Frequently Asked Questions

Federal minimums under FAA regulations for a Private Pilot Certificate are 40 hours total flight time and 20 hours dual instruction flight time. National averages for Private Pilot Certificates are in the 60-70-hour range and probably closer to 30 hours of instruction. Sport Pilot Certificates require 20 hours of total flight time and 10 hours dual instruction flight time under Federal regulations. Nationally, the actual time is closer to 30-35 hours and 15 hours dual instruction.

We can provide some very rough estimates of costs, but every single student pilot is different and will take a different amount of time and money to get through flight training.

The first factor is the student training in a LSA aircraft or larger aircraft like a Cessna 172? That decision alone can be a $5,000 difference in cost for a Private Pilot Certificate.

The second factor is whether or not the student is using the Wings Above Yavapai membership and/or credits for money on account. If the student isn’t using these programs, they should as either of these programs will save significant money over the number of hours required to learn to fly.

A rough estimate on costs for a Private Pilot Certificate for a LSA aircraft is approximately $10,000. For a larger aircraft such as a 172 or one of the G1000 172s, that cost will start at around $15,000.

For a Sport Pilot Certificate, costs starts around $5,000.

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.

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 $7,000 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 $16,000.

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 $500,000 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 3-5 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 two days to at a minimum 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!

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

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

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

With the change to separate fuel and aircraft rental on customer invoices, TPT tax is only collected on the actual aircraft rental. Taxes for fuel are already collected when Leighnor Aircraft LLC purchases fuel from the FBO.

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

Both Prescott and Cottonwood are subject to airport use fees, but they are handled differently due to Arizona law. Cottonwood’s use fee is figured in as sales tax which is added to the purchase price. For Prescott, their use fee was put in place after an Arizona law change which requires all use fees to be part of the actual price. This is why the aircraft at Cottonwood and Prescott have different prices as Prescott’s use fee has to be part of the actual rental price.

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

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 directly after your flight, the fuel purchase will be credited directly against the flight charges. If the reimbursement form is submitted other than directly after your flight, 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.

Aircraft rental rates are dry – what “dry” means is that fuel and other consumable costs are not included in the direct rental rate of the aircraft. These costs were separated out for two reasons: 1.) The costs have become highly variable in the current economy and require frequent change; 2.) Due to Arizona law, the state is requiring Leighnor Aircraft to double-tax on fuel and consumables costs.

When a cost such as fuel is included in a product or service, Arizona law requires that Transaction Privilege Tax (sales tax) be taken on the cost of that product or service – in Leighnor Aircraft’s case, aircraft rental. However, if the charge is separated out from the product or service and all taxes have been paid on that item, then no TPT tax is necessary. As all fuel purchases and consumable items are purchased with tax paid, there is no requirement to collect TPT tax for any consumable item such as fuel and oil.

Customers still pay for fuel and other consumables, it’s just a separate line item on the flight invoice instead of included in the rental rate. For each hour of flight, a line item will be added for the equivalent amount of flight consumables. If the flight was one hour, the customer is billed one hour of flight consumables. Likewise, if the flight was one and a half hours, then one and half hours of flight consumables will be billed.

This method of billing actually saves the customer and Leighnor Aircraft money. The customer saves by not paying tax on the flight consumables. For example, flight consumables charges for a 172S is currently $70.90 per hour. The TPT tax amount on this charge is $5.92 per hour which the customer is no longer paying. Leighnor Aircraft benefits by paying less money to the state of Arizona for TPT tax and the city of Prescott for airport use fees, which are calculated off of taxable sales.

No, we only credit your account for airplane fuel charges.

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/

The duration since time of purchase is calculated without exception by the purchase date and the date the refund request form was received in Leighnor Aircraft LLC’s online system.

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

With two or more different 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.

We also expanded the credits available both up ($7500) and down ($500) to provide more options for earning credits.

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

• $500 ($22.50 credit)
• $1,000 ($50.45 credit)
• $2,000 ($110.70 credit)
• $3,000 ($179.10 credit)
• $4,000 ($254.00 credit)
• $5,000 ($333.75 credit)
• $6,000 ($416.70 credit)
• $7,000 ($501.20 credit)
• $8,000 ($585.60 credit)
• $9,000 ($668.25 credit)
• $10,000 ($747.50 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 purchase money on account, the purchase adds credits to your Flight Schedule Pro account to reduce the hourly rental rate.

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

However, if you’re in Wings Above Yavapai, you are consuming those hours at the Wings Above Yavapai 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 or dues 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.

There is a surcharge cost for using a credit card. To avoid this surcharge you can pay by using cash, a check, Zelle, PayPal or Venmo.

To avoid credit card surcharges, all of our customers can use alternative payment methods to pay flight invoices or put money on account. Leighnor Aircraft LLC will always take a personal check or cash if that is the customer’s preference. Alternatively, new electronic payment methods such as Zelle or Venmo can be used. Here is how to Zelle or Venmo money to Leighnor Aircraft LLC:

• Leighnor Aircraft LLC’s preferred electronic payment method is Zelle. It’s free and the transfer happens nearly immediately. The Zelle id to use is lance@leighnoraircraft.com.
• If unable to use Zelle, the Venmo app offers a second alternative. Like Zelle, Venmo is free to use. The Venmo id to use is also lance@leighnoraircraft.com

If there are any questions about how to Zelle or Venmo money to Leighnor Aircraft LLC, please contact us via email at flying@leighnoraircraft.com, text message at 928-499-3080, or call us during business hours at 928-499-3080.

A credit card surcharge is an add-on charge that Leighnor Aircraft LLC adds to invoices. This surcharge occurs when a credit card is used to pay the invoice.

What many customers do not know is that credit card companies charge the business owner to process the credit card. The cost to the business is 3 to 4 percent of the transaction.

The surcharge is to control costs and to avoid prices increases.

The surcharge depends on if the card is swiped at the office or is processed electronically. If swiping a card at the office, the surcharge amount is 2.04% of the sales price plus .25. If the card is stored electronically, the surcharge is 3.04% of the sales price plus .25.

To avoid the surcharge, customers can pay by check, cash, or alternative electronic payment methods such as Zelle and Venmo. See our FAQ on Zelle and Venmo payments to learn more about these methods of payment.

Yes. As of July 15, 2023, renters’ insurance with at least $5,000 of coverage for physical damage to non-owned aircraft is required to schedule or dispatch our aircraft.

As of July 15, 2023, Leighnor Aircraft LLC will require renter’s insurance to rent our aircraft with at least $5,000 coverage for damage to non-owned aircraft.

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

Insurance deductibles are the money paid first before any claim reimbursement is made. Our aircraft policy as of 5/1/2022 has a $2,500 in-motion accident deductible and a $2,500 not in-motion accident deductible. The renting pilot or their renter’s insurance is liable for this deductible.

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 LLC strongly recommends aviation renter’s 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.

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 purchase money on account, the purchase adds credits to your Flight Schedule Pro account to reduce the hourly rental rate.

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

However, if you’re in Wings Above Yavapai, you are consuming those hours at the Wings Above Yavapai 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 or dues 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.

No, W-A-Y is a monthly membership that reduces the cost of flying for members because hourly rates are less.

You get the lowest aircraft rental rates by being a member in W-A-Y.

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.

1. Sign in to your Flight Schedule Pro account.
2. From your Dashboard page, click on the blue “My Profile” button.
3. When the profile displays, click on the blue drop-down labeled “Account Settings”; select the “Payment Methods” menu selection.
4. A dialog to add a credit card opens.
5. Enter the credit card information and save the card.

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.

There is a surcharge cost for using a credit card. To avoid this surcharge you can pay by using cash, a check, Zelle, PayPal or Venmo.

Contact the front desk to get setup with one of our FAA certified flight instructors to schedule your flying lessons.

Flight Schedule Pro maintains a record of every transaction and every flight flown. 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
4. Each of the above menus can be expanded to show the information under each menu.

For any given flight, there are three operations a pilot will need to do:

• Schedule
• Checkout
• Checkin

Schedule

To schedule a flight, 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.

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

Sign in to your Flight Schedule Pro account and go to your reservation on the schedule. Click the “View” button to view the reservation details.

There will be a blue “Checkout” button. Click the “Checkout” button and the checkout dialog will open. Always verify that the start hours match the actual hours on the aircraft for Hobbs and Tach Time.

Checkin

Sign in to your Flight Schedule Pro account and go to your reservation on the schedule. Click the “View” button to view the reservation details.

There will be a blue “Checkin” button. Click the “Checkin” button and the checkin dialog will open.

There will be entry fields for the ending Hobbs and Tach Time. Enter these values and complete the dialog.

There is a link to the sign-on page of Flight Schedule Pro in the footer of every page on the website. You can also access the same link via the Aircraft menu on the website.

There is also a link, fsp.leighnoraircraft.com that will take you directly to the Flight Schedule Pro log in page.

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, unlock the realtor lockbox hanging 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 box mounted to the wall. Unlock the key box, retrieve your aircraft key then lock it. Note the whiteboard in the building above the key box will tell you the location of your aircraft and what oil the aircraft uses. Next, take the metal board assigned to your aircraft which is located on the shelf. As you leave the building make sure to lock the building and place the key in the realtor lockbox. Proceed to your aircraft, either on the South Ramp or the aircraft’s hangar.

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

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 based at the Cottonwood Municipal Airport Terminal. To enter the office, there is a lockbox on the sliding glass door of the office. Open the lockbox to get the key to unlock the sliding glass door. Inside the office is a lockbox for aircraft keys.

Aircraft based at Cottonwood are parked immediately outside the terminal.

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

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

At Cottonwood, there are spare headsets in the file cabinet. At Prescott, spare headsets are at the dispatch desk in our office.

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

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

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

Absolutely you should always report problems! 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.

When a squawk is submitted, the aircraft will always be grounded until a mechanic reviews the squawk and makes the appropriate airworthiness decision about whether or not the aircraft should be grounded.

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:

1. Fly with no more than five passengers.
2. Fly an aircraft under 6,000 lbs maximum certificated takeoff weight.
3. Fly an aircraft that is authorized to carry no more than 6 occupants.
4. 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).
5. You may not fly for compensation or hire.

1. Be sure you have a CMEC that shows that your most recent physical examination was within the past 48 months.
2. Be sure you are being treated by a physician for medical conditions that can affect the safety of flight.
3. Be sure you have a course completion certificate that was issued by an approved medical training course provider within the past 24 calendar months.

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