Level Flight Aviation

Flight training

Learn to fly without the drive.

Primary flight instruction at Russell County Airport, from your first lesson through your checkride. The same instructor the whole way, so nobody has to re-learn where you are each time.

Ask about training

K24 · RUSSELL COUNTY AIRPORT

New home
VFR

calm · 10+ miles
sky not reported · 73°F

Reported 5:15 pm · AWOS-3P 119.6

How the training actually goes

A private pilot certificate isn't a course with a fixed end date. It's a set of things you have to be able to do, and a written exam, and a practical test with an examiner. You get there when you can do them.

Stage 1

Before you go solo

The basics of controlling the aircraft, then takeoffs and landings until they're consistent, plus what to do when things go wrong. This is where most of the early hours go. You'll need a student pilot certificate and an FAA medical before you can fly on your own.

Stage 2

Solo, and then cross-country

First solo is the day people remember. After that the work shifts to navigation — planning and flying to airports you haven't been to, first with an instructor and then by yourself.

Stage 3

Night, instruments and the test

Night flying, basic instrument work, and then polishing every manoeuvre to the standard the examiner tests against. There's a written knowledge exam somewhere in here too, which you study for on the ground.

On hours and cost. The FAA minimum for a private pilot certificate is 40 hours, but the honest national average is closer to 60–75. Anyone who quotes you a fixed total before they've flown with you is guessing. Call and we'll walk you through what it looks like for you.

Why the field matters more than you'd think

Flight training is the one thing that gets harder the further away it is. Lessons get cancelled for weather constantly — that's normal and it isn't anyone's fault. What matters is what a cancellation costs you.

If the field is twenty minutes away, a scrubbed lesson costs you twenty minutes and you go again on Thursday. If it's two hours away, it costs you a whole day, and after that happens three times most people quietly stop booking. That's the single most common reason people don't finish.

Russell County Airport is also uncontrolled and quiet, so you're not burning paid time holding short behind a line of traffic waiting for a clearance.

Field details and frequencies

What you'll need

  • To start: nothing. Book a discovery flight and go up.
  • To fly solo: a student pilot certificate and an FAA medical certificate, which you get from an Aviation Medical Examiner.
  • To be tested: at least 17 years old, able to read, speak and understand English, the required aeronautical experience, and a passing score on the written knowledge exam.

We'll tell you when each of these needs to happen. Nobody expects you to arrive knowing this.

If you already fly

Flight reviews, checkouts and getting current again after time off are all things we can help with. Call and say where you're at.

Rates. Instruction and aircraft rates aren't published on the site yet. Call (270) 634-4974 for current numbers.

Start with a discovery flight