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Billing ground time

Asked by: 3633 views General Aviation

A question for CFIs.  What protocol do you use for billing ground time?  I start the clock when the student walks in the door, and the clock ends when I hand the billing forms to the dispatcher.  Anything after that is gratis.  What do other CFI's do?

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3 Answers



  1. John D Collins on Nov 13, 2013

    I charge the same for ground and flight time. I use my watch. I use an hourly rate of $75 and a day rate of $450.

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  2. Wes Beard on Nov 14, 2013

    I have always started billing the time scheduled to start. If we are supposed to start at 2pm and the client shows up 5 mins early I don’t worry about that time. I was usually with another student anyways.

    I’m not one of those that felt the client should pay for me to fill out the paperwork at the end of the session. Although, important and required I never charged them for that. I stopped the clock when the ground school lesson was complete.

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  3. Jim MacKay on Nov 22, 2013

    I’m with Wes. I start the billing when scheduled with the client and start talking about aviation. The clock ends when I complete the log book entry.
    I’m fairly liberal on times, and if the individual simply wants to talk aviation (airplane purchase, airports visited etc.) this in not billable. The up side to this practice is that the client perceives he is getting good value and generally results is positive referrals.
    I also do not bill for questions asked on the phone. I encourage phone calls, but frankly in the 10 years I have been instructing I have only received 2 calls relating to flight training questions.

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