The Journey from the Classroom to the Cockpit

By Ella Holt

For the past 15 years, St. Charles Flying Service has been guiding aspiring pilots from its small airport in Portage De Sioux, Missouri. Established in the 1940s, the school operates with a fleet of 15 planes and 13 dedicated flight instructors, offering students the chance to soar above St. Charles and beyond.

As a Part 141 flight school, St. Charles Flying Service is FAA approved and stands as one of only two such schools in Missouri. But what truly sets it apart is its commitment to flexibility and affordability. Chief Flight Instructor Jordan Bryant explains, “A lot of the time, whenever you are doing a flight school, they are expecting you to be basically making your full-time job to be a student with the flight school. The difference between them and us is that we work with the schedule that you have. We try to fit our time in so that we are not negatively impacting your jobs or your work-life balance with your family or anything else like that.”

Financial accessibility is another cornerstone of the program. Owner Dennis Bampton, who has over 50 years of experience in aviation, notes, “If you go over to ATP (flight school), that is all they do. They train pilots. It costs you $150,000 to $180,000 to do what you want to do. Whereas you can do that same thing at a school like ours for under $60,000. To get all the way to commercial, going by the pure minimums of everything, $55,000 is what we are expecting with $60,000 being for checkride expenses and whatnot as well.”

Instructors at St. Charles Flying Service typically arrive with at least 250 hours of flight experience, aiming to build the 1,500 to 2,000 hours required for airline positions. However, many, like Bryant, choose to stay and teach, ensuring students receive a curriculum designed for success. “We try to scaffold the information so that when the student is ready for their final certification, they are able to basically have all the tools they need to be able to succeed,” Bryant says.

When students are ready to advance, the school streamlines the check ride process. “There's about five examiners in the metropolitan area, but we have one that works exclusively with us giving check rides,” Bampton shares. “Because what happens is a student goes through the program, and they meet certain criteria, and when they meet that criteria and their instructor feels that they are ready to take a check ride, they have taken their written test, they passed their written test, now they're ready for a check ride.” Currently, the school averages about one check ride per day.

Beyond flight training, St. Charles Flying Service also maintains and inspects aircraft, a process that can take anywhere from 15 to over 100 hours depending on the plane. The organization fosters community through monthly social events for students and aviation enthusiasts alike.

To make flying more accessible, the school has offered Groupons for nearly a decade, providing over 16,000 introductory flying lessons. “It's quite an accomplishment to fly an airplane. It's different. You get up there and it's like, ‘I'm by myself in this airplane,’” Bampton reflects.

Interested in taking flight? Call 636-946-6066 or visit stcharlesflyingservice.com for more information.