What Our Private Pilot Students Actually Paid, 2023–2026

Methodology And Caveats

The study counts every student who trained with us for the private pilot certificate and passed the FAA checkride between 2023 and 2026. That is more than 50 people. Students who started and stopped are not in the cost, hour or time figures, because they never reached checkride day.

Each all-in total is what a student had paid by checkride day for four things: flying, instruction, ground lessons and exam fees. Anything outside those four, a headset for example, is not counted.

Hours are total training hours at the checkride, and they include simulator time. That makes them a little different from the flight time the FAA counts toward its 40-hour minimum, which the section on the FAA minimum explains.

Time is calendar time from a student's first lesson to the day of the checkride.

The averages are ranges because the records support a range and not a single number. The lowest and highest figures are single students, rounded. We are not publishing individual records, names or anything else that could identify a student.

Two limits are worth stating plainly. More than 50 students is a small sample, and all of them trained at the same airport, in the same three airplane types, with our instructors. And the package prices further down are today's, listed for comparison, while the totals are what students actually paid. Treat this as one school's honest record, not a national average.

The Numbers In One Table

Read the Average column as the center of the group. The Lowest and Highest columns are individual students at the edges, and they are there so nobody mistakes the average for a guarantee.

If you take one number away, take the hours. Fifty to sixty is a planning figure you can price yourself, at your own pace and in the airplane you prefer, with our flight training cost calculator. The cheapest way to find out whether you want to fly fifty hours is to fly one: a discovery flight, for one or for two, or a two-hour beginner lesson.

How The FAA Minimum Compares

The FAA's floor for a private pilot certificate in a single-engine airplane is 40 hours of flight time, under 14 CFR 61.109(a). At least 20 of those hours are training with an authorized instructor and at least 10 are solo.

Inside the 40 sit specific requirements: 3 hours of cross-country training, 3 hours at night including a cross-country of more than 100 nautical miles and 10 full-stop takeoffs and landings, 3 hours flying solely by reference to instruments, and 3 hours preparing for the checkride in the two calendar months before it. The solo time carries its own conditions, among them a 150-nautical-mile solo cross-country with full-stop landings at three points, and three takeoffs and landings at an airport with an operating control tower.

At Van Nuys that last one takes care of itself, because the field has its own control tower: a Class D airport under the Los Angeles Class B shelf.

Simulator time counts toward the 40 only in small amounts. Paragraph (k)(1) of the same rule allows up to 2.5 hours in a full flight simulator or flight training device, with an authorized instructor, and (k)(2) raises that to 5 hours inside a course at a Part 142 training center. Our Redbird MCX is an FAA-approved advanced aviation training device, a category paragraph (k) does not name; the FAA approves devices like it for specific purposes under 14 CFR 61.4(c). Ask us what that approval lets you credit before you plan around it.

So our students' 50 to 60 hours are not all airplane time. The totals include simulator time, and the FAA caps how much of that can count toward the 40. Even so, the average hour count sat 10 to 20 hours above the FAA's number, and the lowest hour count in four years of records was 42.

We train under Part 61, so 61.109 is the rule that applies to every student in the study. We think 40 is the right number to know and the wrong number to budget for.

What Separated The Fastest From The Slowest

Frequency. The fastest finishers flew five to seven lessons a week. The slowest flew about one.

The number one reason a student took longer was schedule and work, ahead of every other cause. That is a calendar problem rather than a flying problem, and it is the one you can plan for before lesson one.

From the right seat, the difference shows early. At one lesson a week, a fair share of each lesson goes to getting back what slipped since the last one. At five a week, the next lesson starts where the previous one stopped. The study does not pair each student's pace with their total, so we will not put a dollar figure on flying once a week. Our view, after watching students at both ends, is that frequency is the cheapest thing you can buy.

The fastest student in the study went from first lesson to checkride in under four weeks, flying five to seven days a week. Their name stays private. A pace like that needs a clear month, a medical certificate and a student pilot certificate in hand before the first solo (14 CFR 61.23 and 61.87), and the knowledge test passed before the checkride, which 14 CFR 61.39(a) requires of everyone.

Under four weeks is the edge of the range, not a promise. The average was two to four months. If you want to feel the pace before you commit to it, a two-hour beginner flying lesson is $349, and like a $229 discovery flight it is credited in full toward a program if you enroll within 24 hours.

How The Packages Compare To What Students Paid

These are today's private pilot packages, as published on our private pilot program page. All three include books and training materials.

Set them beside the study. The average student logged 50 to 60 hours, more than the 40 that Standard holds and up to the 60 that Comprehensive holds. The average total, $10,000 to $13,000 with exam fees included, runs from just under the Standard price to about $2,600 above it, and stays well under Comprehensive.

At the edges, the highest total in the study, about $16,000, is close to the Comprehensive price. The highest hour count, 80, is exactly what Premium holds, and Premium's $22,000 is more than any total in the study.

The practical reading is that a package is not a total. Standard is a sensible start for a student who can fly often and expects to add hours. A student who will fly once a week, or who would rather pay for hours up front than watch a balance, should look hard at Comprehensive.

Airplanes They Trained In

Students in the study trained in an about even mix of three airplanes. Rates are wet, so fuel is included. The package rate applies inside a course package; the retail rate is pay-as-you-go. The Cessna 162 and the Warrior cost the same inside a package, so the choice between them comes down to feel. The DA20 is $50 an hour more. Because the mix was about even, the study's averages are not a one-airplane figure, and we do not break the totals out by type.

Cessna 162 Skycatcher

Two seats, high wing, a 100 hp Continental O-200-D and Garmin G300 glass. Six in the fleet: N60225, N7030B, N6039M, N179LC, N5208V and N52049.

Package rate $179 an hour. Retail $269 an hour.

Piper Warrior PA-28-161

Four seats, low wing, a 160 hp Lycoming, about 128 knots in cruise and equipped for instrument flight. Two in the fleet: N3034Q and N6312C.

Package rate $179 an hour. Retail $269 an hour.

Diamond DA20-C1

Two seats, low wing, a control stick instead of a yoke and a bubble canopy, with a 125 hp Continental IO-240 and a Garmin 430. Two in the fleet: N306EF and N308EF.

Package rate $229 an hour. Retail $329 an hour.

Who Finished

The youngest student to pass in the study was 17, the minimum age for the certificate under 14 CFR 61.103(a). The oldest was in their seventies.

Both sat the same checkride to the same FAA standard.

Under 10% of the students who started private pilot training with us in the period did not finish. The study gives that number and not the reasons, so we are not going to guess at them here. Their spending is not in the totals above.

How To Land In The Low End Of The Range

Everything below comes from the study's own numbers.

Step 1 of 4

Clear Your Calendar Before You Start

Schedule and work were the top reason students took longer. Before you buy hours, block out lessons you can actually keep for the next two to four months. Book your FAA medical early too, because you need it before your first solo.

Step 2 of 4

Fly As Many Days A Week As You Can

The fastest finishers flew five to seven lessons a week, and the slowest flew about one. If five a week is out of reach, fly as close to it as your calendar allows, and book the next lesson before you leave the ramp.

Step 3 of 4

Study For The Written Between Flights

Students in the study averaged 90% or higher on the knowledge test. Ground instruction is $110 an hour, so the theory you learn at home is theory you are not paying an instructor to teach. Save ground time for the questions you could not answer yourself.

Step 4 of 4

Use The Simulator Where It Counts

Inside a package, an hour in the Redbird MCX is $120, against $179 for the Cessna 162 or the Warrior, and the instructor's $110 is the same in either. Use it for procedures and instrument work, and practice checklists on the Redbird TD2 desktop trainer, which is free with packages. Keep the FAA credit limit in mind: most of the 40 still has to be flown in an airplane.

How To Cite This Study

Journalists, bloggers and anyone answering a forum thread are welcome to quote these figures. We ask two things: keep the ranges as ranges, and link to this page so readers can see the method.

Suggested citation: You Fly LA, "What Our Private Pilot Students Actually Paid, 2023–2026," Van Nuys Airport, Los Angeles, October 2026. https://youfly.la/pages/what-our-private-pilot-students-actually-paid

Short version for a forum post: More than 50 private pilot students at You Fly LA, Van Nuys, 2023–2026, paid about $10,000–$13,000 all-in on average, with 50–60 hours including simulator time, over 2–4 months. Approximate figures from school records.

Questions about the data: call (818) 330-1318.

Questions About The Study

Can I Spread The Cost Over Several Months?

Yes. We offer interest-free direct payments for up to 12 months, or financing over up to 15 years through Stratus Financial after a soft credit check.

Which Exam Fees Are In The Totals?

The FAA knowledge test, a two-hour exam taken at a PSI testing center for about $175, and the examiner's fee for the checkride, which runs roughly $800 to $1,000.

Does A Discovery Flight Count Toward Training?

Yes. The $229 discovery flight is credited in full toward training if you enroll within 24 hours of flying it, and the same rule applies to the $349 two-hour beginner lesson.

What If I Finish With Hours Left In My Package?

Package purchases are final and there are no refunds. Unused credit can be transferred to another student or put toward a discovery flight.

Which Simulator Do Students Use?

The Redbird MCX, a full-motion simulator with single- and multi-engine profiles. It is $200 an hour at the retail rate.

How Old Do You Have To Be?

You can fly solo at 16 and earn the private certificate at 17. The rule sets no upper age limit; what every student needs, at any age, is an FAA medical certificate before the first solo.

Is You Fly LA A Part 141 School?

No. We train under Part 61, the rule this study's 40-hour comparison comes from. We do not hold Part 141 approval and we do not issue I-20s.

Can I Train On Weekends?

Yes. We are open seven days a week, 9 AM to 9 PM, at 7900 Balboa Blvd on the field at Van Nuys Airport.

Keep Reading

• Private pilot license cost in 2026, item by item
• The private pilot license in Los Angeles: requirements, phases and timeline
• Flight training cost calculator: price your own hours
• How much flight school costs, from first lesson to career
• Flight training in Los Angeles, from Van Nuys Airport
• Beginner flying lessons at Van Nuys Airport