The reason to train with an independent instructor
Home base
Falcon Field (KFFZ), Mesa
Falcon Field sits on the northeast side of Mesa, about fifteen minutes from Gilbert and half an hour from Chandler and Queen Creek. It is a towered field with two parallel runways, so from your first lesson you are talking to ATC and operating in a busy environment. The radio is the part most students dread. Learning it from the start means you are not picking it up later during instrument training, or on your own after you finish training.
The location does the same thing for everything else. Practice areas open up within minutes to the north and east, the Superstition Mountains give you terrain to work with, and Phoenix Class B is close enough that airspace stops being a diagram and becomes something you plan around. High density altitude airports are a day trip away,
so mountain flying and degraded aircraft performance are things you go experience instead of things you read about. Head north in winter and you find snow, ice, cold starts and contaminated runways, none of which you will see down here.
Certificates, ratings and checkrides
Training is built around you and the aircraft you fly. The hours below are the FAA minimums, but almost nobody finishes in exactly that number, and there is nothing wrong with taking longer.
Private Pilot
The entry-level certificate that lets you fly for your own travel and carry passengers. The FAA minimum is 40 hours; most people finish somewhere between 60 and 75, and that is completely normal.
Overview of FAA minimums
- 40 hours total flight time
- 20 hours of dual instruction
- 10 hours of solo flight
- 3 hours of cross-country training
- 3 hours of night training, including a 100 NM cross-country
- 3 hours of basic instrument training
- A solo cross-country of 150 NM with landings at three points
Instrument Rating
Learn to fly in cloud and low visibility on instruments alone. It is the single biggest jump in safety, skill and usefulness you will make as a pilot.
Overview of FAA minimums
- 50 hours of cross-country pilot-in-command time, at least 10 of them in airplanes
- 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time
- 15 hours of instrument instruction from a CFII
- A 250 NM cross-country along airways or an ATC-directed routing
Commercial Pilot
The certificate that lets you be paid to fly, and the one that pushes you closest to mastering the airplane, because the maneuvers are held to tighter tolerances.
Overview of FAA minimums
- 250 hours total flight time
- 100 hours as pilot-in-command, including 50 hours cross-country
- 20 hours of training, including 10 hours of instrument time
- 10 hours in a complex, turbine, or technically advanced aircraft
- A 300 NM solo cross-country with landings at three points
- 5 solo hours of night VFR with 10 takeoffs and landings at a towered airport
Flight Review
Not a test. I build it around flying that helps you in the real world instead of repeating maneuvers you already know how to do. You should walk away feeling like a better pilot, not like you just checked a box.
What it involves
- A minimum of 1 hour of ground instruction
- A minimum of 1 hour of flight instruction
- A review of the Part 91 general operating rules
- Maneuvers and procedures suited to your certificate and aircraft
Instrument Proficiency Check
If your instrument currency has run out, or you have been away from the gauges long enough to feel it, an IPC puts you back in the clouds safely and legally. Expect approaches, holds, and emergency procedures.
What it involves
- Required once you are more than six months past your currency window
- Flown to the Instrument Rating ACS standards
- Holding procedures, plus intercepting and tracking courses
- Precision, non-precision, circling, and partial-panel approaches
- Unusual attitude recovery and partial-panel work
Endorsements & Other Training
Aircraft checkouts, transition training, refreshers, and anything else that does not fit a neat category. If you are not sure whether I can help with something, just ask.
Commonly requested
- High performance and complex aircraft endorsements
- Tailwheel endorsement
- Insurance checkouts and transitions into a newly bought aircraft
- Cross-country mentoring and confidence building
- Density altitude, desert and mountain flying awareness
- Rusty pilot refreshers
Hour requirements are summarized from 14 CFR Part 61 for general guidance only. They are subject to change at any time. Always confirm current requirements with the FAA. Checkride standards are published in the FAA Airman Certification Standards.
Simple, transparent pricing
You pay me for instruction. We arrange the aircraft separately and pay the owner or flight school directly. There is no package to buy into and no minimum block of hours.
In a Cessna 172, a Piper Cherokee, or in your own aircraft.
Briefings and debriefings, checkride preparation, and endorsement reviews.
Rented directly from a local flight school or owner at their published rate. I do not mark it up or take a cut.
Aircraft rental is not included and is arranged independently through a local flight school or aircraft owner. Rates are current as of publication and subject to change; nothing on this page is a quote or a contract.
Aircraft
Cessna 172s and Piper Cherokees
Most training happens in a Cessna 172 or a Piper Cherokee. The 172 has taught more people to fly than any other airplane, and the Cherokee family, including the Warrior and the Archer, is just as well understood. Both are forgiving, both are available on the field, and either one will get you to a checkride.
Rental at Falcon Field runs around $100 an hour dry, so budget for fuel on top of that. Figure roughly $150 to $170 an hour all in, though the exact number moves with fuel prices.
I am also glad to instruct in your own aircraft. If you own or share something, get in touch and we will work through
what your insurer requires and what I need on my end to instruct in it.
About the instructor
Christian DeMeo, CFII
I'm Christian DeMeo.
I knew from my first flight at ten that this was what I was going to do for the rest of my life. I started training at fifteen, soloed at sixteen, and had my private certificate at seventeen.
What I like about instructing is watching someone turn into a pilot who doesn't need me. There's a point in training where a student stops asking what to do next and starts telling me, and getting somebody there is what I care about. I'd rather turn out one pilot who's ready for the responsibility that comes with a new certificate than three who hit the minimums as fast as possible and moved on to the next one.
The standard I hold is simple: I want you flying well enough that I'd put my own family in the airplane with you.
If you're thinking about starting, or picking it back up after time away, call or text and we'll talk through what it would take.
Views from the cockpit
Pictures from training and cross-countries: aerobatic training, an airplane graveyard, the Carolina coast, Mount Rushmore, downtown Charlotte, and Kitty Hawk, NC, where aviation began with the Wright brothers.
Let's get you flying
Call, text, or send a note and I will get back to you within a day. Tell me what you are working toward and we will put together a plan that fits your schedule.
- Call or text 631-416-6724
- Email cdemeo.cfi@gmail.com
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Home base
Falcon Field Airport (KFFZ)
Mesa, Arizona - Availability Seven days a week. Early morning and evening slots available
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