My first flight as a private pilot / The cost of a Private Pilot certificate
This morning I took Chris for a one hour flight around the southern portion of the Valley. Grats to Chris for being my first passenger! We started off by flying over our house and doing a nice slow turn around it for Chris to take some photos. Afterward we headed to Casa Grande for Chris to get another look into the giant strip mine, flew from there west to fly along the Sierra Estrella mountains back to South Mountain, back over our house again and then back to Stellar. I made a map of our flight path for all of you to be entertained. 
Pictures from Chris are online here.
At the end of my 1 hour flight today with Chris I have 60.3 hours of flying time, 16.5 as pilot in command. So, officially, I was a 57.3 hour private pilot (as my checkride was 2 hours long).
I’ve now done the final tally for the cost it took for me to go from 0 to Private Pilot. It’s at the bottom of this post; if you don’t want to see it, don’t click the “read more” text. Yes, it’s painful.
| Description | Cost |
|---|---|
| Airplane rental, $120/hr: | $7,020 |
| Instructor rental, $50/hr: | $2,190 |
| Landing fees, $2/landing at P19: | $88 |
| Equipment, books: | $300 |
| Medical exam: | $70 |
| Taxes: | $780 |
| Examiner fee (not taxed): | $400 |
| Total: | $10,853 |
7 Comments so far
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*shrugs* It’s comparable to getting a degree. As long as I think of it in those terms, I’m fine with it. All education is expensive.
*suppresses shivers*
I think it is important to note that the one person who taught James to fly and make decisions that will one day save his life when all hell breaks loose while he is flying, got exactly $876 dollars of the $10,853 during his journey through his private pilot training, His instructor.. ME! James has been an awesome student.. The type of student all instructors dream about.. The one student who shows exeptional aeronautical decision making skills and the student who does not make his instructor loose sleep at night while he is out flying after passing his checkride. Every instructor dreams of the day when the phone rings at 3am and his former student is on the line saying that he was flying and had a problem, and that one thing you told him made him react in a way that saved his life… I only hope I have armed James with the knowledge and know how to make those decisions. If he retains just a fraction of what I have told him, I have no doubt he will be fine.. Thus the reason I can sleep soundly at night! Peace out James! Fly safe! Just remember.. “If your not doing something, you’re probably forgetting something..” Jason R Day 2763064CFI 7/08…………
I think Jason was robbed! He certainly earned much more than they are paying him. We will be eternally grateful to him for all he has shared with you, son. Congratulations to both of you!
Whoo hoo!! So when are you flying to see us? =0)
Poke – I think I’ll have to become pretty wealthy before I could afford to fly that far: I’d need to own my own plane!
I’m up for hiking in Flag if that’s not too far. Congratulations again. Great Blog!
Hi,
I enjoyed reading your blog; don’t recall how I found it, just following some links…
I gave serious thought to becoming a pilot back in the mid 90’s. back then the price was about $10k. It’s interesting to see that the price hasn’t changed. I still think about it now and then, but the cost is too high for me.
Wishing you Clear Skies,
– Erik