable flight training is a reality by training in a LSA aircraft for any certificate. Why? Because LSA aircraft are cheaper to buy and operate. Costs for a flight student for a Private Pilot Certificate are in the $6,500 to $9,000 range in a LSA and that same certificate in a bigger plane, the costs start at $10,000 and can be over $15,000.

LSA aircraft do have limits, particularly around weight and height. Large people, either in height or weight will sometimes have to train in a larger aircraft, such as a Cessna 172.

Leighnor Aircraft successfully trains Commercial Pilots and Flight Instructors in our LSA aircraft in addition to Sport Pilot and Private Pilot Certificates.

Affordable Flight Training – Cost of Acquisition

To understand why affordable flight training can be done in a LSA, let’s consider two new trainers. A brand new Cessna 172 which is a $450,000 airplane and a brand new Aeroprakt A22LS, which is a $125,000 airplane. So a school can buy over three LSA trainers for the price of a Cessna 172. The Cessna 172 is a 180-HP engine aircraft which burns 8-11 gallons of fuel per hour. By comparison the Aeroprakt has a 100-HP engine and it burns 4-5 gallons of fuel per hour.

New Aeroprakt prices may be verified at Aeroprakt USA.

Cost of Maintenance

Now consider the aircraft’s maintenance which is an extremely key part of affordable flight training. Aircraft used in the flight training business are required to have annual and 100-hour operation inspections. That new Cessna 172 has dozens of inspection plates and requires almost two days to complete either of those inspections. But the Aeroprakt? No inspection plates exist and an inspection is a morning’s work. This difference in times means labor charges to maintain the LSA aircraft is considerably less than the Cessna 172.

All of these factors combine to make affordable flight training a reality in one of Leighnor Aircraft’s LSAs. At Leighnor Aircraft, a flight student really can accomplish more by flying with Leighnor!

Federal minimums under FAA regulations for a Private Pilot certificate are 40 hours total flight time and 20 hours dual instruction flight time.

With money on account credits and the Wings Above Yavapai membership at Leighnor Aircraft, the hourly cost of a training aircraft is going to be just less than $100/hour.
For easy math, my examples will use $100/hour as the aircraft cost.

Total time – 40 x $100 = $4,000, Instructor – 20 x $40 = $800
Books, materials, examiner fee and headset (assume reasonable) $800 – $1,500

So, at a minimum, you will probably spend about $6,000 for a Private Pilot certificate based on Federal minimums.

National averages for Private Pilot certificates are in the 60-70-hour range and probably closer to 30 hours of instruction.

Total time – 65 x $100 = $6,500, Instructor – 30 x $40 = $1,200, Books et al – $800 – $1,500

Based on these estimates, you’ll be around $8,000 total cost if you fall more into the national average.

Most flight instructors in an ideal situation would recommend two to three lessons in a week’s period. Any more lessons and you risk saturating a new pilot with too much information too soon. On the other side of the question, a new flight student would want to try and fly at least once a week. Stretching the time out further than a week will risk having to relearn material from the prior lesson.

Weather will also sometimes impact the timeline. A stretch of bad weather or high winds could introduce additional time into learning to fly.

Student pilots also need to have time to study to pass a written test. There is also material that will have to be reviewed as part of your aviation training.

Typically a 2-4 month period of time will allow for a student to get through flight training and pass the Private Pilot or Sport Pilot check ride.

Your Flight Schedule Pro account is free and will never expire. Leighnor Aircraft pays for the full cost of operating this system.

Leighnor Aircraft has two different hourly rates for all aircraft, which are standard hourly rental rate and the Wings Above Yavapai membership hourly rate.

If you are a Wings Above Yavapai member, your invoiced flight rate will be billed at the the Wings Above Yavapai hourly rate, otherwise the standard hourly rental rate will apply.

The Wings Above Yavapai hourly rate is less than the standard hourly rate, as of this writing, $7/hour lower.

The state of Arizona taxes our operations under the Transaction Privilege Tax or TPT, which is determined by the county the business operates in. The cities of Cottonwood and Prescott also have sales tax that we must pay. Aircraft rental rates quoted do not include sales tax, which is added at the time of purchase.

Taxes are also collected on Wings Above Yavapai memberships and are collected each month with the membership dues.

Flight instruction is not subject to sales tax.

For airports subject to a use fee, aircraft rentals and flight instruction are subject to the fee. In the case of the city of Cottonwood, this fee is treated as an additional sales tax. For city of Prescott, due to a relatively recent state of Arizona Constitutional change, all use fees have to be included in the advertised price. This is why aircraft rates are different for the two cities.

When fueling locally at Prescott Regional Airport, Leighnor Aircraft has an account with Legend Aviation. Legend will just refuel the airplane and charge the fuel purchase to our account.

There are self-service cards for Legend Aviation in each aircraft’s note book which can be used at the Legend Aviation’s self-service fuel station.

If you purchase fuel away from Prescott, you will need to pay the cost of the fuel yourself, then this amount is deducted from your rental charges. Submit a fuel reimbursement form located on our website at this link: https://www.leighnoraircraft.com/fuel-reimbursement-request/

If this form is submitted before daily billing occurs, the fuel purchase will be credited directly against the flight charges. If the reimbursement form is submitted after daily billing, the fuel purchase charge will appear as a credit in your Flight Schedule Pro account.

Other airport charges such as landing fees are not reimbursed.

No, only aircraft fuel charges will be reimbursed.

The short answer is yes, but there are limits and restrictions. If the purchase was 6 months or more ago, there is a 50% fee. If the purchase was 12 months or more, there is no refund as the fee is 100%.

Account credits, such as the credit for money on account, referrals and any like credit are not refundable under any circumstance.

We refund money on account by removing all applicable credits and then paying the balance left in the account to the pilot, either by company check or electronic transfer.

To request a money on account refund, you must submit this form: https://www.leighnoraircraft.com/money-on-account-refund-request-form/

Block time is now money on account. When Leighnor Aircraft had one type of aircraft and at the same hourly rate, money on account was easy to translate to block time.

With multiple different aircraft rental rates now, block time couldn’t be maintained. The simple reason is Flight Schedule Pro can’t control where money put on account is used. So money that was called block time for the 162 can easily be used for the 182.

When a pilot puts money on account in specific dollar values, Leighnor Aircraft adds a credit to your Flight Schedule Pro account, thus making your flying money go further.

$500.00 (+$20.00 credit)
$1000.00 (+$48.50 credit)
$2000.00 (+$114.00 credit)
$3000.00 (+$196.50 credit)
$4000.00 (+$296.00 credit)
$5000.00 (+$412.50 credit)
$6000.00 (+$546.00 credit)
$7000.00 (+$696.50 credit)
$8000.00 (+$864.00 credit)
$9000.00 (+$1048.50 credit)
$10000.00 (+$1250.00 credit)

Absolutely yes! Using money on account and the Wings Above Yavapai membership is the most cost-effective way to fly.

Here’s why – when you put money on account, the purchase adds credits to your Flight Schedule Pro account to effectively reduce the hourly rental rate.

When you fly, you consume those dollars in your Flight Schedule Pro account at the standard hourly rental rate.

However, if you’re in the Wings Above Yavapai membership, you are consuming those hours at the Wings Above Yavapai hourly rate and not the standard hourly rate. Thus your flying dollar will go further.

Money on account cannot be used to pay the monthly subscription for the Wings Above Yavapai membership.

You must have a credit card on file for the Wings Above Yavapai membership.

All flight time can be paid by money on account but not the Wings Above Yavapai membership.

1. Sign in to your Flight Schedule Pro account.
2. Click on the blue “Add Funds” button.
3. A dialog will open with multiple radio button choices for amounts that will result in credits (shown in parenthesis), the last button selection allows you to put funds on account in a denomination of your choice.

Note that you MUST select one of the pre-determined amounts to get the credit shown in parenthesis.

Leighnor Aircraft has a referral program that rewards pilots with credits in their flight account for referring other pilots to Leighnor Aircraft.

There is no credit limit.

The credit is calculated by looking at the hours the referred pilot flew in the past month. If that pilot has flown at least an hour, the referring pilot gets a credit of the price of an hour in one of Leighnor Aircraft’s LSA aircraft. This is referred to as the “bonus hour” and is only awarded once.

For each hour after that first hour, a referring pilot will be awarded a credit of a tenth of an hour. Which means if a referred pilot flew 10 hours that month, the referring pilot earns another hour, based on the hourly cost of Leighnor Aircraft’s LSA aircraft.

These credits appear in the referring pilot’s account as money and may be used for any aircraft rental.

No award credit of any kind is refundable as cash. This includes purchase credits for money on account and referral credits.

All existing account credits will be backed out of an account prior to any refund being made.

Note: if a credit has been spent to zero dollars, then the credit is not backed out. Only existing positive account credits are backed out when a refund is calculated.

We do not require renter’s insurance to rent our aircraft but we do highly recommend having such a policy to protect yourself.

In the event of a serious incident, our insurance policy will cover damage to our aircraft and our legal liability. What our insurance does not cover is the pilot’s legal liability. This is where renters insurance comes in and protects the pilot.

As we sadly know, many incidents end up in court with everyone remotely connected to the incident likely facing a lawsuit. If you’re the Pilot In Command and are found at fault, your legal liability could be significant.

Renters insurance is the cheapest peace of mind you can purchase as an aviator.

Absolutely yes, we strongly recommend pilots carry aircraft renters insurance.

If the NTSB or FAA rules an accident “pilot error”, it’s likely the insurance companies or any damaged plaintiff will come after the pilot for some of the accident cost, damages or both. A good aviation renters insurance policy will protect the pilot against this type of legal exposure and more.

Leighnor Aircraft does not require renters insurance to rent our aircraft. But we highly recommend having a renters insurance policy.

Insurance deductibles are the money paid first before any claim reimbursement is made. Our aircraft policy as of 5/1/2020 has a $2,500 in-motion accident deductible and a $500 not in-motion accident deductible. The renting pilot or their renters insurance is liable for this deductible, unless you’re a flying club member.

If the accident is ruled “pilot error”, then the insurance company may seek reimbursement from the pilot and these deductibles are not waived.

This exposure is why Leighnor Aircraft strongly recommends aviation renters insurance be carried by all pilots.

In the event of an aircraft failure away from home base, insurance and Leighnor Aircraft have no responsibility to the rental pilot. Lodging, food or transportation home in the event an aircraft cannot quickly be repaired are the responsibility of the renter pilot.

In addition, if the renter pilot has to return to the base of operations, the renter pilot may be responsible for the cost of bringing the aircraft back to the aircraft’s home base when repaired.

If there is an aircraft accident, the pilot will pay the insurance deductible. For Wings Above Yavapai members, you do not pay the deductible.

We advise pilots to carry renters insurance as that insurance protects more liability than just insurance deductibles.

If there is an aircraft accident, the pilot will pay the insurance deductible. For Wings Above Yavapai members, you do not pay the deductible.

We advise pilots to carry renters insurance as that insurance protects more liability than just insurance deductibles.

No, the Wings Above Yavapai is not a club. Membership in Wings Above Yavapai serves to reduce the hourly aircraft rental rate and reduces insurance risk.

Traditionally, Flying Clubs are non-profit and typically require some level of equity buy-in to join the club. This is why Leighnor Aircraft had to rename the “flying club” – per the FAA you cannot have a for-profit flying club.

The primary benefit of the Wings Above Yavapai membership is that membership lowers the hour rental rate of the aircraft members rent from Leighnor Aircraft. By looking at our aircraft rental fleet pages, both the standard hourly rental rate and Wings Above Yavapai hourly rental rate are published.

The second benefit is that in the event of an incident, you are not responsible for the insurance deductible on the aircraft.

Fill out the membership actions form to either begin or end your membership in Wings Above Yavapai. You must have a credit card on file in Flight Schedule Pro to begin a membership.

When joining W-A-Y, the membership bills immediately and renews each month. When leaving W-A-Y, please provide at least 5 days notice before your renewal date.

Absolutely yes! Using money on account and the Wings Above Yavapai membership is the most cost-effective way to fly.

Here’s why – when you put money on account, the purchase adds credits to your Flight Schedule Pro account to effectively reduce the hourly rental rate.

When you fly, you consume those dollars in your Flight Schedule Pro account at the standard hourly rental rate.

However, if you’re in the Wings Above Yavapai membership, you are consuming those hours at the Wings Above Yavapai hourly rate and not the standard hourly rate. Thus your flying dollar will go further.

Money on account cannot be used to pay the monthly subscription for the Wings Above Yavapai membership.

You must have a credit card on file for the Wings Above Yavapai membership.

All flight time can be paid by money on account but not the Wings Above Yavapai membership.

1. Sign in to your Flight Schedule Pro account.
2. Click on the blue “Add Funds” button.
3. A dialog will open with multiple radio button choices for amounts that will result in credits (shown in parenthesis), the last button selection allows you to put funds on account in a denomination of your choice.

Note that you MUST select one of the pre-determined amounts to get the credit shown in parenthesis.

Contact your flight instructor to schedule your flying lessons. Our flight instructors are independents and have activities going on outside of our schedule.

Flight Schedule Pro maintains a record of every transaction and every flight flown as well as any endorsements and checkouts. To see your history:

1. Log in to your Flight Schedule Pro account.
2. Click the blue “My Profile” button on your dashboard page to the right of your name.
3. The profile page will display. Further down that page will be a menu that has the following items:
   • Notes
   • Reservations
   • Transactions
   • Documents
   • Endorsements
   • Aircraft Checkouts
   Each of the above menus can be expanded to show the information under each menu.

There are three operations a pilot will need to do in the course of every rental flight at Leighnor Aircraft.

Schedule

This is the act of making a reservation on the aircraft schedule for you to rent one of our aircraft. A starting date and time as well as an ending date and time will be required. To schedule:

1. Log in to your Flight Schedule Pro account. There is a dashboard item labeled “My Upcoming Reservations” with a gray “New” button right next to the label.
2. Click the “New” button and the dialog to schedule a reservation will open. Complete the reservation and the reservation will appear on the schedule.

Checkout

Checkout is the act of dispatching the flight. You are in the aircraft, getting ready to fly. At some point before you start the engine, you should checkout your flight in Flight Schedule Pro.

1. Log in to your Flight Schedule Pro account
2. Go to the schedule.
3. Click on your reservation on the schedule and it will open.
4. There will be a blue “Checkout” button. Click the “Checkout” button and the checkout dialog will open. Always verify that the start times in FSP match the actual hours on the aircraft for Hobbs and Tach Time.

Checkin

Checkin is the act of returning the aircraft to it’s home base, either the South Ramp or the aircraft’s hangar. After getting the Hobbs and Tach time from the aircraft, you need to perform a checkin operation in Flight Schedule Pro. The checkin records your ending times in Flight Schedule Pro.

1. Log in to your Flight Schedule Pro account
2. Go to the schedule.
3. Click on your reservation on the schedule and it will open.
4. There will be a blue “Checkin” button. Click the “Checkin” button and the checkin dialog will open. Enter the ending Hobbs and Tach times and Flight Schedule Pro will calculate the duration for you.

There are three ways to quickly get to your Flight Schedule Pro account:

1. Use the subdomain https://fsp.leighnoraircraft.com
2. There is a Flight Schedule Pro Login menu selection near the bottom of the Aircraft menu
3. There is a link to the Flight Schedule Pro login page in the footer of every website page.

As of this writing, our answer would be no. The app only runs on iOS devices and has extremely limited functionality compared to the website login. Our advice would be to login to the website via any one of the three methods mentioned in the previous FAQ entry.

Prescott

During business hours at Prescott, there will be an attendant at the dispatch desk that will give you the aircraft keys. Winter operating hours are 8 AM to 6 PM, summer operating hours are 8 AM to 8 PM.

For non-attended hours, there is a lockbox on the rear door of the office building at 6418 MacCurdy Dr in Prescott. Upon entry, go to the dispatch desk and there is a key lockbox mounted to the wall. Open the lockbox, retrieve your aircraft key, lock the building upon exit and proceed to your aircraft, either on the South Ramp or the aircraft’s hangar. Note the whiteboard in the building above the lockbox will tell you the location of your aircraft and what oil the aircraft uses should any oil be needed.

Upon your return, after securing the aircraft, repeat the above procedure and return the aircraft’s key to the key lockbox.

Depending upon how late the flight is after hours, flight billing will likely occur the next day.

Note: You will be given codes for the building and lockbox during your checkout.

Cottonwood

Cottonwood is a totally self-service location with no attendant. To enter the hangar, there is a lockbox to the left of the front door of hangar #3. Open the lockbox and access the hangar.

Two of the three aircraft based at Cottonwood are inside the hangar. If you are renting one of these airplanes, the keys are in the airplanes.

If you are renting an airplane stored on the ramp, there is a key lockbox to the right of the restroom door. Access the lockbox, retrieve the aircraft’s key, mirror hangar and airport access card. Exit the hangar and secure the door and lockbox.

You will need to drive around to the access gate on the west side of the airport and use the access card to open the gate. Park near the fuel farm, make sure the mirror hangar is visible from the front window on your rear view mirror and walk through the gate to the aircraft’s parking space, which is #43.

Once your flight is complete, return the aircraft keys, access card and mirror hangar to the lockbox in hangar #3.

Note: You will be given codes for the building and lockbox during your checkout.

Yes. At our Cottonwood location, there are a few loaner headsets in the hangar. At Prescott, loaner headsets are available behind the dispatch desk.

At each location in the Aeroprakt hangar, there should be a set of rudder pedal extensions for shorter pilots.

At Prescott, there are Foggles, Hoods and seat cushions available behind the dispatch desk.

Maintenance is tracked in Flight Schedule Pro and an aircraft cannot be dispatched without maintenance being current.

Maintenance being “current” means any grounding squawk has been corrected and there are no outstanding maintenance items that are required by FAA regulations.

We also do non-required 50-hour oil changes to help preserve the life of our aircraft engines.

We periodically wash and wax the aircraft to ensure a good experience for our renter pilots.

Absolutely you should! If there is anything questionable about any of our aircraft, we want to know about it. If we don’t know about any problems, its impossible for us to take the appropriate corrective actions to fix the problem.

Our maintenance staff is very diligent about monitoring squawks and dealing with problems as quick as we possibly can. Bear in mind that some fixes require parts to be ordered and when that happens, the aircraft is going to be down for a little bit, particularly if the problem is a safety of flight issue.

So it’s always better to submit a squawk than not submit one and let a potential problem become a bigger issue.

BasicMed in allows any MD to be able to approve a pilot to fly aircraft without having to go to an Aviation Medical Examiner (AME). The pilot is also required to take a medical self-assessment test every two years.

BasicMed was adopted into medical certification standard for private pilots written into a new Part 68 of the Federal Aviation Regulations. The FAA in January 2017 adopted the rules after a long, and at times contentious, fight with aviation groups that had for years pressed for third-class medical reform.

BasicMed was able to be used for medical certification standards after May 1, 2017.

You can conduct any operation that you would otherwise be able to conduct using your pilot certificate and a third-class medical certificate, except you are limited to:

• Fly with no more than five passengers.
• Fly an aircraft under 6,000 lbs. maximum certificated takeoff weight.
• Fly an aircraft that is authorized to carry no more than 6 occupants.
• Flights within the United States, at an indicated airspeed of 250 knots or less, and at an altitude at or below 18,000 feet mean sea level (MSL).
• You may not fly for compensation or hire.

Note: Flight instructors my fly under BasicMed.

If you’re a new student pilot, you must get at least a third-class medical certificate from an Aviation Medical Examiner (AME) as one of the requirements for BasicMed is that you have held a medical certificate in the recent past.

A Light Sport Aircraft, such as a Cessna 162 or Aeroprakt A22LS, can be flown without BasicMed or a medical certificate. If you have a valid state driver’s license, then you may legally self-certify as fit for flight.

There is a caveat here – DO NOT get a medical denial from the FAA. That denial will effectively negate any self-certified medical for a light sport aircraft.