Robert M. Gary wrote:

Most pre-private students go into a rage if you try to charge them
while they preflight and you drink coffee in the office, but the truth
is, you can't do anything else with that time and they booked you.

My private instructor explained on day one that non-flying time would be
billed as "ground instruction" to fill the difference between the Hobbs
and day clock. Students are instructed that preflighting, fueling,
finding a pencil, draining the lizard, etc... are done before the lesson
is scheduled to start. In other words, you are paying for the block you
booked, it's up to you to use it.

Since all of this was laid out so clearly in writing, I've never heard
of anyone arguing about it. As a PP student, I was always ready to go
10 minutes or so before lesson start, except once. That one time, they
cut me some slack and didn't bill me for time I wasn't being instructed.


On the other hand, my instrument instructor was a free lancer (the same
guy as my PP, now self-employed) who I met at commuter parking lots via
car, or various airports for lessons. I'd drive and get ground
instruction for free. G Another time, I picked him up from an island
and flew him to his home base, so he could retrieve his plane and fly it
back to the island. I did the portions with him under the hood and in
some actual, flew IFR approaches, etc... for the cost of my gas.