Learn to fly in San Marcos.
Train smarter. Fly safer.
Watch Me Fly Academy is a Part 61 flight school at San Marcos Regional Airport (KHYI), thirty-five minutes south of Austin. You train across two glass-cockpit Cessnas and an FAA-approved Redbird LD simulator, on fixed Smart Path packages priced before your first lesson — Private, Instrument, Commercial, and the instructor ratings after them.
No experience required. One Enhanced Discovery Flight, $215, and it logs toward your certificate.
CLEARED FOR TAKEOFF ▾
The Smart Path, in numbers.
Published before your first lesson. They do not move.
Take a Discovery Flight
A Discovery Flight is a real first lesson: you sit in the pilot’s seat, take the controls, and fly with a Certified Flight Instructor beside you the whole time. One flight is usually enough to know whether this is for you.
- :01 Before you fly — Meet your instructor, walk the airplane
- :02 In the air — You take the controls
- :03 Back on the ramp — A debrief, and your logbook
Robert Greene
CFI · SEL · MEL · CE500
Our Chief Flight Instructor conducts discovery flights personally.
$215 · Discovery Flight
You take the controls · it counts in your logbook
Fly with confidence.
We do not measure success by how many students we enroll — we measure it by how many safe, knowledgeable, confident pilots we send into the aviation community. Here is what that looks like in practice.
Trained for the day it goes wrong
Every Smart Path student gets spin awareness, spin recovery and upset recovery training in our Cessna A150M Aerobat — firsthand experience recovering from situations most pilots only discuss in a classroom. Engine failures, electrical and vacuum failures, lost comms and deteriorating weather are then rehearsed in Dexter, our FAA-approved Redbird simulator, until the correct response is second nature.
Two aircraft and a simulator, not one airplane
Most schools train you almost entirely in a single airplane. Smart Path students fly nearly every major maneuver in both our glass-cockpit Cessna A150M Aerobat and our glass-cockpit Cessna 172, backed by an FAA-approved Redbird LD — so you leave comfortable in more than one cockpit, at a cost well below the national average.
Instructors who have been at this a while
Chief Flight Instructor Robert Greene earned his instructor certification in 1993 and oversees instructor development, standardization and curriculum quality here. Beside him is a team holding CFI, CFII and MEI ratings.
A path that does not end at the checkride
Top-performing graduates have a direct track to instruct with Watch Me Fly Academy, and from there to fly revenue aerial sightseeing for Sky Tour Adventures, our sister operation. Instead of competing with thousands of outside applicants for a first flying job, you have a pipeline right where you trained.
OUR WHY Aviation changes people.
“I founded the Watch Me Fly Academy because I believe aviation changes people. It builds confidence, discipline, humility and the level of personal responsibility that few other pursuits can match.”
Two glass-cockpit Cessnas and an FAA-approved simulator — because real pilots fly more than one airplane.
- Cessna 172M N5094R “Romeo” — Dynon SkyView HDX, Avidyne IFD 440 GPS, two-axis autopilot with GPS roll steering, ADS-B In/Out
- Cessna A150M Aerobat N8195V “Roxanne” — glass panel, GPS moving map, two-axis autopilot, certified for spin and upset recovery training
- Dexter — an FAA-approved Redbird LD AATD in The Flight Lab™, configurable as a six-pack Piper Archer or a glass Cessna 172 G1000
- Both aircraft meet the FAA definition of a Technically Advanced Aircraft (TAA)
N5094R Cessna 172M “Romeo” · The advanced-training cornerstone Student pilot to professional aviator. One pathway.
Not sure which path? Ask about direct career paths →
One price, agreed before you start.
Fixed Smart Path package pricing — $12,845 Private, $8,845 Instrument, $7,614 Commercial — with aircraft, simulator, instructor time and the FAA practical-test aircraft rental (up to 3 flight hours) all inside the price. Financing available — details on the pricing page.
Get My Flight PlanSee every Smart Path package → · Ask what your path would cost →
Common first questions
Where do Watch Me Fly Academy students fly from?
San Marcos Regional Airport (KHYI), 1807 Airport Dr., San Marcos, TX 78666 — about thirty-five minutes south of Austin straight down I-35, and about twenty minutes north of New Braunfels.
What is included in a Smart Path package price?
One fixed, published price covering aircraft and simulator time, instructor time up to the included hours, the Sporty’s Learn to Fly ground course, FAA written-test preparation and endorsement, a final mock checkride, and the aircraft rental for your FAA practical test (up to 3 flight hours). Private is $12,845, Instrument $8,845, Commercial $7,614.
What is The Flight Lab™?
The Flight Lab™ is our simulator facility, built around Dexter — an FAA-approved Redbird LD advanced aviation training device with live air traffic control simulation. Students log instrument approaches, maintain IFR currency, prepare for an IPC and run mock checkrides in it. It is open to pilots from any flight school, and it deploys to other schools, airports and events across the region.
What hours can I schedule lessons?
Flight operations run 6am to 10pm, seven days a week. Office and in-person meetings run 9am to 4pm. We keep aircraft and instructor availability ahead of demand so a consistent training schedule is actually achievable.
How do I book my first flight?
Book the $215 Enhanced Discovery Flight online, or call 737-256-7305. It is a real first lesson — you sit in the pilot’s seat and take the controls with a Certified Flight Instructor beside you — the time logs toward your certificate, and nothing is expected of you afterwards.
Where dreams become pilots.
Ready for your first flight?
Book a Discovery Flight, or call first — an instructor answers, and five minutes is usually enough to know.
Take the seat
$215 · it counts in your logbook
Get My Flight Plan Book a first flight — $215You’re back over Austin · Kyle · Buda · New Braunfels