LIFT's Facebook page told prospects they could earn all of their flight ratings in as little as 12 months. By 2025 its own posts described the program as taking about 18 months on average.facebook.com/FlyWithLIFT
12 moAll ratings, as advertised on LIFT's own page in 2022
~50%Share of entering students who complete, per LIFT in 2024
$80KCaptain bonus, paid only if you upgrade by a deadline
How it works
Fill in the basics
Campus, start date, where you ended up and a few sentences. Add detail only if you want to.
Send it by email
Your answers open in a ready-to-send email. Attach any contracts or records you still have.
It gets cross-checked
Each account is compared with others and with public sources, then summarized without names.
What's already on public record
2022
Jul 2023
LIFT announced over $99,000 in tuition incentives. Up to $80,000 of that was a captain upgrade bonus, paid only if the graduate made captain at Republic by a target date: 42 months from start in Myrtle Beach, 48 in Indianapolis.Halldale, Jul 26 2023
Sep 2024
LIFT's director of operations told a trade publication that about half of the students who enter the program complete it.Halldale, Sep 11 2024
What's missing is everything in between: how long each phase really took, what students borrowed, how the incentives played out and where people ended up. That's what this record is for.
What the record shows so far
Collected from LIFT and Republic's own publications, trade press, FAA records and Indiana's public court index, as captured in October 2026. Every item links to its source. Court filings describe what each side alleged, not what a court decided, unless it says otherwise. Individual students named in public records are left out here on purpose.
What was advertised vs. what was reported
Aug 2018
Republic's launch announcement advertised $65,000 total tuition and a guaranteed First Officer job for graduates.PR Newswire, Aug 30 2018
2020
LIFT's own consumer disclosure, published under its accreditor's guidelines, lists a 39% graduation rate for a population of 82 students in calendar year 2020.flywithlift.com/consumerinformation
Oct 2020
LIFT's student finance slides disclose charges for flight time beyond each rating's included hours: $240/hour in the DA40 and $340/hour in the DA42.LIFT open house finance slides, Oct 29 2020
Feb 2025
Trade reporting put LIFT's price at $90,000, including a $15,000 Republic subsidy, up from the $65,000 advertised in 2018.Halldale, Feb 19 2025
2025
LIFT reported 177 pilot graduates in 2025 and 88 graduates onboarded as Republic First Officers that year.LIFT 2025 Year in Review
Current
LIFT's site describes an average 12 to 18 month training timeline. Its homepage promotes priority Republic class access, while its time-building pages condition the move to Republic on an available class date.LIFT article · flywithlift.com
Contract terms that show up in court exhibits
Tuition
Enrollment agreements filed as exhibits include a $20,000 tuition reduction that becomes repayable if the graduate leaves Republic before a five-year commitment, along with any tuition or loan assistance received.LIFT on the five-year commitment
Sponsorship
A sponsorship exhibit finances up to $35,000 at 3.50%, forgiven only after graduation, an ATP certificate and three consecutive years at Republic.
Cape Air
A Cape Air training note calls for $30,000 if the pilot leaves, resigns or is terminated for cause before twelve months as a Cape Air captain, due within thirty days.
Exits
An exhibited agreement treats dismissal for training deficiency differently from other ways of leaving, with different repayment consequences, and conditions the Republic First Officer offer on completing the program and other preconditions.
Lawsuits against former students
2022 to 2023
Indiana trade press reported 12 lawsuits filed by Republic against former LIFT students between October 2022 and January 2023, seeking $406,550 in total.The Indiana Lawyer, Mar 1 2023
2022 to 2026
A search of Indiana's public court index for LIFT's operating company, Leadership in Flight Training Academy, LLC, returned 47 case entries. In the tuition-repayment complaints reviewed, LIFT or Republic sought between $25,050 and $55,000 per former student, typically the $20,000 tuition reduction plus assistance, costs and fees. Many were later dismissed, often by joint motion, some were reported as settled, and several are still pending.Indiana MyCase public court index
2026
In one pending case brought by a former student, the court entered judgment for LIFT on seven counts but let a fraudulent misrepresentation claim about pre-enrollment representations and a second count proceed. LIFT's motion to reconsider was denied in April 2026. Trial is scheduled for September 2027. No finding of liability has been made.
Regulators
2022
The FAA denied Republic's request to let LIFT graduates fly for Republic at 750 hours instead of 1,500, finding the submission did not establish an equivalent level of safety and that existing LIFT training data did not settle the question.FAA decision, FAA-2022-0535
2022
The same decision recounts Republic's proposal to disqualify applicants with more than two prior checkride failures from its advanced program.FAA decision, FAA-2022-0535
Know of a record that belongs here, or see something that's wrong? Send it in with the form below. Corrections are made as quickly as they're confirmed.
Who's running this and how it's used
This project is run by a former LIFT Academy student who is working through their own loan and contract questions.
Submissions are read only by the person running this project. Patterns may be published in summary form, and with your permission, your anonymized account may be included in complaints to regulators such as the CFPB or a state attorney general. Your name is never shared unless you check the box that says it can be.
How the record is checked
The point is to compare what students can show against what was advertised, not to collect opinions. Every submission is cross-referenced with the others and with public sources: LIFT and Republic announcements, court filings, lender terms and FAA records.
Answers backed by a document carry the most weight. Accounts from memory are still kept and still useful when they line up with other people's, but they're labeled that way. Good outcomes are recorded the same as bad ones.
Add your record
The basics take about a minute. Everything past the first checkbox is optional. Stick to what you know firsthand, and if a date or number is a guess, just say so.
Almost done: send it
Tap the button and your answers open in a ready-to-send email. Attach any documents, then hit send. Your full summary is also copied when you tap, so if anything looks cut off, just paste it into the email.
Email didn't open? Copy the address and summary instead.
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