How to Save Money on Your Helicopter Ratings

In these trying economic times, everyone wants to save money. Your flight school should work hard to save you money. Unfortunately, this is not usually the case. Flight schools want you to pay for hours on their machines. They also want you to pay for every minute of their instructor time. This can cost you thousands of extra dollars for your private rating alone.

North Andover Flight Academy is more than a helicopter flight school. We are a busy maintenance facility and commercial operator. Our instructors work hard to give you the most for your flight training dollars. We also have the best Robinson helicopter rates in the area - we operate R22 and instrument equipped R44 helicopters.

We have several ways to save you money, here are a few:

No pre/post flight breifing charge

Many schools charge up to .4 hours for pre/post flight briefing per lesson. Many times this is a "hidden" addition to your rating costs, and many times this is even charged when the instructor is not present. We spend the time before and after the flight, and do not require you to foot the bill. This can add up to over $600 when using the "other" school rate of $55/hour ground instruction.

Ground School

Some schools want you to pay for their instructor downtime. They do this in the form of "personalized" instruction, or 1 on 1. While this is beneficial for some training, you SHOULD NOT pay for 40 hours of this personalized training. Your school of choice should have an organized classroom helicopter ground school, such as we have here at North Andover Flight Academy. Our ground school costs thousands of dollars less than the other schools personalized instruction. You learn in a group setting, from experienced commercial pilots at a much reduced rate - this adds up to a cost savings of $1850.

Ferry Flights

As a busy maintenance facility for the largest Robinson Leasing Company in the country, we have helicopters which are ferried from various locations. At times, these helicopters are available at an extremely reduced cost to our students. You may have the opportunity to gain valuable flight time with an instructor at half the normal retail rate. Though these opportunities are limited, they are available.

Fixed Wing Training

Many of our instructors are experienced, dual rated instrument instructors. We can offer you an instrument rating for thousands of dollars less than our competitors. Utilizing our mixed fleet of aircraft, this can save you over $3000 dollars on your instrument rating.

Other Student Opportunities

We always offer students the chance to "ride along" when training in our fixed-wing or R44 helicopter. This allows students to become familiar with other flight tasks, such as listening to radio communications and reading charts. Invaluable experience for our students at no cost.

Save Money At North Andover Flight Academy

Train in the Boston Mass area with our flight school and reap the benefits of a busy flight school and maintenance facility. We train helicopter and fixed wing pilots and save you money while providing quality training. Call us for more information at 978-689-7600.