Pilot License Cost in 2024 | Full Breakdown of PPL Flight Training & Flight School Costs #aviation

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How much does it cost to get your pilot's license? Getting your Private Pilot License (PPL) can be one of the most rewarding accomplishments in any pilots career. But how much does it cost? After posting my last video explaining the Private Pilot's License process from start to finish, I received so many questions with regards to the costs. In order to answer this question as best as possible, I've put together this breakdown budget of each part of the training. My goal is to give you the most realistic cost estimates, utilizing industry standards, flight school data, and my personal experience as a professional pilot. FOR EXAMPLE: Although the minimum flight training time required for the PPL in the US is 40 hours... almost every flight school, student, and instructor that I talked to said that on average, their students finished their license in 55 to 70 hours. Utilizing these real world figures, I made a real life budget that will help you prepare for the financial requirements demanded by the PPL. Of course, there are many ways to do it, and many ways one can get their private pilot license and save money, however, this is a breakdown of the most common process.

The PPL is the first step in becoming a commercial pilot or an airline pilot. Once you have your private pilot license, you can then continue your training to get your multi engine rating, your IFR rating (instrument rating) and then your commercial pilot license (often called the CPL). In order to get your first flying job as a pilot, you must have at least your commercial license. Lastly, you can get your ATPL which allows you to fly larger two crew aircraft. I will be posting more videos soon explaining the CPL, muti engine rating and IFR rating.
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[EvanLuft]

Hey everyone! Thanks for all of the support! Make sure you check out my other videos on my channel about my life as a corporate pilot. The amount of future young aviators reaching out for advice has been very cool! <3

[robertmack]

After my tour of duty in late '72 (and I'd saved everything I could while in) I came home and paid $5 for an introductory flight. When I asked how much the Private Pilot course was they said $635 so I asked if they wanted cash or would they take a check. When they found out I was a veteran they went out of their way to accelerate the training! For the next couple of months I was driving a cotton picker for my family as it was a very wet year then began pilot training in March of '73. By January '75 I had my first full-time flying job with a bank. By October I was in the right seat of a jet. Career span was 45 years of which the last 23 were expat (12 type-ratings / 98 countries / 22 on the African continent). At this time I'm waiting to hear from the FAA if they will reinstate my medical and if so I have two part-time contract gigs on a Gulfstream 650ER. You're the new generation and there is a lot of opportunity for you out there - God bless!

[therickson]

I spent about $8000 in 2019-2020. Realize that the cost is usually spread out over a year or more...that makes a big difference. Also, I took out a personal loan for $8K when I started and put the money in a separate account that I used for flight training only. That meant that I never had to worry about whether I had the money for the lesson this week, it was in the account with its own debit card. Then, as I trained, I made payments on the loan and...I paid off the loan two months after I got my license. I spent a little more because of interest but I never had to worry whether the money was there for training.

[kevinbaslee]

I got my PPL almost 9 years ago for around $6500. I now have an instrument rating, commercial, and on the verge of my CFI rating. I don't know the total cost, but well North of 10X the PPL. It's been worth every penny!! I had to work second and third jobs to pay for it, but I was able to do it without barrowing a penny. If you want to do it bad enough, and are determined, you can make it happen. One of the most rewarding experiences of my life!!

[carlaoliveira]

My son is 14 almost 15. He's already in school to be a pilot. He's flying but always with an instructor. He can't get his ppl until he turns 17. But he absorbs everything, absolutely loves flying. He eventually wants to be a commercial pilot. The instructors are very impressed at how he absorbs it all both the flying & the school work.

[leeforraht]

I’ve been obsessed with planes and flying since I was a kid, and growing up on a farm I always loved watching the crop dusters do their thing. The local airport/flight school is right across from one of our fields and I always loved watching the planes take off right over my head when I was out working in that field. Always wanted to give it a shot and get my pilot’s license. It’s a big cost, but I think I’ll regret it if I don’t give it a shot.

[gottafly]

Great video! Very well documented. I am so glad you included the discovery flight, because small aircraft are much different than what most people are used to, so definitely this is an opportunity to test drive before you buy.The only thing I can add based on 30 years of experience, The number one reason for students not completing their training is running out of money, and the number one reason for running out of money is gaps in the training which requires re-learning skills over and over again. I highly recommend to your audience, and to everyone who asks, to treat your flight training like a semester in college. Plan that it will cost you $10, 000, plan for three sessions with an instructor per week, do your homework and study. If you do this, it is highly likely that in 3 to 4 months he will be certified by the FAA as a pilot!

[fox]

when I was in the Air Force, we would talk to our pilots about getting our private licenses, and generally, back in 2005 ish.. it was about $24k. And we all griped about how much it costed. And of course our officers would look at us crosseyed and say, "You have a $24k car in the dorm parking lot don't you?". Everyone has their own priorities...

[rogermwoodbury]

This was interesting. I got my ppl in the early 1970's. I was a high mileage driver here in Maine servicing the clients of my commercial insurance business. One day I had to drive 150 miles to Bangor and return for just a policy release signature...a terrible use of time. I looked into commercial flying and found that the time involved would give me no savings because of the airline routing (Portland to Boston to Bangor to Boston to Portland). So I figured that if I had my ppl I could save at least nine hours of travel. When I was in the Air Force I learned the basics of flying the Cessna 172 so I figure it would be simple even though that training was ten years before. I went to the Cessna Pilot Training Center at the airport, took a basic orientation flight which was free on that day, and decided to give it a shot.

All my USAF basic flight training came right back as far as handling the aircraft. I had ended up being a GCI controller in the Air Force so the air traffic procedures and radio work was really second nature. I totalled the cost up and knew it was going to cost roughly $8000 to get my ppl: it was 1986. Then I learned something else that was really interesting. Private flying and general aviation was at a low point for Cessna at that time. Cessna Aircraft had a "special deal": if you got your license and bought a new Cessna airplane, Cessna would REFUND your total cost of learning to fly. AND as it happened, Cessna had a bunch of 172's in stock in Wichita. Better still, Cessna would finance your aircraft purchase at a really good interest rate (I've forgotten what it was, but it was CHEAP).

So I did some fast thinking. I asked the Cessna franchise management if they would approach Cessna about doing the deal backwards. That is, would Cessna Aircraft sell me a new 172 FIRST, assuming that the flight training through their program would be INcluded in the purchase price? Then I would buy the airplane and complete my flight training in my own airplane saving the airplane rental cost and the cost of the ground training also, which had looked at around $8000 or so at the time.

Cessna thought about my offer for about a week and then agreed. The only question was which airplane would I buy. I ended up with N99548, which was a blue striped Cessna 172 that was fully IFR certified. ( I new that truly safe business use of an airplane in Maine would mean requiring IFR certification). The cost of the airplane was right around $80, 000 if memory serves and that included the private pilot flight training. There were of course, some other expenses involved such as the four place intercom system I had installed with "push to talk" on both yokes and a Loran system that I wanted as it would be simpler to fly my mostly VFR flights using the Loran. But I was in the airplane and ready to go in about two months from the time I knew that flying might be a good option for my business flying needs.

Since I could legitimately argue that 90% of my flying that 172 was for business purposes and kept the logs to prove it, 90% of my flying and aircraft ownership was deducted against my income tax, so for the time I had the aircraft and used it, essentially I wrote it all off against income taxes. Not everyone could do that at the time but through the few years of my flying, the net cost of it all approached zero.

[joemanflyer]

I loved training and flying to become a private pilot!! It’s an amazing experience! You become part of a new family! The Camaraderie between pilots is exponential. After I got my pilot license … I flew with friend that is also a pilot to Oshkosh!! Flying across this country from California to Wisconsin is an adventure in itself. This is what flying is all about…
My learning experience that I can pass onto you is that you fly a minimum of 4 days a week and do your ground school the other 3 days. Do your reading, studying and homework religiously. This will save you the most money and you will get your license faster! See you in the skies !!!!

[divaker]

Bro uploaded the video in 2021 and said its for 2024 in 2023. Time traveller fs

[mtsflorida]

I started flying on my 16th birthday. I took $200 dollars worth of lessons being 5 hrs $30 + $20 for instructor in the 150 Cessna. I had 2 $5 introduction lessons first and completed ground school and IFR. I was then ready for solo and bought a plane for $2500 from a airline Capt. Yes it was very inexpensive but I was prepared and had the books since the army where I got a lot of hours with rotary and fixed wing being with an Airborne unit. Flying has been my favorite passion followed by law enforcement and medicine about tied.

[scottyjay]

I had 51.3 hours in my book prior to passing my practical test. But 4 of those hours were for a solo cross country that didn’t count due to weather diversion. So I’m going to say I took my test at 47.3 hours. Test only took 1.1 hours

[joedivita]

Everyone's experience is unique! Finally got my PPL this past November. Took me 130 hours due to the covid set back, switched flight schools twice, instructor availability etc etc etc - every setback in the book. All-in-all: $25k. Now, after two fatal accidents (one was one of my instructors) at my home airport in 9 months, I've decided to hang it up. Was a wonderful experience and I already miss it, but I've decided the risks involved just for a hobby aren't worth it for me. Own your journey, enjoy every minute of it and stay safe out there!

[parsanekoui]

I obtained my PPL at 43 hours, around 9-10k total, all depends on your efficiency on training and how quick you pick up things.

[michaelkermizian]

I received my solo certificate in the early 70's with 8.1 hours of instruction. I went and bought a PA-28-140 right after. The instructor never told me that I had to be within sight of the home airport. I flew six 200 mile trips before I found out otherwise. I've been flying for more than 50 years now. Things were different back then.

[SteelDogFab]

Awesome video and a great breakdown. I took my discovery flight 9/29/2021 (which turned into my first lesson) and took my checkride 4/3/2022. With 41.5hrs walking into my checkride. I broke down the cost, and it ended up being $7, 650 all said and done. This was a ton of self study (online ground school). Well worth every penny.

[dharps]

So glad I stumbled on this video! I’ve been looking into starting some civilian flight training and this is an awesome breakdown of the costs to help me accurately budget out what I need to start this summer (I have some flight hours from military training but the minimum 40 hour cost will get me close to that 55-70 hour range).

Much appreciated for the video, sir!

[percyjackson]

Just watched your first 2 videos in this series and they're incredible. Going into them, I had a ton of questions, and although you answered PPL ones to perfection, I really wish you were a commercial pilot so you could do more videos going through that process for further steps. Or even if you had a close friend you could interview to answer them.

Potential content questions to answer:
So how much time did each step of training take to get to next certificate/flight hour milestone/etc? What things worked best for increasing flight hours? What was best for preparing for the actual jobs?

Finding jobs with just PPL to get tons of hours and experience in without breaking the bank?

How much did it cost to train for each step? How did you cut costs from what they would have been?

How hard were the written tests, and how much study went into it? Are there free good resources for the written exams? How many written exams and certificates are there, and what are the best free study resources?

What does the physical actually entail for health? How long is it good for? I love the breakdown for type 1, 2, and 3, buy what do they actually entail?

Do you have an example schedule from the past? What are short haul and long haul schedules like? Can you really see your family every night? How many hours did you work a month when short haul vs now? How many hours worked are flying vs on ground?

Uniform- Recommendations for comfort? Inspections ever? Bang for buck vs comfort, what to go cheap on and all out on?

[jayeean]

Nice job! The one thing I was told as a student was to go as often as you can. I was able to go 2x per week every week until I received my private in ~ 72-74 hrs. Luckily we had a mild winter that year in the Northeast. My flying buddy went 1x per week for 2 years with the same plane and instructor due to his financial circumstances, but going more often will save money in the long run. Good point on having the time and commitment! You will ha ha to learn more than you imagine you'll have to, so be prepared for that. You have to WANT it... I did and it was a labor of love. I've been flying for 25 years and can't imagine NOT knowing how to fly. THEN... travel to Oshkosh and realize YOU DID IT!!