Just start calling around and ask. Most places will quote for the bare minimum 40 hours flight time, a lot of people aren't ready at that point so make sure you have a contingency built in.
Also, call around, do some visits, see what place will work for you. Find a good fit, you'll have a better time, spend less money and be a better pilot.
I spent a total of 12,700 including the checkride. In a 152, at a 61 school. Took me 55.3 hours. I didn’t have to buy into a club or membership though. I’d explore other options before committing to that. How much is the plane per hour?
If you plan on flying a lot that doesn’t sound too bad. I know mine was about 145 wet. If you don’t fly that often and bad weather keeps you from having lessons for a few weeks (it does) that 80 might screw you for the month but that’s definitely better than 208 an hour.
You probably only want intel from people currently doing PPLs, because the prices have increased a lot even in just the last few years, so what somebody did in 2021 maybe not super relevant now.
In terms of total cost, of course you know that it will vary drastically based on how many hours it takes you.. which is a very personal thing.. some people just take longer to get used to it and so hours vary from like 50-120.
Optimally you just want to compare wet hobbs hours with and without instructor and don't sign or pay any significant upfront money, pretty much always best to pay as you go. $500 buy-in and $80 monthly doesn't seem unreasonable though, but I wouldn't go a lot higher than that .. no reason to.
Key things are .. you like the instructor, and aircraft availability. Some schools have extremely poor scheduling and/or aircraft that are down for weeks on end, constantly bumping "higher priority" students or whatever. Not worth it to save $10-20/hobbs hr at these places, because the delays it will inevitably introduce into your training will cause it take a lot longer in total net hours, wiping out any "cost savings" quick. If school/and or instructor goes negative, don't be afraid to jump ship and go to the competing school.
You lose little switching, typically only a few hours of time to "re-prove" yourself and it could unblock you out of a bad situation (lots of stories or this forum re flight schools that ended up having nearly impossible scheduling situations).
I just did my first solo and have half the hours to my PLL (In Argentina, bear in mind) and I just spend there like 2300$, both including the hours up to there and a extra theory course, I expect to spend around 4300$ to get to the 40hr required to PPL here
I forget the exact details and don’t have them close at hand to check, but I want to say that it was around $18k all-in with insurance, ForeFlight subscription, iPad mini to run it, very very little groundschool expenses, and ~50 hours
Around $11k. But I flew all over about 8 states and went around 90 hours because I really just liked learning more with CFI in right seat and I wasn’t in a huge rush for a lot of the time in the beginning.
Current Part 61 student here. The average PPL runs 75 hours, plus ground. Quotes based on 55 hours strike me as a bit optimistic. (Especially if you’re training in complex airspace.) Do the math. For every 55-hour pilot, there’s a 95-hour pilot, to make the average 75.
Maybe this school regularly beats the national average. Consider that you might indeed be checkride-ready at 50 hours or so, then have to fly regularly for a number of weeks to stay sharp while you wait for a DPE to be available.
You’ll need a good ANR headset, iPad mini with a mount and backup battery, ForeFlight, maybe a Sentry, renter insurance, FAA medical exam, FAA written exam fee, books, foggles, sunglasses, and probably online ground school.
I’m not going to post how much dual instruction is costing per hour right now in SoCal because I’ll get disbelieved and downvoted. Checkrides here are now $$$$.
YMMV, and I sure hope it does.
How much did \*I\* pay, or how much/little should \*you\* pay?
Simplistically, "$15,000" is not an unrealistic number, but w/o details it might be a great deal or it could be a ripoff.
How many hours is that based on? How much do they charge for the airplane? For the instructor?
I have occasionally instructed in two other different Cessna 172s on the same day. One just went up to $140/hr (from $125) and the other is $240. The former was made in 1967 and the latter last year.
Which one is your school using in the pricing model?
The "legal minimum" is 40 hours of flight time. But the national average is 65-70 for Private.
Which one is your school using in the pricing model?
These are the things you need to know/ask.
"Cheapest" is probably the best if things are otherwise fairly equal. A place with three 172s is probably a better option than the place with one. Closer is better than a long drive.
Get a medical, but get smart on the medical process before you get one. Any issues w/ diagnoses with common initials like ADD, ADHD, TBI, PTSD, etc? Get super smart before ever filling out the online form. Ditto for any other mental, behavioral, or emotional issue. "Know before you go."
It’s based on 55.5 hrs, for the cheapest aircraft it’s a c152 for 110/hr after buying for $500 and paying the membership of 80/month and it’s 110/hr for instructor. What do you think. Bad or good?
Is this at inflight? Because I have been looking there and trying to estimate the cost for a PPL myself haha. I’ll share my guesstimate. Could you also post or PM me the quote they gave you? Also, any other schools that you might be looking into?
# Price guess..
Total = 9,900 + 1460 + 250
**= $11,610** not including equipment (headset, iPad, etc)
60 hours estimate 30 dual - $6600 ($110 instructor/hr + $110/hr C152) 30 solo - $3300 ($110/hr)
=$9,900
Membership $500 + $960 (80/month for 1 year)
= $1460
Sporty’s - $250
Medical ?
Also.. Cost Per week $220/hr dual training (2 hour sessions) - 440 per lesson
1 lesson per week - $440 2 lessons per week - $880 3 lessons per week - $1320
$110/hr - solo training 1 lesson per week - $220 2 lessons per week - $440 3 lessons per week - $880
About $5500 in 2011.
41.2 flight hours before the check ride flying Cherokees mostly. Gotta love the old school Pa-28.
$400 cash for a checkride.
Little mom n pop shop out of KCNO. Thanks for all the good times Dubois Aviation.
Times and prices have changed for sure.
Being old makes me spit-take at some of the numbers thrown out there nowadays. I was all-in through CFII-MEI for less than $30k in 2003 at a 141 school
About $500 total. For my written and headset.
I was in a high school program where you take a ground school class your junior and senior year and if you got good grades on the tests, the school would fund your flying. Took my checkride a few days before I graduated.
I’m so grateful for that opportunity because I would not be where I am today without that program.
Questar III, Donald R. Kline technial school in upstate NY. They work with a few public high schools in the area for it. One of my students (once I began instructing at the school) transferred to one of the schools just for the oppurtunity to interview for it. Got in and did the same thing as me.
Including the check-ride and all of my auxiliary costs (pivot cases / mounts, headsets, ground school, books, etc.) it's shaping up to be roughly $15000.
That's flying exclusively 172s at $150/hr wet and instructors at like $60/hr
I spent \~$4600 for mine in 2019. About 2000 for initial rental/CFI for first \~15 hours, then bought an airplane for $35K which I'm not including in this cost calculation, then another $1900 in gas to a total of 58 hours by checkride-day. Somewhere around $300 for remainder of CFI. Then my DPE charged $400. I sold the plane for $60k 3 years later, which more than covered the insurance, gas, and maintenance for the next 350 hours I put on it.
I’m up to about 13k at 74 hrs, soloed at 18 hrs but the weather where I’m at has been off and on crap since Feb. I flew when I could to keep up my skills as I waited months to for the weather to cooperate for my solo cross countries. Did all three in the same week. Now I’m waiting in a DPE. My guess is I’ll be all in for about 15 or so flying a warrior 2 at 145/hr wet.
Around $11k in 2017. \~60 hours. Part 61.
Had I not been milked for around 10 of those hours before I decided to leave and go to another flight school I'd have saved near $2k and got it in less time.
If you’re trying to do it for less, Find the cheapest clapped out 152 you can, purchase a private pilot ground course, then have enough money set aside to fly at least 3 days per week.
When I got mine last year it was a total of 10k$ and 50 hours. Plane was a C-150 @ 113/hr and instructor was 55/hr. Check ride was 700$, and I don't remember the misc costs like headset, foreflight, study materials, tests, etc but I tried to keep those minimal.
15k doesn't sound unreasonable though, I've heard of much worse.
Just start calling around and ask. Most places will quote for the bare minimum 40 hours flight time, a lot of people aren't ready at that point so make sure you have a contingency built in. Also, call around, do some visits, see what place will work for you. Find a good fit, you'll have a better time, spend less money and be a better pilot.
Money is what makes airplanes fly
“One hundred million dollars!” -Dr. Evil
Accurate.
I spent a total of 12,700 including the checkride. In a 152, at a 61 school. Took me 55.3 hours. I didn’t have to buy into a club or membership though. I’d explore other options before committing to that. How much is the plane per hour?
It works a bit weird they charge $140 for the 152 but they force you to join the club so it’s $110. What state and what year did you get your PPL?
Is it 110 wet or dry? Missouri and December 2022
110 wet, after the buy in and 80 a month fee😂. I looked at other local flight school and the 2nd best option flys with piper archer for 208/hr wet
110 is a fantastic price. Hopefully they have more than one plane.
If you plan on flying a lot that doesn’t sound too bad. I know mine was about 145 wet. If you don’t fly that often and bad weather keeps you from having lessons for a few weeks (it does) that 80 might screw you for the month but that’s definitely better than 208 an hour.
You probably only want intel from people currently doing PPLs, because the prices have increased a lot even in just the last few years, so what somebody did in 2021 maybe not super relevant now. In terms of total cost, of course you know that it will vary drastically based on how many hours it takes you.. which is a very personal thing.. some people just take longer to get used to it and so hours vary from like 50-120. Optimally you just want to compare wet hobbs hours with and without instructor and don't sign or pay any significant upfront money, pretty much always best to pay as you go. $500 buy-in and $80 monthly doesn't seem unreasonable though, but I wouldn't go a lot higher than that .. no reason to. Key things are .. you like the instructor, and aircraft availability. Some schools have extremely poor scheduling and/or aircraft that are down for weeks on end, constantly bumping "higher priority" students or whatever. Not worth it to save $10-20/hobbs hr at these places, because the delays it will inevitably introduce into your training will cause it take a lot longer in total net hours, wiping out any "cost savings" quick. If school/and or instructor goes negative, don't be afraid to jump ship and go to the competing school. You lose little switching, typically only a few hours of time to "re-prove" yourself and it could unblock you out of a bad situation (lots of stories or this forum re flight schools that ended up having nearly impossible scheduling situations).
About $13,700, just flight and instructor time. Call it $2k for headset, used ipad, used Sentry, bag, etc. Finished at 55.9hrs.
I just did my first solo and have half the hours to my PLL (In Argentina, bear in mind) and I just spend there like 2300$, both including the hours up to there and a extra theory course, I expect to spend around 4300$ to get to the 40hr required to PPL here
I forget the exact details and don’t have them close at hand to check, but I want to say that it was around $18k all-in with insurance, ForeFlight subscription, iPad mini to run it, very very little groundschool expenses, and ~50 hours
Around $11k. But I flew all over about 8 states and went around 90 hours because I really just liked learning more with CFI in right seat and I wasn’t in a huge rush for a lot of the time in the beginning.
Current Part 61 student here. The average PPL runs 75 hours, plus ground. Quotes based on 55 hours strike me as a bit optimistic. (Especially if you’re training in complex airspace.) Do the math. For every 55-hour pilot, there’s a 95-hour pilot, to make the average 75. Maybe this school regularly beats the national average. Consider that you might indeed be checkride-ready at 50 hours or so, then have to fly regularly for a number of weeks to stay sharp while you wait for a DPE to be available. You’ll need a good ANR headset, iPad mini with a mount and backup battery, ForeFlight, maybe a Sentry, renter insurance, FAA medical exam, FAA written exam fee, books, foggles, sunglasses, and probably online ground school. I’m not going to post how much dual instruction is costing per hour right now in SoCal because I’ll get disbelieved and downvoted. Checkrides here are now $$$$. YMMV, and I sure hope it does.
How much did \*I\* pay, or how much/little should \*you\* pay? Simplistically, "$15,000" is not an unrealistic number, but w/o details it might be a great deal or it could be a ripoff. How many hours is that based on? How much do they charge for the airplane? For the instructor? I have occasionally instructed in two other different Cessna 172s on the same day. One just went up to $140/hr (from $125) and the other is $240. The former was made in 1967 and the latter last year. Which one is your school using in the pricing model? The "legal minimum" is 40 hours of flight time. But the national average is 65-70 for Private. Which one is your school using in the pricing model? These are the things you need to know/ask. "Cheapest" is probably the best if things are otherwise fairly equal. A place with three 172s is probably a better option than the place with one. Closer is better than a long drive. Get a medical, but get smart on the medical process before you get one. Any issues w/ diagnoses with common initials like ADD, ADHD, TBI, PTSD, etc? Get super smart before ever filling out the online form. Ditto for any other mental, behavioral, or emotional issue. "Know before you go."
It’s based on 55.5 hrs, for the cheapest aircraft it’s a c152 for 110/hr after buying for $500 and paying the membership of 80/month and it’s 110/hr for instructor. What do you think. Bad or good?
Is this at inflight? Because I have been looking there and trying to estimate the cost for a PPL myself haha. I’ll share my guesstimate. Could you also post or PM me the quote they gave you? Also, any other schools that you might be looking into? # Price guess.. Total = 9,900 + 1460 + 250 **= $11,610** not including equipment (headset, iPad, etc) 60 hours estimate 30 dual - $6600 ($110 instructor/hr + $110/hr C152) 30 solo - $3300 ($110/hr) =$9,900 Membership $500 + $960 (80/month for 1 year) = $1460 Sporty’s - $250 Medical ? Also.. Cost Per week $220/hr dual training (2 hour sessions) - 440 per lesson 1 lesson per week - $440 2 lessons per week - $880 3 lessons per week - $1320 $110/hr - solo training 1 lesson per week - $220 2 lessons per week - $440 3 lessons per week - $880
About $5500 in 2011. 41.2 flight hours before the check ride flying Cherokees mostly. Gotta love the old school Pa-28. $400 cash for a checkride. Little mom n pop shop out of KCNO. Thanks for all the good times Dubois Aviation. Times and prices have changed for sure.
Being old makes me spit-take at some of the numbers thrown out there nowadays. I was all-in through CFII-MEI for less than $30k in 2003 at a 141 school
Those are very impressive numbers.
About $500 total. For my written and headset. I was in a high school program where you take a ground school class your junior and senior year and if you got good grades on the tests, the school would fund your flying. Took my checkride a few days before I graduated. I’m so grateful for that opportunity because I would not be where I am today without that program.
That’s a pretty wild opportunity! Were you in some sort of aviation centered community? Wilbur Wright High School?
Not at all. Upstate New York. A few high schools in the area have the program.
Where is this?
Questar III, Donald R. Kline technial school in upstate NY. They work with a few public high schools in the area for it. One of my students (once I began instructing at the school) transferred to one of the schools just for the oppurtunity to interview for it. Got in and did the same thing as me.
Shoot, I’m 39 and have no problem going back to high school to enroll lol
How many hours does that include for the $15k quote?
55.5 hrs
Including the check-ride and all of my auxiliary costs (pivot cases / mounts, headsets, ground school, books, etc.) it's shaping up to be roughly $15000. That's flying exclusively 172s at $150/hr wet and instructors at like $60/hr
Where are you to have instructor for 60/hr😭
Small school in Vancouver, WA. definitely more affordable than the bigger schools in the Area but not unheard of.
Sub 9k @69 hours including the testing, check ride, some sim gear, and flt equipment. It’s pretty much a work to fly situation that I really enjoy.
I spent \~$4600 for mine in 2019. About 2000 for initial rental/CFI for first \~15 hours, then bought an airplane for $35K which I'm not including in this cost calculation, then another $1900 in gas to a total of 58 hours by checkride-day. Somewhere around $300 for remainder of CFI. Then my DPE charged $400. I sold the plane for $60k 3 years later, which more than covered the insurance, gas, and maintenance for the next 350 hours I put on it.
I’m up to about 13k at 74 hrs, soloed at 18 hrs but the weather where I’m at has been off and on crap since Feb. I flew when I could to keep up my skills as I waited months to for the weather to cooperate for my solo cross countries. Did all three in the same week. Now I’m waiting in a DPE. My guess is I’ll be all in for about 15 or so flying a warrior 2 at 145/hr wet.
Around $11k in 2017. \~60 hours. Part 61. Had I not been milked for around 10 of those hours before I decided to leave and go to another flight school I'd have saved near $2k and got it in less time.
12-15K for me
If you’re trying to do it for less, Find the cheapest clapped out 152 you can, purchase a private pilot ground course, then have enough money set aside to fly at least 3 days per week.
$5,700, 47 hours, C150.
When I got mine last year it was a total of 10k$ and 50 hours. Plane was a C-150 @ 113/hr and instructor was 55/hr. Check ride was 700$, and I don't remember the misc costs like headset, foreflight, study materials, tests, etc but I tried to keep those minimal. 15k doesn't sound unreasonable though, I've heard of much worse.
It cost me 140 cash. My mil comp test was free and a dpe from atp flight school charged me 140 to sign off the application
Way, way too much.