Private Pilot's License (PPL) Cost + 3 Ways to Save BIG!

[scottfranco]

From a 1000 hour pilot, stuff I wish I knew to save money when I started:

1. Stay far far way from flight schools. They exist solely to siphon money directly from your pocket. See those slick binders? The one on one instruction? $$$. The truth is that slick materials and clean classrooms is not where the true flight knowledge is. The guy with the beat up jacket applying duct tape to his aircraft at the back of the airport knows more about flying than the flight school pilots will ever know, even after they (inevitably) become airline pilots.
2. You don't need any ground school to pass the written. None. But ground school is good. Find a local community college. They typically charge less than $100 for the whole course. Are they worse than slick flight schools? Mine was taught by an ex-astronaut. There were about 40 people in it. No one on one. Didn't matter at all.
3. Fly junk, or fly your own airplane. Find a FBO with the oldest, crappiest airplanes, but TRICYCLE GEAR. Think aging 150/152s. See that FBO with the G1000s in their airplanes? $$$. You don't need it. It won't help you. You'll spend most of your time looking out the front window to fly. If you think you will use the aircraft a lot after becoming a private pilot, buy a beater. You'll sell it one day for the same price you bought it, and nothing will ever be cheaper than owning it. As long as you avoid the temptation to fix it up. Tell the mechanic you just want to fly it and do the minimum. Telling he/she that you need your money for dialysis helps, accompanied by a limp.
4. Find and old dude who retired, but is a CFI and wants to make a little money on the side. The kind of CFI who has about 5 students MAX, and would rather stay home working on that classic Corvette he/she is restoring. If your CFI is going to be an airline pilot ... RUN AWAY. Your CFI will be cheaper because they don't have flight school overhead, and don't care about building time, or making a career.
5. Pass your written first. You don't need to touch an airplane to get a written. Once having completed it, you can concentrate on flying skills, which have surprisingly little to do with the written. The written is there to make sure you don't enter class bravo and hit a 747. Its not to teach you to fly. All of that stuff about navigation? You will never use it. Instead you will use Avare or similar flight GPS on your phone. Net cost: $0.
6 Plan to fly at least twice a week until you get your ticket. Any less than that, and you will just forget what you learned as fast as you are learning it.

Finally, the best way to save big bucks while flying:

Get your solo license. That's it, that's all. You will be restricted as to where you can fly. You will have to reup your medical every so often. You can't take others up. But you can fly. I did this for years. You can get qualified for solo in about 10 hours. You may have to change flight instructors and mumble something about "just can't seem to get that license". If you finally decide to get your ticket, you'll have like 400 hours of flight time and be an expert by then. And then you get to hear why your wife/husband/GF/BF does not want to fly with you.

[karlerbskorn]

I personally went out to my local airport, and offered to work for free to get flying lessons. Got a hell of a deal and a lot of great connections made.

[FBCStuttgart]

I joined a flight club for $250 a month which made the rental rate $75 an hour wet. I knocked out me private pilot license in about 6 or 7 weeks and saved a lot of money doing that. Same with instrument rating.

[antoniobranch]

When you get your pilot license(s) it doesn't say what aircraft you've flown, what flight school you attended, what score you got, or how much you paid. The license is only going to say what Class, Category and/or Rating(s) you earned....and believe me, "YOU EARNED".

[edjarrett]

I appreciate your insights. I will be working this process soon. I moved away from aviation after retiring from the military, but my passion has never left. I have 5500 hours of jet time and hope that it keeps me in line with the average. Thank you.

[wghart]

One thing to add. If you are planning on purchasing a plane once you get your PPL then try to buy one first and then train in it. If you finance it then your monthly note will most likely be less than what you would pay to rent plus you are putting your money into a plane you can sell later if you want.

[greyhavner]

But the average flight hours actually used to get the license is ~64...and you can't really ignore gear, books, headset, other training aids, etc. Also, checkrides in this area (same area) are mostly $800 now, a few $600.

[reevinriggin]

I just want to add my experience. I have 62 hours in and have not solo'ed yet. This is completely my fault. Some my instructor was not a good match for me and it took me a while to realize this as I thought I was just not a good candidate to fly a plane. Turns out that my instructor was horrible at teaching in a style that I need to learn effectively. She let me develop many bad habits that made it even more difficult to fix with a new instructor causing MORE time. Some other causes of the extra time was due to the flying club I belonged too had too many members and not enough airplanes. Scheduling was really hard. Many conflicts with scheduling, not to mention planes being broken when needed for a lesson causing MANY MANY delays in training, so flying more than once a week was darn near impossible for me as I work a full time job, and the first instructor would not work on Sunday.


This all left me feeling that I probably should just give up as I could just not "get it". I am an educated person. A excelled in sports so hand eye coordination really is not a problem for me as well as learning. I aced the written exam. Did the ground school on line all on my own. Yet, I still felt that I would never be able to do this as it was just not "sinking in". Really defeating after what I saved for the training was gone. I had saved $15K and thought that would be more than enough.

It would have been cheaper for me to buy my own trainer aircraft and then sell it when I was ready to upgrade. This is what I am going to do now to finish this mess. I will have way more control of the process this way.

[mikejuba]

I was very fortunate. Back in the day a C-150 was $12 WET/C-172 $15 and instructors were $6 per hour. I paid about $700 for my ppl, by the time the ticket was in my hand. (1975)

[jaydenstrickland]

I'd add as someone who did part 61 for private then went to a collegiate flight school for everything else up to CFII, the more studying that you put in on the ground, the less you'll have to pay in a plane. Having a solid cognitive understanding to all the different maneuvers going into a particular lesson, really sets a solid foundation for learning its application in the airplane. The airplane is not a good classroom. Also, the studying dosent stop after youve completed your written!

[FuriousFilipino]

Flying regularly is key; in a lot of cases, easier said than done. The primary issue really is everyone has a 9-5, and the weekends are going to be your primary flying days. The second issue is availability of planes, instructors, and the scheduling requirements. Throw in the weather and aircraft maintenance issues and there you are averaging 1 flight hour per week.

I have a checkride in less than a week, at 80-90 hours in for a PPL. I easily have an extra 15 hours of combined XC and solo time in there and an extra 15 hours of remedial flying because of maintenance and weather issues that has kept me out of the plane for 4 weeks at a time on at least 3 occasions. If I could do it all over again, I would schedule the beginning of flight training around March, fly twice a week, finish up in August and maybe by my estimate based on my comfort and learning style, be ready for a checkride at 55-60 hours including 8 hours of just flying the ACS flight maneuvers.

40 hours is doable, but most adults I’ve spoken to are going to struggle to get in 3-4 flights a week to make this happen. Someone on Reddit has claimed to hit this mark recently, but also added that they used a simulator for additional hours of practice which they did not count as flight time.

[kfhntv]

stay safe always sir I'm here because I want to support you forever

[stevekinney]

Very good and accurate explanation of cost. I started my training in June and just passed my check ride. Your ranges were in line with my experience with the exception of the DPE fee. Mine was higher. I also think 40 hours will be tough to hit and people should expect 55-60. I believe the national average is even higher than that. Thanks for the video.

[cyrild_transplant]

I would definitely update the "High" scenario as it can mislead people wanting to learn. In Los Angeles, the average is:
- 70h for the license
- $200 per rental for an old plane with G5 avionics
- $100 / hr for instructor (let's say 55h total)
- $800 for DPE exam.
= 70*200+100*55+800 = $20, 300

And that does not include any ground, materials, and/or app to learn.

[buckshot]

Even with so many variables, this is one of the better explanations of what it could possibly cost to earn a left-seat in GA. ✈️❤️👍

[grandolph]

Unless you are some kind of flying savant, plan on ~60 hrs. Yea really agree, taking a break from your training will only cost you time and money.

[albradley]

After reading all these stories about the cost of learning to fly, I am really glad that I learned in 1969. A Cessna 150 was $10 an hour. The instructor was $5 an hour. This adds up to $400 for the plane, $200 for the instructor and $100 for the ground school which got me ready for the written test. $700 total for the PPL. If you booked your checkride with the FAA there was no charge. Yes, free written, oral exam and check ride. The only cost was renting the airplane which was $10-15.

[jonathanmcphail]

While not exactly lining up with your topic, but something you mentioned. My first few hours of PPL lessons were in the tricked out G1000 C-172. Within five hours I knew a few things for certain. One, I was hooked and I would not be part of the drop out statistic. Two, rental was not for me. I would buy as soon as I possibly could. Three, nothing I could afford to pay cash for had the fancy avionics that was currently training on. After a chat with my CFI, I finished in a very nice 172 that had the old steam gauges. I saved $25 per rental hour and feel much better about the aircraft I’m currently shopping for.

[davisandotube]

Here in FLORIDA DPE’s will be from 800 to 1000 for a checkride. I have a friend that was looking for a CFI checkride averaging 1, 500.... And yeah, I’m yet to know (or heard) of anybody who got a PPL under 60ish hours.

[shuttlemanc]

A flight school in my area charges like 175 wet for an old 172 and 60 for an instructor. Your charged for the instructor for every minute your inside the plane, inside the building, basically as soon as you first see him to walking out the door. They estimate about $30k from 0 to private