Flight Training with an Adventurous Spirit
The Flight School at Colorado Springs provides diverse, affordable, accelerated and comprehensive training for career pilots.
For decades, flight training has followed a fairly rigid path. While there’s certainly value in traditional structures, our training outline seeks to improve a student’s journey from Discovery Flight to Airline Transport Pilot by prioritizing common sense training, critical thinking skills and mastery of aircraft.
- Accelerated Training
- Time Building
- Adventure Flight Training
Our focus on affordability and time-building also makes our operation an attractive option for those seeking an adventurous path to 1500 hours.
With proper planning and diligent effort combined with our time-split programs and pre-pay packages, a pilot can ascend from Discovery Flight To Airline Transport Pilot in as little as 16 months for only $150,000.
Take a Discovery Flight!
719-359-5644
We believe the best way to learn is to teach. Students in our programs become teachers much earlier in the process, making them leaders in their own aviation education.
Meet Our Team
Chauncey Crail
Chief Flight Instructor
The founder of The Flight School at Colorado Springs, Chauncey instructs with primary, instrument, commercial, CFI students and beyond. He specializes in accelerated and career-oriented training.
Shellby Benefield
Director of Operations
No one knows for sure, but legend has it Shellby was raised by coyotes in the backwoods of Alabama. Her ascension to the skies was thanks in large part to her engineering and tutoring backgrounds.
Pat Ellis
Assistant Chief Flight Instructor
Pat Ellis’ extensive experience in general and military aviation as a pilot, instructor pilot and examiner provides students at The Flight School with excellent experience-based instruction and examination.
Jason Tabor
Senior Flight Instructor
Jason Tabor’s extensive airline experience helps provide guidance to those students interested in a career at the airlines. When he’s not piloting a Boeing 777 to all corners of the world, Jason enjoys teaching his kids to fly.
Evan McCroskey
Senior Flight Instructor
Evan’s extensive background in flight training spans Part 141 and Part 61 operations, and his Military and professional backgrounds help him serve students of many backgrounds. A CFII and MEI, Evan offers both primary and advanced training.
Brandy Donaldson
Senior Flight Instructor
Brandy Donaldson’s extensive charter, tour and mountain flying experience lends itself well to teaching students to fly among the Rocky Mountains with The Flight School at Colorado Springs.
The Beloved Fleet
N126TJ - "TJ"
- Pipistrel Alpha Trainer
- $129/Hour, Wet
- 80hp, Dual-Carbureted
- VFR/IFR
COMING OCTOBER 1! A factory-new 2024 Pipistrel Alpha Trainer, TJ was developed by a NASA-award-winning company originally known for producing gliders. Its full-glass cockpit, flight director, WAAS GPS and SLSA status make it an excellent training platform and its ballistic parachute, 15:1 glide ratio and 18,000 ft ceiling make it safer than older training aircraft.
Frequently Asked Questions
Becoming a pilot can be a daunting task, but our friendly operations team is happy to answer your questions. Feel free to give us a call anytime.
- Timeline
- Pricing
- Safety
Yes. There’s no way around the simple fact that flight training is expensive. The cost of aircraft, parts, fuel, insurance, maintenance, hangars, operations and flight instruction all contribute to high rental prices.
We do our best to keep prices low—our Operations team works from home and instructors often teach ground virtually, as well. This saves you money on drive time to and from the airport when you won’t be flying and on the overhead other schools charge to maintain classrooms and other office space.
You can become a Private Pilot in as little as a month with the right preparation and planning, but a more realistic expectation is two to four months. To become a flight instructor, you can expect a minimum of six to eight months. Airline-job readiness typically takes at least 14 to 18 months.
Maintenance and weather weigh heavily on the ability to train quickly, but our schedules are built and managed to allow you to progress as quickly as feasible. We assign schedules and keep a close watch on student progress to ensure the system moves smoothly forward.
We highly recommend students take time off work and other responsibilities to dedicate themselves to flight training, but we do not require it.
One major way to accelerate your training is to eat, breathe and sleep aviation. The more time and attention you spend on other things, the less quickly you’ll progress.
Taking time off between ratings is easier at more advanced levels or after stage checks, so we encourage students to plan and budget both time and money for at least an entire certificate or rating at once.
With flight training in such high demand, we’re committed to ensuring our students make the most of the experience we provide. In order to help you be successful, we’d like to ensure you’re well-prepared for the intensity and the commitment of our flight training programs.
Yes! You can fly-as-you-go through whatever training you like. Our prices are designed to help facilitate accelerated training, but you can benefit by scheduling whenever there’s available space!
For those tired of flying laps around the same nearby airports, we offer specialized cross-country training. Hire your instructor by the day, get a bulk discount on flight hours and take an airplane to Cancún, Alaska, Maine or the Bahamas while learning to fly by instruments, learning to handle advanced routing, terrain or other conditions.
Diverse experience makes better pilots and what better way to become a great pilot than fly somewhere new—with an instructor to help you out, of course!
Flight Training Adventures
Our sibling program, Flight Training Adventures, handles the travel bookings and other details associated with destination or adventure flight training.
