So I walked into a flight school and asked how much flight training was these days...

[KAG]

Holy s!#t its gotten waaaaay too expensive and entry level jobs don't pay very much (yet). 80K they told me, I can now see why schools are closing up all over the country. No wonder there is a pilot shortage coming, no one is training. Factor in experienced Canadian pilots taking overseas jobs and its going to be a great time to be a pilot

This was one school in the GTA (expensive) so I'm wondering what are you all paying around the country? I get asked this question a lot by FA's thinking of becoming a pilot and I would like accurate information.

[wirez]

I spent 80k, so that number isn't off base.

[Saubia]

60 k cpl+ifr+multi+instructor ratings

[MrWings]

80K they told me

For what training?

What is it for PPL?

[Moose47]

G'day

Here is what I paid. Mind you that was back in early 70's.

$13 Dual / $11 Solo C-172

$11Dual / $9 Solo C-150 Aerobat

$44 Dual Piper Apache

$75 Dual Piper Aztec E

Could have done a PPC on a Navajo C/R for $250 an hour dual.

Cheers...Chris

[AOW]

I did some quick math, and a CPL/Multi/IFR with the minimum time is going to run about $50k before taxes. That number goes up if you fly a more expensive airplane (I figured on $150/hr for a single, which is probably a reasonable rate for a C150, but a C172 will likely cost more). I allowed 150 hours of time with an instructor at $70/hr, which I'm thinking would be 100 hours dual, plus 50 hours of ground briefing. I planned 25 hours of multi time, at $350/hr. Twin time has the biggest impact on total cost.

CPL Estimate.jpg (26.97 KiB) Viewed 5706 times

Am I missing anything? I am sure that you could get it up to $80K if you went well past the minimum times, but it does sound awfully high.

[KAG]

Thanks guys,
AOW where are you located? FA's have travel benefits and move around easy enough. It's worth moving to another part of the country and live cheap part time if you can save 20K, unless your living with your parents.

[LifeAt90Kts]

60k for a diploma and CPL multi IFR in YQM

[SuperchargedRS]

I did some quick math, and a CPL/Multi/IFR with the minimum time is going to run about $50k before taxes. That number goes up if you fly a more expensive airplane (I figured on $150/hr for a single, which is probably a reasonable rate for a C150, but a C172 will likely cost more). I allowed 150 hours of time with an instructor at $70/hr, which I'm thinking would be 100 hours dual, plus 50 hours of ground briefing. I planned 25 hours of multi time, at $350/hr. Twin time has the biggest impact on total cost.
CPL Estimate.jpg
Am I missing anything? I am sure that you could get it up to $80K if you went well past the minimum times, but it does sound awfully high.

If you're paying $1,000 for a first headset, and buying "ground school kits", paying nearly $400 for a trainer twin, you're living a very rich life.


I was just shy of 60k, CPL, IFR, floats, and my own plane. Flew across the country a few times, crossed a few boarders and ended up with my own taildragger.

If I would have sold the plane after my CPL, I could have done it all for 30k, however I liked the plane and with inflation, seemed my money was better kept of the plane than a loosing savings account.

[photofly]

$13 Dual / $11 Solo C-172

Instructor making up 2/13 = 15% of the cost.

Today at Island Air Flight School and Charters:
C172 Dual $244, solo $174. Instructor makes up 70/244 = 29% of the cost.

That seems a big change to me.

[fish4life]

Id say the opposite if you are going to fly for a career it's cheaper to buy a good headset day 1 instead of buying another one 2 years down the road.

As for pricing according to Harvs in St. Andrews website;
PPL $10300
basic CPL to full Multi-IFR CPL vary between $39-63 000.

Also C-152 is $135/hr

[AOW]

If you're paying $1,000 for a first headset, and buying "ground school kits", paying nearly $400 for a trainer twin, you're living a very rich life.

If you're making a career out of aviation, why not invest in good hearing protection from the start, rather than buying a cheap headset, and then a few years later realize that you should have bought the expensive headset from the start?
I just tried to grab some prices from your "average" Toronto flight school. The ground school kit likely includes textbooks, E6B, logbook, ptr, etc. I didn't take the time to price each of these things out separately. Likewise I put in $500 for "other supplies" such as charts, books, gadgets, etc. I am sure you could spend more than that easily, but also probably quite a bit less. I mostly was trying to figure out how to get it up to $80K. You could shave off hundreds of dollars here and there, I'm sure, and you probably can do your multi and IFR in less than 25 hours, but this is a conservative estimate. If your local prices are that much better, plug them into a spreadsheet and get your results. I picked $350/hr for the twin because that seemed to be about the worst-case cost, some schools may have a much cheaper option, but usually you don't have too many different twins to choose from at a given school. I am glad I don't have to pay 10 cents per second to fly a twin, but that is likely reality for somebody starting training today.

This isn't a competition to see how cheap you can get your CPL for (I spend MUCH less than I am quoting here, but that was a long time ago, with some "better" than average circumstances). It is a question of how much it costs today to get a CPL.

To put things in a different perspective: The cost of renting an aircraft for flight training roughly doubled between 1996 and 2006. In the ten years since then, the cost has only increased about 10%.

[Boreas]

$13 Dual / $11 Solo C-172

Instructor making up 2/13 = 15% of the cost.

Today at Island Air Flight School and Charters:
C172 Dual $244, solo $174. Instructor makes up 70/244 = 29% of the cost.

That seems a big change to me.

Just a money grab by the owner. Doubt the guys there see more that 30-40% of the $70 instructor fee.

I wouldn't be surprised if IA was the most expensive/overpriced school in Canada, arguably North America.

[SuperchargedRS]

If you're paying $1,000 for a first headset, and buying "ground school kits", paying nearly $400 for a trainer twin, you're living a very rich life.

If you're making a career out of aviation, why not invest in good hearing protection from the start, rather than buying a cheap headset, and then a few years later realize that you should have bought the expensive headset from the start?
I just tried to grab some prices from your "average" Toronto flight school. The ground school kit likely includes textbooks, E6B, logbook, ptr, etc. I didn't take the time to price each of these things out separately. Likewise I put in $500 for "other supplies" such as charts, books, gadgets, etc. I am sure you could spend more than that easily, but also probably quite a bit less. I mostly was trying to figure out how to get it up to $80K. You could shave off hundreds of dollars here and there, I'm sure, and you probably can do your multi and IFR in less than 25 hours, but this is a conservative estimate. If your local prices are that much better, plug them into a spreadsheet and get your results. I picked $350/hr for the twin because that seemed to be about the worst-case cost, some schools may have a much cheaper option, but usually you don't have too many different twins to choose from at a given school. I am glad I don't have to pay 10 cents per second to fly a twin, but that is likely reality for somebody starting training today.

This isn't a competition to see how cheap you can get your CPL for (I spend MUCH less than I am quoting here, but that was a long time ago, with some "better" than average circumstances). It is a question of how much it costs today to get a CPL.

To put things in a different perspective: The cost of renting an aircraft for flight training roughly doubled between 1996 and 2006. In the ten years since then, the cost has only increased about 10%.

It's all about ROI.

Besides with the washout rate, buying all that crap before you even get your PPL is silly, also shop used, you can get a rich kids Bose or Lightspeed for like $500 off craigslist.

Most of the ground school gadgets, you don't really need.

Many of the books and information can be found for free online.

Rentals and instructors can be found for less outside of major cities and free lance instructors are the way to go, bonus points for saving money and building better time doing things in gliders or small tailwheels planes.

[ditar]

I paid $43,232.23 between 2004 to 2006 for all my licenses and ratings. That includes aircraft, instructor, books, flight test fees, etc. I'll have that number stuck in my head forever.

[CFR]

While it is expensive, a certain amount (I don't remember how much) of the commercial training costs can be claimed on income tax.

[AirFrame]

Id say the opposite if you are going to fly for a career it's cheaper to buy a good headset day 1 instead of buying another one 2 years down the road.

I started before Bose/Lightspeed/etc. were even options. My DC 10-13.4 is still working perfectly, 20 years later. People thought I was paying too much for a headset at the time, many fellow students bought SoftCom or other no-name-brand headsets instead, and more than one had to buy a replacement when a cord failed, speaker failed, microphone failed, etc.

If I were starting now, i'd go for one of the well-proven ANR headsets instead. They're pricey, but they'll last you a looooooong time.

[MrWings]

G'day

Here is what I paid. Mind you that was back in early 70's.

$13 Dual / $11 Solo C-172

$11Dual / $9 Solo C-150 Aerobat

Are you sure of these prices? I was reading in COPA about civilian flight training right after WWII and prices were around what you quoted.

What it it cost for your PPL? $500?

I did mine in the late 80's. Cost $3000.

[cap41]

Buy a 150 for 15-20K do your training, and sell it for a little less than you paid. The above calculation shows a conservative rental cost of 26k with tax thats 30K!!! Buy that 150 and save most of that money...Yes I know there are maintenance fees etc. but there is still a huge savings. If you can talk another student into a partnership.....its win/win

[Rowdy]

You all are looking backwards with 20/20 rose coloured goggles on. For the average newcomer to aviation who doesn't have a parent or sibling already involved, the costs go up. OTS - You don't see the cost savings or have the knowledge to purchase and operate your own airplane. Unless m mommy and daddy are willing to throw money at you in excessive amounts.

I had a share in a cherokee.. I flew as inexpensively as I could. Worked on the airport so I could slip out on lunch breaks or before and after and fly. Kept flying as much as I could to not lose competency while training and my CPL- MIFR/Floats cost just over 61k.. between 2002-2004. Add about another grand for the seminars and study books and exam costs for an ATPL.. and a couple renewals of the MIFR whilst I flew floats.. Its prettttttyyy easy to spend over 80k now to start off making 24k working 7 days a week flogging a navajo as an FO for 14hrs a day... Leave that after 2 years to make mid 30's at a regional for another 3-5 years? Sure there are some good gigs out there, but for the average joe...

[Laser Tilt]

I have two kids in University and will be paying $80,000 each for their four year undergrad science degrees. Who know if they will get jobs so the investment doesn't sound so out of line.

[photofly]

What it it cost for your PPL? $500?

I did mine in the late 80's. Cost $3000.

I did mine in 1990 in the US midwest, it was about $5k.

[CLguy]

I started my flight training in the mid 70's at Lakehead Flying School in Thunder Bay. They had 3 Cessna 150's and the rate was $19 Solo and $24 Dual. I was working in a paper mill and had to work about 3 hours to buy 1 hour of dual.

[I WAS Birddog]

I started my flight training in the mid 70's at Lakehead Flying School in Thunder Bay. They had 3 Cessna 150's and the rate was $19 Solo and $24 Dual. I was working in a paper mill and had to work about 3 hours to buy 1 hour of dual.

side note....this man is a god.

as you were

[Rookie50]

I have two kids in University and will be paying $80,000 each for their four year undergrad science degrees. Who know if they will get jobs so the investment doesn't sound so out of line.

I'm honestly curious how many of today's professional pilot program students are fully paying their own way.

When one pays for every dime themselves it does wonders for focus and work ethic.