How Much does Getting a Private Pilot License Actually Cost?

You simply cannot trust a quote from a flight school. They are in it for your business and the money. You need to do the homework and calculate a quote for yourself, it is actually not too hard. I will show you how here. In order to create your own quote you are going to need some information from the flight schools you are interested in. I recommended choosing 4 or 5 flight schools or flying clubs within a reasonable distance from where you live and gather the following information from them:

• What is their hourly "wet" rental rate for aircraft (wet means including fuel)
• What are their monthly dues (if a club)
• How many instructors do they have?
• Are any of the instructors NOT planning to leave if they get an airline job?
• How many students do they have?
• How many aircraft do they have?

Once you get this information you are on your way to making an extremely important decision that will make all the difference in you becoming a pilot or not. Narrow your list down to 2-3 schools that have a low student to aircraft ratio and/or an instructor that does not plan on pursuing an airline job. Schools with a low student to aircraft ratio means that the aircraft are easier to schedule and re-schedule when flight are unexpectedly cancelled due to a variety of causes. This doesn't seem like it would be a big deal but it is. Remember, we want to avoid interruptions in our training because they lead to loss of skill, repeated lessons and added costs.

Finally, finding a school or club associated with a flight instructor that does NOT plan on pursuing an airline job means that the instructor will be with you for your entire flight training experience. This helps your training immensely. If you do not find an instructor like this you will likely go through 3 to even 5 to 6 instructors as they await a call for an airline job to only leave you stranded. I have heard WAY too many horror stories about this and it is one of the worst aspects of flight training in the US today. I don't blame the instructors for leaving for a better opportunity but it puts students in an awful situation and costs them $1000s getting acclimated to a new instructor and their teaching style. Instructors that are in it for the long haul is the absolute BEST choice.

You will also want to get a quote from your final 2-3 flight schools but remember... DON'T TRUST IT just yet. Their quote is likely going to consist of the following items:

• Ground School
• FAA Written Exam
• Aircraft Rental for FAA minimum hours (35 hours Part 141, 40 hours Part 61)
• Dual flights with instructor at FAA minimum hours (20 hours)
• FAA Check-ride

But your own, realistic quote should consist of more than this:

• Medical Exam
• Ground School
• Books & Materials for Knowledge
• FAA Written Exam
• Flight Equipment
• Aircraft Rental at the national average # of hours (65 hours)
• Dual flights with an instructor at the national average # of hours (30 hours)
• Pre-flight and Post-flight Ground Instruction w/ Instructor (15 hours)
• FAA Check-ride
• Housing (if applicable)

As you can see there are quite a few more costs to factor into your own quote. Let’s get started in building it so that you know exactly what to expect.

How much does a Pilot Medical Exam Cost

The cost of a 3^rd class medical exam required to be a student pilot varies by location and examiner. They can range anywhere from $50 to $200. Let’s take the average and use $150.

Shop around and find an examiner at a lower cost. You can find them here and give them a call to get their quotes.

$150

How much does Ground School Cost

As mentioned previously, in-person ground schools can vary anywhere from $500 to $1000. However, there are many online options for ground schools that are much cheaper (around $350 or less). You can also do a self-study which is the least expensive option. No matter which option you choose you just need a certified instructor to endorse you for the FAA Written exam... That's it! 

Most students choose an Online Ground School because you not only get an endorsement from the instructor at the end of the course but it also provides both structure (syllabus, lessons, videos, quizzes) but also flexibility. Self-study can be difficult to keep yourself accountable, find the right material and get your questions answered... plus you need to find an instructor to endorse you... so many students just go with an Online Ground School. Best of both worlds!

An online ground school course will cost you around $250-$350 

However, the Part Time Pilot online ground school is the best-priced online ground school on the market at $249.99 for lifetime access and a full money-back guarantee and worry-free purchase. But for those who enrolled in this course, I am giving you 3 days to get it for $199.99!!

Click Here to Learn More

For the purposes of our cost estimations let's assume that the in person option is the average of $750:

With Part Time Pilot: $200

Without: $750

How much do Books & Materials Cost

This number should be as close to $0 as you can realistically make it. NEVER buy anything from the flight school. A flight school will buy materials on Amazon or in bulk and sell them back to you at a higher price for profit, sometimes $100 to $200. It is not required that you buy any books or materials from the flight school… even if they say you are required because they are a Part 141, you are not. Every Part 141 is also a Part 61... it is just that some don't want to be known as one because they make more money as a Part 141 because they have more requirements. But even still at a Part 141 the FAA only states that you must have the materials listed in the TCO when you enroll in ground school. They do not specify where you get the materials from. And for a Part 61 you can get the materials from outer space... as long as they are accurate.

Amazon is a good source for cheap books and materials. A former student is also a good source for cheap books and materials as they may not want to pack around those giant books anymore and would be happy for you to take them off their hands. Finally, the FAA has a ton of free training materials and books. I have listed many free resources and links to them here. Seriously, if you aren’t using these then you are wasting money. Go and bookmark these on your browser, download the PDFs, and build an online library for yourself to have wherever you go.

Even better, with the Part Time Pilot Online Ground School you need absolutely NO ADDITIONAL materials. The ground school comes with written lessons, audio lessons, video lessons, quizzes, practice tests, flash cards, eBooks and even the Part Time Pilot Ultimate Private Pilot Test Prep book pdf ($37 value).

With Part Time Pilot: $0

Without: $150

How much does the FAA Written Exam Cost

Not much wiggle room here. I've seen online that you can find this for $150 in some test centers these days or as high as $175, Let's use $160 as an average:

$160

How much does Equipment for Flight Training Cost

Most students purchase e6B (manual or electronic), plotter tool, charts, FAR/AIM, chart supplement, headsets, kneeboard, and iPad, charting software like Foreflight, portable GPS, flight bag, sunglasses and even more. However, at Part Time Pilot we advise are students that not all of this equipment is necessary and even some of this equipment can HINDER your learning in the early stages of your training.

For example, buying an iPad with foreflight as soon as you start flight training can develop bad habits in navigation and cause you to rely on your GPS. When it comes time to be tested on traditional navigation, these students are ill-prepared and fail miserably. This is why at Part Time Pilot we teach both manual navigation and calculation techniques and more technologically advanced techniques. We recommend learning to navigate and fly without an iPad until you have proven to yourself with a solo cross-country flight without GPS. Then, you can reward yourself with GPS and make your life easier as a pilot with an iPad and foreflight... They really do make things easier but now you have the skills in case the technology fails, batteries die or your examiner takes it away from you (this happened to me).

At Part Time Pilot we advise our students to purchase equipment based off how much their training actually needs it. Things you absolutely need, things that you need later, things that help you and things that are just fun and nice to have. You can find that list here.

Following Part Time Pilot: $200

Without: $1500

How much do Aircraft Rentals Cost

A flight schools hourly rental is a factor of many things. One thing that factors into the aircraft’s hourly rate is the location of the school. Supply and Demand. If the school is near a large airport where a lot of students live then the school might need to lower their prices to attract customers. If the school is the only one in 100 mile radius then they have the luxury of raising their prices as high as they wish. I have seen rental prices as low as $125 per hour and as high as $200 for a Cessna 152 or Piper Cherokee Warrior. For the sake of our estimate we are going to use an average of $165 an hour. This might be a little conservative, but again, it’s better to be conservative and you will be glad you were.

Now, we know that the flight school will give you a quote likely off of their cheapest aircraft. Not all aircraft have the same rate at flight schools. Depending on how new the aircraft is and what it is equipped with, the aircraft price will vary. The flight school will also give you a quote based off you finishing in the FAA minimum amount of flight hours (35 for Part 141, 40 for Part 61). Our quote is going to be based off a national average for those students that do not train full time. Full time student pilots can fly 4-5 times a week and finish their training in 2-3 months. Because of this consistent training they may be able to finish their license near the minimums or somewhere in the range of 45 hours. It took me over 100 hours (but I did a lot of things wrong, as we will talk about soon). If you search the web on forums, you’ll find that for those of us that work full time, have kids and can only fly on the weekends or a couple days a week… the number to finish is usually in the 60s, 70s, 80s, 90s or even 100s. For the purposes of this estimation, let’s use 65 hours.

Aircraft rental for 65 hours at $165 per hour comes out to be $10,725.

$10,725

How much does a Flight Instructor Cost

Dual Flight Instruction

The number above was only for the cost of renting the aircraft. When you fly with your flight instructor you have to pay them hourly for their time as well. The FAA minimum for dual flight with an instructor is 20 hours. I had 4 different instructors during my training in Seattle and San Diego and they ranged from $40 to $60 an hour and not all of them were highly experienced. I have seen some instructors for as low as $40/hr and some as high as $80/hr. This is NOT something to be cheap about. In fact, if the instructor is experienced and you know that are in it for the long haul of your training (wont jump to an airline job) I would recommend paying up to $20/hr more for an instructor like this. Trust me, it will be worth it. Let’s use $60/hr for our instructor rate as another conservative estimate.

Now, the FAA minimum is 20 hours of instructor time but if you are flying on weekends only or just 2 times a week, if you ever need to miss a week for personal reasons or if you ever have to travel for work then you may have to redo a few lessons. If this happens, you may lose currency or proficiency (I advise avoiding this at all costs) and have to redo a lesson or a flight with your instructor in order to become current again. Let’s assume you need to do this a couple times and then you want to fly with your instructor a couple more times before your final check-ride. So instead of 20 hours, you fly with your instructor for 32 hours. 32 hours at $60 an hour comes out to $1920.

$1920

Pre and Post Flight Ground Instruction

We don't just pay for our instructors time in the air. We also pay them for the time on the ground. This was one of the things that I wish I knew before I started my training. There is NO REQUIREMENT for ground instruction once you have received your ground school endorsement and passed your FAA written. Unfortunately, I chose a school that had its own set of tests and checks for knowledge (common with Part 141 schools) and I spent way too many hours on the ground before and after my flights paying my instructor to review things that I could have reviewed at home. The instructor needs to endorse you so they need to feel that you are competent in the knowledge portion of your training before doing so but they do not need to teach it to you.

So if your flight instructor ever wants to plan a ground session with you, ask him/her what it will be for and tell them that you can study on your own and he can quiz you for a bit to make sure you understand the knowledge if he needs to. The only pre and post flight time should be talking about the flight to come and reviewing the flight that just occurred as well as the next flight to come. To put yourself in a position to do this and be confident in your knowledge and flight planning abilities... YOU NEED a good ground school and YOU NEED to complete your ground school prior to flight training. This is exactly what Part Time Pilot was designed for. To not only prepare you to pass the FAA Written but also to prepare you for your flight lessons so that you can avoid additional ground hours with your flight instructor.

Flight schools do not include this time into their quotes. A good conservative estimate for this time is 20 hours. 20 hours at $60 an hour for the instructor is another $1200. But if you come into flight training prepared by something like Part Time Pilot this number can be limited to only 30 minute sessions or less that are dedicated to the flight ahead and NOT dedicated to reviewing ground knowledge. We see our students generally needing 10 hours or less of ground instruction with their flight instruction after going through the Part Time Pilot ground school.

With Part Time Pilot: $600

Without: $1200

How much does the FAA Checkride Cost

There is no standard fee set forward by the FAA. It is completely determined by the FAA examiner that you choose. So talk to some pilots, call around and do some shopping. There is something to be said about using an examiner that your instructor is familiar with. This way, he/she has a better idea of what to prepare you for. However, if the price is ridiculous you are completely within your rights to find and schedule your own examiner. You can find a designated pilot examiner here. My examiner cost $700 but others can be found as low as $400. For our purposes, let’s use $600.

$600

Total Cost to Become a Pilot

Let’s total this all up:

Without Part Time Pilot Online Ground School:

$150 + $750 + $150 + $160 + $1500 + $10,725 + $1920 + $1200 + $600 = $17,155

With Part Time Pilot Online Ground School:

$200 + $150 + $0 + $160 + $200 + $10,725 + $1920 + $600 + $600 = $14,205

Both of these are quite higher than the quotes you will get from flight schools and it may be alarming to some. While you may end up spending more than this you may also spend less than this. This exercise was based on conservative estimates. Conservative numbers were used at every turn so that you can prepare for a larger amount. The worst thing you can do is plan to spend less and then be surprised by more cost and unable to finish your training (or have a delay in your training which will cost you more) due to your finances.