What flight schools actually publish about price.
Aircraft and instructor rates, fees and private pilot estimates for 24 flight schools, each sourced to the school's own page with the date we read it.
Aircraft and instruction are priced by the hour, so one hour of dual instruction is the fairest single number. Here it runs $165 to $315 across 17 schools, and the labels explain why.
One school's own rate sheet
Pilot Rise, Dallas and Fort Worth. Updated September 19, 2026.
- Cessna 172, wet, five tail numbers
- $165/hr
- Cessna 172, Garmin 500 and air conditioning
- $180/hr
- Cessna 150
- $130/hr
- Instruction, standard
- $70/hr
- Refundable deposit
- $1,500
- Fuel surcharge from May 11, 2026
- $0.90/gal
- One dual hour, $165 + $70
- $235/hr
pilotrise.com/detailed-prices, read October 4, 2026.
- 24flight schools read
- 20print hourly aircraft or instruction rates
- 17let us work out one dual hour
Where to start
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Hourly rates on the page
16 schools. These schools print what an hour of aircraft and an hour of instruction cost. That is the only way to compare schools like for like, and even here the figures differ in what they include: fuel, tax, a minimum number of hours.
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Program prices, ranges and partial rates
8 schools. These schools sell by program, publish ranges, or print only part of a rate sheet. A program total can still be useful, but it hides how many hours it assumes, so read the hours next to the price.
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Ground school cost
What nine online providers say they charge for private pilot ground school and test prep, with access, endorsement and guarantee terms, and where the comparison articles disagree with them.
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Cost, side by side
One hour of dual instruction at every school that lets us work it out, each school's own private pilot estimate with the hours it assumes, and the answers to the questions people search for.
What this site is not
It does not rank schools, and nobody pays to be listed or placed higher. It does not say which school is safest or best to learn at. Figures are read from each school's own pages on October 4, 2026. Read how we compare and who runs this site.