cost for private pilot lic

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weismand

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weismand
Have been wanting to learn how to fly for a long time, just wondering a general idea on cost to obtain lic for a single engine plane. Just recreational use but i would proably take some 4 or 5 hour trips. I am in southern indiana if that matters. Thanks for any replies
 
If you have to ask ,you can't afford it.
 
8-10K seems "average". Some places will be more, few will be less. If you're resourceful you could maybe do it for 6-7K.
 
frfly172 said:
If you have to ask ,you can't afford it.
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I know you are joking, but this is not true, and we need to stop saying things like this.

Yes, aviation and getting your PPL is expensive, but it is still within reach of middle class people, if they want to make it a priority.

I know this to be fact, cause I am solidly middle class and can fly.
 
Take a couple lessons. If you're sure it's for you - buy a simple used trainer. Get a good inspection so you don't get a problem plane. Don't delay your lessons, keep it up and fly frequently. When you're done you can sell the plane and have just about the cheapest ticket you can. May have only had to change the oil once!

In the mean time you will have the cowls off, looked at the engine very carefully, cleaned the interior, washed and polished the exterior, removed the wheel pants and checked the tires and generally done 1000% more learning than any other student you will ever meet.

Then look into the future of affordable GA... experimentals!

PS: Everything you see below is WAY more expensive....:yes:
 
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When I took my foi, the available test bank was 288 questions. Memorize and pass then move on with your life. If you get your AGI done at the same time, your FOI never expires.
 
My private cost me about $6500 for Airplane(172) and CFI(Instructor). Add on the exams, headset, study supplies etc, I was prob around $8000 total. I've spent a lot more than that since. It doesn't get cheaper really. Bad hobby if you are tight on funds. Its also not something you can get and then plan a trip with your buddys a few months later without flying in between quite often. That is something you really wont understand until you start your training and have a couple weeks off in between. All that aside, it is amazing and worth every penny. Good Luck!
 
Depends on what the cost of a rental is in your area, and the hourly for the CFI. You could train in an LSA for cheaper rental, but make sure you use a non sport CFI for your private.
 
A different way to budget the cost is as ongoing expenses rather than lump sums; such as:

During training, budget for an average cost of ~$1000/month.

Once you have the license you may want to budget ~$500/month if you intend to stay active but only rent.
 
fiveoboy01 said:
8-10K seems "average". Some places will be more, few will be less. If you're resourceful you could maybe do it for 6-7K.
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Yep. Just try to find the oldest, cheapest, and rattiest 150 and I'm sure you can do your training under 10K.
 
nimdabew said:
When I took my foi, the available test bank was 288 questions. Memorize and pass then move on with your life. If you get your AGI done at the same time, your FOI never expires.
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And this has to do with the Private how?
 
Jim Logajan said:
A different way to budget the cost is as ongoing expenses rather than lump sums; such as:

During training, budget for an average cost of ~$1000/month.

Once you have the license you may want to budget ~$500/month if you intend to stay active but only rent.
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About right.
 
Figure 70 hours at $135/hr for a C172 and 50 hours at $45/hr for a CFI. That works out to $11,700.

Add in the written and checkride, plus a headset and books and you are looking at somewhere around $13,000. You may well do it in less than 70/50 hours and some depends on how long your cross-country flights are. If you budget $13K, you will almost certainly be able to do it for that price.

I am in the Mountain West and C150/152s don't work at my field elevation.

My average cost per hour while a student was $184 (which included the checkride fee). As a PPL my average cost has been $140/hr flying a variety of different airplanes.
 
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nimdabew said:
When I took my foi, the available test bank was 288 questions. Memorize and pass then move on with your life. If you get your AGI done at the same time, your FOI never expires.
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I know a guy with a sheep dog, and he just shaved it.
 
Depends how hard you are willing to work for it and how diligent towards learning you are. Then there is the factor of plane cost and instructor cost. Without knowing anything more than you give, the cost could be from $3500 to $12,000 or even more if you fly a couple of times a month and don't really put in any effort and fly only Cirrus planes. Then it could cost a quarter million dollars.:lol:

I would think in your area though you should be able to with diligence get it done for around $6k flying decent equipment.
 
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In this area you can attend a PPL ground school (10 weeks, 1 night per week) for $450 all in, including all the Gleim PPL materials.

CFIs can be had in the $35 to $40/hour range. And planes in the $100/hr range.

So, assuming it takes 55 hours then about $8,000.

Add $600 for the written, checkride and headset...

Oh, and $20 for a landing calculator!
 
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deltafox said:
Sport Pilot costs less.
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I haven't really been hearing that to be true from SPs that post here. While it is certainly possible, it doesn't seem to be happening. Not sure exactly why, but I have suspicions.
 
Shop around. Look into flying clubs. Hang out at the airport and meet people. There may be someone with an underutilized plane that might consider a partner. Just through airport relationships my son got his private license for around $1,500. That's a rarity (and requires a good friend or dad that'll teach for free!) but it has happened!!
 
Weismand, as you can see from all the varying replies here, there is no fixed price and the cost depends on how and where you acquire your PPL.

You want to do your homework, ask some flight schools around, look for private CFIs, talk to pilot friends, look into owning for the training etc. If you don't do your homework, you will end up overpaying.

Jonesy, awesome smoking deal! You lucky dog. :)
 
Some places are better than others, around here an older six-pack C172 is $150/hr, instructor is $60/hr and usually ~$20/flight for "pre/post flight briefing". YMMV.
 
I spent way more since I live in the SF Bay Area where everything is more expensive like 15k but I also bought a couple nice headsets and flight simulator.
 
Henning said:
I haven't really been hearing that to be true from SPs that post here. While it is certainly possible, it doesn't seem to be happening. Not sure exactly why, but I have suspicions.
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What are your suspicions?
 
Pmcdn said:
What are your suspicions?
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People who go for SP tend to do so because it's 'easier' (untrue BTW, the difficult things to learn apply to both SP & PP), it's cheaper (again debatable), or they can't get a medical.

In the first, you have a type of people who are looking for the 'easy way', they typically aren't willing to put in a full effort, so they see less than full results. The second they are dealing with financial constraints that typically will not let them fly often enough to learn at an efficient rate. The medical problems you split into two basic groups, old and young. With age comes for whatever reason a loss of mental dexterity, as we get older we move away from learning processes so it gets more difficult. The young, well, why are we seeing most young aspirants with issues getting a medical? If the boards are any indication it's due to some level of psychiatric problems like ADD/ADHD which have known implications on the person's learning curve.
 
No one has really given you a cost breakdown yet of where all this money is going to.

Medical Certificate: $75-$100
Headset: $200-$300
Books & Charts: $200-300
Written Test: $165
Aircraft Rental(40 hours + 2 for checkride): $5880 @ $140/hr
Instructor(40 hours): $1800 @ $45/hr
Checkride Examiner fee: $300

Total $8845 and that is doing the BARE MINIMUM. Granted all of these prices are averages. You may find books cheaper online, get a cheaper headset, etc.

Then again, these may be more expensive. You could get the top of the line headset for around $1000, you may have to take the written a 2nd time, you may have to take the checkride a 2nd time. You may take longer to do it and may have to double or triple the flight time.

The cost of learning to fly is never the exact same for people. It's not like a scuba diving certification where it is a flat rate of $500 over a weekend. It is based on your learning curve and how quickly you pick it up. If you come prepared and study beforehand you cost will go down. If the instructor has to spoon feed you(that's ok, some people have jobs, families and can't devote their whole day to learning to fly) your cost will go up.

I'd say $13,000 is a good amount to plan for. If you plan for $13,000 you will probably not be focused on price and more on flying. Flying in Indiana will be cheaper than places like California or the east coast and you won't have busy airspace to worry about.

If you decide to look into it further, let me know. I know quite a few instructors in southern Indiana and can help you find a good place to learn from.
 
You are probably getting a picture here that "It depends." If you are sharp and have good skill, head down and fly a lot each week, 40 hours can get you there. On the other hand, there are students who are clocking their 150th hour on the hobbs. The latter can be chauked up to a lot of varying factors including work and home life, skill, learning ability, type of school (61 vs 141), money, etc.
Flying one hour a week or 3 hours a month just won't get you there as fast as 4-6 hours a week for 6 weeks. The money and time it costs depends on how involved you are. If you do not take it home with you, read and prepare, and only wait until the day of your next lesson, it will take you longer.
Save your money, get enough in the bank to fly more often, then commit the time and do it in a couple of months. By the way, just because a lot of pilots take the winter off, most planes have fine heaters. Except for weather, you can fly all year long. There's nothing holding you back from studying.
You do not need a headset if the school has them. The flying books can all be downloaded from the FAA. Ground school is not needed IF you study. The medical will vary as will the FAA practical.
 
Yep, the FAA has all the knowledge material you will need to pass your tests (at all levels) available as free downloads on their website. Lots of good material there.
 
This is the only "investment" that ever paid off for me in aviation. I got mine in '92, and the total cost was around $4k. On paper, it looks like that is now worth 2x what I paid. In reality, it's just inflation, but I'm happy.

The $10k figure is about what I took out in loans to get through grad school. Yikes.

When did instructors start making almost $40 an hour? (I'm not doubting it... I've paid it recently.)
 
Mistake Not... said:
When did instructors start making almost $40 an hour? (I'm not doubting it... I've paid it recently.)
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At most flight schools they don't...but most flight schools charge more than $40/hr so that's what the OP needs to budget for training.
 
RalphInCA said:
I know you are joking, but this is not true, and we need to stop saying things like this.

Yes, aviation and getting your PPL is expensive, but it is still within reach of middle class people, if they want to make it a priority.

I know this to be fact, cause I am solidly middle class and can fly.
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It's something people say all the time in respects to many different things. My opinion is quite different. I tend to think those with money are often more fiscally conscious than those without.
 
LDJones said:
At most flight schools they don't...but most flight schools charge more than $40/hr so that's what the OP needs to budget for training.
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Wrong interpretation. I know they do. I've paid it. What I'm not sure of is when (time... calendar... date... since when) have they been making $40. Last I paid was... $18?
 
Mistake Not... said:
Wrong interpretation. I know they do. I've paid it. What I'm not sure of is when (time... calendar... date... since when) have they been making $40. Last I paid was... $18?
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He was right. Most flight schools charge between $45-65 hr. The instructor gets a cut but usually around $18-30 of it. Now if you did a flight review with a freelance cfi then he can charge $40 , he wins because he gets all of it and you win because it is below most schools rates.
 
I dunno, maybe it's me. I think I keep typing "I know they charge $40". But somehow people keep thinking I'm unaware that they do.

So... I know flight schools charge $40 and up.

(Let me pause here, for that to sink in.)

I was just curious as to how long it's been that expensive.
 
Mine was around 7k roughly, find a flight school nearby and find a rate sheet and an instructor to talk to
 
Mistake Not... said:
I dunno, maybe it's me. I think I keep typing "I know they charge $40". But somehow people keep thinking I'm unaware that they do.

So... I know flight schools charge $40 and up.

(Let me pause here, for that to sink in.)

I was just curious as to how long it's been that expensive.
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Yep 40 is about average, my school was 35hr for instructor, find the best for the least!
 
Mistake Not... said:
I dunno, maybe it's me. I think I keep typing "I know they charge $40". But somehow people keep thinking I'm unaware that they do.

So... I know flight schools charge $40 and up.

(Let me pause here, for that to sink in.)

I was just curious as to how long it's been that expensive.
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Since around 2002
 
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