Program length
11 to 14 months
Become a pilot with Thrust Flight.
Question 1
What are your aviation goals?
Graduated
82% of 2024–25 starts
Degree needed
None
High school diploma or GED
Next class
October 19
82%
Of everyone who started in 2024 and 2025, this many graduated
Thrust records · 308 of 376 resolved starts
13 mo
Median time from zero hours to graduation
Thrust records · 311 graduates since January 2024
48
Graduates now instructing here, on payroll
Thrust records · September 2026
A Dallas flight school, and five more like it.
Thrust Flight is an FAA Part 141 pilot school headquartered at Addison Airport, just north of Dallas. The same Zero Time to Airline program runs at five more campuses: Denison and Fort Worth Spinks in North Texas, Conroe for the Houston area, Falcon Field in Mesa for Phoenix, and Newport News in Virginia. Every campus flies the same syllabus, the same Piper fleet and the same start dates, and Thrust holds FAA examining authority, so checkrides are scheduled in house rather than waiting on an outside examiner. You can start with no flight experience and no college degree. Compare the six campuses, or see what flight school costs.
Start with nothing.
Zero Time to Airline starts at zero hours, with no aviation background or college requirement. The published entry bar is eighteen years old, a high-school diploma or GED, and an FAA medical certificate.
First-attempt written exam and checkride fees are inside the price. Thrust holds FAA examining authority under Part 141 certificate 3USS960L, which is why a checkride here is scheduled in days rather than months.
How the program works→
Bring what you already have.
Out of a Part 141 school, up to half a course credits across. Out of anywhere else, up to a quarter. Into a Part 61 course, every hour you have flown counts against the minimum. A chief pilot reads the logbook before anything is priced, so the number you are quoted is for the training you actually still need.
First-attempt written exam and checkride fees are inside the price. Thrust holds FAA examining authority under Part 141 certificate 3USS960L, which is why the checkride is scheduled here in days rather than months — usually the thing that stalled you somewhere else.
Have a chief pilot read my logbook→
Two programs, both priced in public.
Zero Time to Airline 2
Zero hours to a paid flying job. Finishes with the instructor ratings most graduates use to build the 1,500 hours an airline needs.
$1,244/mo$120,000 all in · 11 to 14 months
Estimate at 9.38% over 15 years, nothing down
Estimate at 9.38% over 15 years, nothing down
- Private Pilot
- Instrument Rating
- Commercial Single-Engine
- Commercial Multi-Engine
- Certificated Flight Instructor
- CFI Instrument
Zero Time to Airline 1
The same start, stopping at commercial. Right if you are heading for charter, corporate or cargo rather than instructing.
$1,053/mo$101,500 all in · 8 to 10 months
Estimate at 9.38% over 15 years, nothing down
Estimate at 9.38% over 15 years, nothing down
- Private Pilot
- Instrument Rating
- Commercial Single-Engine
- Commercial Multi-Engine
- Certificated Flight Instructor, not included
- CFI Instrument, not included
Six Thrust Flight campuses.
Addison, TX
Addison Airport · KADS
Main campus. 13 miles north of downtown Dallas, 16 northeast of DFW, 11 north of Love Field.
Denison, TX
North Texas Regional Airport · KGYI
Wide-open practice areas and a quiet pattern, 20 minutes' flight north of Addison.
Conroe, TX
Conroe / North Houston Regional Airport · KCXO
Near The Woodlands and Houston, with practice areas outside the busiest airspace.
Fort Worth, TX
Fort Worth Spinks Airport · KFWS
South Fort Worth, at Spinks. The west side of the Metroplex without the Addison drive.
Mesa, AZ
Falcon Field · KFFZ
East Valley of Phoenix. Desert practice areas and flyable weather almost every day of the year.
Newport News, VA
Newport News/Williamsburg International Airport · KPHF
Opened in 2026 in partnership with Hampton University, on ground with its own aviation history.
Most students move to train at Thrust Flight.
Housing, food and travel are the largest costs not covered by the Thrust Flight program fee. Running out of money midway is the most common reason students do not finish. Training at the nearest of six campuses lowers the total.
Housing, food and travel are the largest costs the program fee does not cover, and running out of money midway is the most common reason somebody does not finish. It is worth more planning than the tuition, which is fixed and published.
Living at home and training at the nearest campus does more to lower the total than anything else. If that is possible for you, take it. The program, the fleet and the Part 141 certificate are identical at all six.
Compare the six campuses→
See it before you visit.
A day at flight schoolOne student, start to finish: studying, ground school and a flight.
Inside the schoolThe fleet, the classrooms and what students have to work with.
Will Garrison, now flying for EnvoyFrom training at Thrust to an airline flight deck, in his words.Worth a look.