Estimate the cost of your training

Pick the certificates you're chasing, the aircraft you'd fly them in, and where you'd train. Under Part 61 every hour figure starts at the FAA minimum and moves — drag it toward the national average, or to the number you think you'll need. Under Part 141 the estimate is built on the approved course minimums. Your estimate builds as you go and follows you down the page. Nothing here is a quote.

Work down the four steps below. You can change anything at any time.

Select your training

Pick as many as you like. Most people stack several — private, then instrument, then commercial — and the estimate adds them up as one path, counting the hours only once.

Where you’d train

Sets the instructor and simulator rates

Aircraft & hours

Member rates, wet, per hour

The rates shown are member rates, wet, and current at the time of writing — they change without notice.

Paying for it monthly

Illustrative only · Finance your training

Money down

Interest rate %

Term, months

Not a loan offer American Flight Schools does not originate loans and these are not offered terms. Illustrative amortization on the estimate above, less your deposit.

Send yourself this estimate

And have someone walk you through it

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Which location

Your estimate edit this if you like

Talk to a school

Where this goes Your details and the estimate above go to American Flight Schools so someone from the front desk can talk it through with you. The estimate itself is only ever a link — nothing about it is stored on this page.

Read this before you budget

What this estimate covers

Aircraft rental at the wet rate you set, for the hours you set.
Flight instruction at the published rate for your state and training tier.
Every rate here is a member rate — aircraft, instruction and the simulator. Club or membership dues are separate and are not in these figures.

What it does not cover

FAA medical certificate
Written knowledge tests
Checkride and examiner fees
Headset, iPad or EFB, books and charts
Club or membership dues, where they apply
Stage checks

These are provided by third parties outside what we offer, and their prices change without notice.

Why your number will differ Real cost moves with location, the specific airframe and the avionics fitted to it, fuel surcharges in effect the day you fly, whether you train under Part 61 or Part 141, and examiner fees in your area.

Frequency is the biggest lever Students flying two or three times a week finish nearer the FAA minimum. Fly once every other week and every lesson starts with review — which is most of the gap between the minimum column and the national average.

Instruction is where you can save Past the required hours, solid self-study cuts instructor time significantly. The national averages here assume ordinary preparation, not exceptional preparation.

These figures are planning estimates, not a quote and not a contract. Ask your local American Flight Schools campus for a current rate sheet.