Tamarack Air

Tamarack Air Flight School offers an excellent flight training program. Our instructors emphasize stick and rudder skills, navigation, and good aeronautical decision making.  Flight training is a partnership between student and instructor, and we welcome students who are committed to learn, who are willing and able to spend time studying and preparing for each flight lesson, and who will strive for professionalism in their flying.  Together, we will insure that you become a safe and skillful pilot.

Tamarack Air Flight School offers training to obtain a private pilot certificate and Instrument rating.  In addition we provide flight reviews and recurrent training.

Our three instructors work for the joy of flying and the reward of teaching someone else to fly.  They all have had long aviation careers in Alaska, and are not motivated by building flight hours for the next job promotion.

We limit our number of students so our instructors can focus on providing consistent and individualized instruction.  You will be spending countless hours with your instructor during both flight and ground training, and it is very important that the two of you have a comfortable and productive relationship.  Therefore we urge prospective students to interview and carefully evaluate potential instructors.

Students will not be bounced among our instructors, but will have the same primary instructor from the first lesson to the last one before their check ride.  Occassionally, however, another instructor will fly with a student for a progress check or specialized training.

Tamarack Air instructors have been flying a total of 100 years, and they will incorporate many of their flight experiences into realistic training scenarios during each lesson.  Although there are no guarantees, it's noteworthy that in recent years all Tamarack Air students passed their private pilot check ride on the first attempt.

Francie CFII	Francie is qualified to provide all instruction through instrument ratings.  She has been an instructor in Fairbanks since 1986, was named State of Alaska 2002 Flight Instructor of the Year, and is a FAA designated examiner.  Francie owns the Cessna 150 used by Tamarack Air Flight School.
Vickie CFI	Vickie has a long and varied aviation career in Fairbanks as pilot, aviation business woman, aircraft maintenance specialist, and flight instructor.  Vickie and her husband own and operate Tamarack Air, and currently own 3 personal aircraft.
John CFI	John retired after 32 years as a biologist and pilot for the Alaska Department of Fish and Game, flying primarily Piper PA-18, Cessna 185, and DeHavilland Beaver aircraft.  He and his wife have owned the same Cessna 180 for 25 years.

The Flight School operates a Cessna 150 for both primary and instrument training.  It receives excellent and timely maintenance on site by Tamarack Air.

In recent years the flight school Cessna 150 rented for $110 per hour including fuel, and instructors costs $60 per hour for both flight instruction and ground instruction.  These rates will remain unchanged if fuel and other business costs remain stable. 

We are often asked how much it costs to become a private pilot.  Learing to fly is not inexpensive.  Everyone learns at different rates.  In our experience, costs are primarily determined both by how much time the student is willing and able to commit to home study and preparing for each lesson, and by a regular training schedule of 3-5 lessons per week.  We encourage students to plan on completing their training and taking their check ride in no longer than 3-6 months.  Flight training costs for our private pilot students who are able to follow this schedule are typically $9000 to $11,000.

However, our instructors will work with each student to develop a training schedule that is most efficient and cost effective for you.