Straight answers before you book.

No. Most students arrive having never flown an airplane. Your first lesson is a Discovery Flight, and a Certificated Flight Instructor is beside you on dual controls the whole time.

A Discovery Flight is a real first lesson in a Cessna 172 from Anderson Regional Airport. You take the controls with an instructor beside you. It costs $200, the time goes in your logbook, and you don’t have to sign up for anything afterward.

Yes. The Cessna 172 is one of the most widely used and forgiving training airplanes in the world, and ours are kept in excellent condition. Your instructor sits beside you with a full set of controls on every training flight until you’re ready to solo.

It depends most on how often you fly, so we quote each student individually instead of publishing a best-case number. The first step, a Discovery Flight, is $200. Call 864-720-3163 for a quote based on your schedule.

It depends on how often you fly. Under Part 61 the FAA minimum for the Private Pilot License is 40 flight hours. Students who fly consistently finish sooner, and career students can train full time. We fly seven days a week, which makes a steady schedule easier to keep.

Not for your first lessons. You will need an FAA medical certificate before you fly solo, which is issued by an FAA-designated Aviation Medical Examiner. It’s a good idea to get it early in your training.

You’ll train in Cessna 172s. They share the same model year and the same modern avionics, so you can move from one to another without relearning the cockpit. The fleet is growing.

Palmetto Sky is a Part 61 school. Part 61 lets training fit your schedule and pace, and every lesson still follows the school’s own structured syllabus.

Not through the school, because Palmetto Sky doesn’t offer financing. What we can do is quote your training up front so you can plan. AOPA and EAA both offer flight-training scholarships that are worth applying for.

We’re at Anderson Regional Airport (KAND), 5805 Airport Rd., Anderson, SC 29626. Students come to us from across Upstate South Carolina and Upstate Georgia.

Yes. We train private, instrument, commercial, CFI and CFII pilots, which are the certificates a professional pilot needs. Career students can train full time with full-time career instructors.

Call 864-720-3163 or send us a message, and we’ll call you back to talk about your goals. The first step in the airplane is a $200 Discovery Flight.

We fly several identical Cessna 172s, and more are planned soon. If one is down for maintenance you move to another and the lesson goes ahead, so one airplane doesn’t hold up your training.

Not always, and that doesn’t matter. Every airplane is a Cessna 172 of the same model year with the same avionics, so switching between them is easy.

Palmetto Sky doesn’t offer financing, so there is no school plan to cover anything. If you use an outside loan or a scholarship, check its terms. Some cover only flight time and instruction and leave out books, a headset, the medical and FAA exam fees.

We fly out of Anderson Regional Airport, identifier KAND, at 5805 Airport Rd. in Anderson, South Carolina.