However you want to fly.
First lesson, first solo, back in the air after years away, or the last stretch to a commercial certificate. One instructor, whichever one it is.
Same instructor, every lesson.What can you train for here?
Everything below is taught one-on-one under Part 61, at the field closest to you. Most lessons start at Hicks Airfield or Northwest Regional in Roanoke.
Discovery flight
Your first hour at the controls, from the left seat. It is lesson one, not a ride, and it logs toward your certificate.
Book the first hour
Learn to fly
Start from zero and earn your private certificate, one lesson at a time, all the way to the day you fly solo and past it.
See the path
Flight review
Already have your certificate but have been on the ground a while? Get current again, usually in a single day. No pass or fail.
Get current
Instrument rating and IPC
Fly in the clouds on instruments, and instrument proficiency checks to get your currency back after time away.
See the IFR trainer
Commercial training
The maneuvers, the landings and the oral that stand between an instrument rated pilot near 250 hours and getting paid to fly.
Go commercial
Multi-engine rating
Add the multi-engine class rating and the complex endorsement in a 2018 Tecnam P2006T twin with a Garmin G950 glass cockpit and retractable gear, $415 an hour wet.
Meet the twinTwo rates. That is it.
The same for every kind of training and at every field. No packages, no deposits, no minimums. The airplane is $165 an hour wet in any Rotax trainer and $415 in the Tecnam twin, and every tail is on the fleet page.
You agree to every hour before it happens.
Four things I tell every student.
None of this is in the syllabus. All of it will save you money.
- The cheapest hour is the one you never repeat. Fly twice a week if you can. Skills fade between lessons, and after a two week gap the first part of the next lesson goes to getting back where you were.
- Fly the airplane in a kitchen chair. Sit down with the checklist and talk through the flows, the radio calls and the traffic pattern out loud. It costs nothing, and it is the fastest way to make the real airplane feel slower.
- Listen before you talk. Stream the tower at a busy nearby field on LiveATC during your drive. Once you know what the controller will say next, the radio stops being the scary part.
- Book the next lesson before you leave the airport. The students who finish are the ones who never walk off the ramp without the next date on the calendar.
Need an airplane moved instead? Ferry flights, purchase deliveries and maintenance runs are handled by Settle Ferry Group.
Common questions.
The things people ask before their first call. If yours is not here, ask me directly.
What flight training does Settle Aviation offer in Dallas Fort Worth?
Settle Aviation is one private flight instructor, Sam Settle, CFI, teaching under Part 61 around the Dallas Fort Worth metroplex. The work covers discovery flights for people who have never flown, full private pilot training from the first lesson to the checkride, instrument ratings and instrument proficiency checks, commercial training for pilots close to 250 hours, multi-engine ratings, and flight reviews and passenger currency for pilots who have been on the ground a while. Checkouts in the airplanes I teach in are available too, so you can rent them solo afterward, and every lesson happens at the field closest to you, usually Hicks Airfield or Northwest Regional in Roanoke. Two things are not offered: flight instructor certificates, and time building. Aircraft ferry flights are run by Settle Ferry Group. Instruction is 75 dollars an hour in the air and 50 dollars an hour on the ground.
How do airplane rental and instruction work with Settle Aviation?
The airplane and the instruction are billed separately, which is why the two numbers are always shown apart. The fleet is seven glass-panel airplanes: four Van's RV-12s, two of them 2023 RV-12iS trainers equipped for instrument flight, a Dynamic WT-9, a Czech Sport Aircraft SportCruiser, and a Tecnam P2006T twin for multi-engine training. The Rotax-powered trainers rent for 165 dollars an hour wet, with fuel included, and the twin for 415 dollars an hour wet. My instruction is 75 dollars an hour in the air and 50 on the ground. The current numbers, tail numbers, avionics and photos are all on the fleet page. Every airplane is available to rent on your own once you finish a checkout. If you already own or rent an airplane, we can train in yours instead, and then you pay for instruction only.
Do you sell flight training packages or block time?
No. There are no packages, no block purchases, no deposits and no minimum commitments. You pay for the hours you actually use, as you use them, at 75 dollars an hour for flight instruction and 50 dollars an hour on the ground. The airplane is billed separately: 165 dollars an hour wet for the Rotax trainers, 415 for the Tecnam twin. That structure matters more than it looks. A prepaid package locks money into one school and one schedule, and if work or family gets in the way for a month, the money sits there while your skills fade. Paying by the hour means nothing is trapped, and nobody has a reason to push you toward more hours than you need. Before any lesson you know what it covers and roughly how long it will take, and you agree to every hour before it happens, so the invoice is never a surprise.