Accelerated academy · Tucson, AZ · Checked August 12, 2026
What Arizona Aero-Tech's program costs
A full-time, integrated career program sold at a fixed price, not an hourly rate. Every figure below is Arizona Aero-Tech's own published price, with the source and the date we read it. This is the published sticker, not a personalized quote.
Website arizonaaerotech.com
Published program price
$14.4K
24 Day Private Pilot
The academy does not publish how hours beyond the estimate are billed. Confirm before enrolling.
Each course is quoted against a stated number of dual, simulator and ground hours, and the site does not say what happens if you need more than that. It publishes no hourly rate either, so there is no way to work out what an extra hour would cost. Ask before booking, especially on the five-day courses, where a single weather day is a large fraction of the schedule.
The academy's own published price. It does not reduce the 1,500-hour airline minimum (only a qualifying degree does). Prices change. Confirm current figures with Arizona Aero-Tech.
The programs, with sources
PPL · 50 hrs
The published hours are 40 dual, 10 solo and 50 ground. The site does not say whether the examiner fee, the knowledge test, the medical or supplies are inside the price.
Quoted as 24 days. The only course here that starts from nothing; the other four assume you already hold a certificate or rating.
IR · 20 hrs
20 dual, 20 simulator and 20 ground hours. The listing also states prerequisites of 50 hours cross-country PIC and 10 hours of instrument or attitude training, which you must already have and which are not part of the price.
Half the stated flight time is in a simulator, which is why the figure sits below a typical instrument rating bought by the hour.
IR · 12 hrs
12 dual, 12 simulator and 12 ground hours. Stated prerequisites are 50 hours cross-country PIC including the long cross-country, and 30 hours of instrument training already flown. This is a finishing course, not a route to the rating from scratch.
For someone who has stalled part way through an instrument rating elsewhere. Compare it against the 10 Day course only if you already meet the prerequisites.
CPL · 12 hrs
12 dual and 30 ground hours. The commercial certificate's own aeronautical experience requirements, including the 250 total hours, are not part of this price and are the larger cost by far.
A checkride preparation course rather than a route to the certificate: it prices the finishing dual, not the hour building behind it.
CFII · 12 hrs
12 dual and 25 ground hours. The listing states a Commercial Pilot Instrument Airplane certificate as the prerequisite.
The deepest course Arizona Aero-Tech publishes.
Step 2
Turn this into a plan.
Turn this into a route to your checkride, with Aero-Tech's published price built in.
Add to planSee how an academy stacks up against Part 61, Part 141, and a 2-year or 4-year degree.
Compare the pathsCommon questions about Arizona Aero-Tech
- How much does Arizona Aero-Tech cost?
- Arizona Aero-Tech publishes $14,400 for its 24 Day Private Pilot, as listed on the academy's own pricing page (August 12, 2026). It publishes 5 tracks in total, priced by how much flight experience you start with. That is the published sticker for the program, not a personalized quote, and it is what the academy asks before the fees the sticker excludes.
- What is included in Arizona Aero-Tech's program price?
- Arizona Aero-Tech's published programs cover Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Instrument Instructor. The headline track plans for about 50 flight hours. On what it excludes, the academy states: The published hours are 40 dual, 10 solo and 50 ground. The site does not say whether the examiner fee, the knowledge test, the medical or supplies are inside the price.
- What happens if you need more hours than Arizona Aero-Tech's program includes?
- The academy does not publish how hours beyond the estimate are billed. Confirm before enrolling. Each course is quoted against a stated number of dual, simulator and ground hours, and the site does not say what happens if you need more than that. It publishes no hourly rate either, so there is no way to work out what an extra hour would cost. Ask before booking, especially on the five-day courses, where a single weather day is a large fraction of the schedule. This is the question worth asking hardest at any accelerated academy, because the published price and the price a student who flies over the plan actually pays are two different numbers.
- Does going to Arizona Aero-Tech lower the 1,500-hour airline requirement?
- No. An accelerated academy does not reduce the 1,500-hour ATP minimum. Only a qualifying aviation degree does, under 14 CFR 61.160, which lowers it to 1,000 hours for a bachelor's or 1,250 for an associate's. What an academy sells is speed and a fixed price to the commercial certificate and instructor ratings, not a shortcut to the airlines. Most graduates then instruct to build the remaining hours.
Other academies in Arizona
Plan the money before you commit
A program price only makes sense next to what each rating costs on its own, what free money exists, and what borrowing actually looks like.
What each rating costs
Honest per-rating ranges, with the fees most quotes leave out.
Free money first
Verified flight training scholarships. Every scholarship dollar is a dollar you never finance.
If you borrow
Compare lenders and see the real monthly payment before you sign.
Figures are Arizona Aero-Tech's own published program prices, shown with the date we read them. They are not a personalized quote, and a student's actual cost will differ with location premiums, the fees the sticker excludes, and pace. Published prices generally assume the program's planned hours; flight training often runs over the FAA minimums, and how extra hours are billed varies by academy (some hold a truly fixed cost, others charge an hourly rate for additional time). Confirm the overage policy with the academy. An accelerated academy does not lower the 1,500-hour airline minimum; only a qualifying degree does, under 14 CFR 61.160. PilotBound is not affiliated with Arizona Aero-Tech. Disclaimer & removal policy.
Primary sources: arizonaaerotech.com·arizonaaerotech.com