Using VR&E for Flight School: Your Step-by-Step Guide

At Flex Air Flight School, y ou can use VR&E (Chapter 31) to pay for flight training, and unlike the GI Bill, it can cover you without annual spending limits. The catch is that you must convince your VA counselor (“VRC”) that your claim is valid, aligned with your disability, and well-researched. This dynamic kills more claims than it should - you MUST be prepared for every interaction with your VRC and treat every conversation as if you’re in an episode of “Shark Tank”.

 

What follows is how the benefit pays, how it stacks with the GI Bill and SkillBridge, and how veterans get approved. Additional   VR&E flight training  is available with more generous benefits and the DoD SkillBridge Program can be used to begin flight training on active duty, with full pay and benefits. Making the most of these benefits can be complicated, we are the experts. We want you to get the most out of your benefits, so prepare for a deep dive into your options to pay for flight training.

 

This article was co-authored by Flex Air President Paul Wynns , PhD (USN retired) and VP Edward Erdmann (USMC retired), who are both volunteer board members advocating for veteran benefits reform at the National Flight Training Alliance . Wynns and Erdmann are routinely invited to share their insights on VA benefits with flight school students and operators at conferences like AeroSummit .