PilotBound

What flight training costs at Alabama flight schools

Across the 5 Alabama schools here with published rates, trainer rentals run $155 to $185 per hour and instruction $50 to $75, and PilotBound's private pilot estimate lands between $16,725 and $18,885, with a median of $18,595.

28 schools listed · Updated October 16, 2026

Estimate cost toflying
Showing 1–12 of 28 schools

Totals to reach your Private goal at this pace. Estimates use PilotBound's own completion-hours model, examiner-completion data where it exists and FAA minimums where it does not, applied to each school's published rates. They are PilotBound estimates, not the school's quote, and will differ from a school's own figures. How we estimate.

Private estimate range across Alabama$14.4K$21.5K

  • Box Aviation

    Part not stated
    Lowest in ALLargest fleet

    Montgomery, AL·boxaviation.com

    $155/hr aircraft (wet)·$55/hr instructor

    Checked September 12, 2026·Source

    Box prices instruction per aircraft rather than once: $55/hr in the Cherokees and the 172s, $65/hr in the Diamond DA40 and $75/hr in the Aztec. All rates are stated wet. The site does not name the certificates it trains, so only primary training is shown here; ask what else it runs.

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $16,725

    range $14.4K to $19.1K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planBox Aviation cost breakdown →

  • Cofield Aviation

    Part not stated

    Gadsden, AL·cofieldaviation.com

    $170/hr aircraft (wet)·$65/hr instructor

    Checked October 16, 2026·Source

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $18,385

    range $15.8K to $21K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planCofield Aviation cost breakdown →

  • Red Tail Flight Academy

    Part 61

    Tuskegee, AL·flywithredtail.org

    $185/hr aircraft (wet)·$50/hr instructor

    Checked October 16, 2026·Source

    Rates are wet. Red Tail also quoted a $150 discovery flight (30 minutes) by email; that price is not published on its site. The school publishes course estimates of its own (about $15,000 Private, $15,500 Instrument, $14,000 Commercial ASEL instruction with time building billed separately, $4,000 single-engine add-on, $3,250 for the group CFI course, about $4,000 CFII) and charges a $60 cancellation/no-show fee. Its Redbird TD2 simulator is $100/hr with an instructor and can count toward 3 hours of Private and 10 hours of Instrument training.

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $18,595

    range $16K to $21.2K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planRed Tail cost breakdown →

  • Brown Aero Technologies

    Part not stated

    Alexander City, AL·brownaero.com

    $180/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)·$60/hr instructor

    Checked September 12, 2026·Source

    Brown Aero publishes its rates inside an FAQ answer rather than on a rate page. Instruction is $60/hr and covers both ground and flight. Its Redbird simulator is $65/hr and a Garmin G1000 simulator course is $475. The CFI course is a flat $4,650 and the CFII $4,150. Multi-engine training is quoted as $495/hr for the Piper Seneca WITH the instructor included, so no separate twin rate exists and multi is not priced here. The site does not say whether the aircraft rates include fuel.

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $18,815

    range $16.2K to $21.4K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planBrown Aero cost breakdown →

  • Over The Mountain Aviation

    Part 61

    Calera, AL·otmaviation.com

    $185/hr aircraft (wet)·$55/hr instructor

    Checked October 16, 2026·Source

    Over The Mountain publishes the Cessna 172 at $185 per hour wet and the Arrow II at $230 per hour wet. Multi-engine training is offered in a Piper Twin Comanche with no published hourly rate, so multi-engine goals are not priced here.

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $18,885

    range $16.2K to $21.5K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planOver The Mountain cost breakdown →
  • Below: schools without a full published rate card. They cannot be priced, so they sit at the end of a cost sort.

  • ACOM Aviation Academy

    Part 61

    Dothan, AL·DHN·acomaviation.com

    $140/hr aircraft·instructor rate not published

    Checked September 13, 2026·Source·4 aircraft published

    ACOM prices four aircraft tail by tail and no instruction. Its flight-training page says outright to call for a cost estimate broken down by hour, so the number exists and is simply not posted.

    No PilotBound estimate

    ACOM does not publish an instructor rate

    What to ask ACOM

  • Aeropro

    Part not stated

    Selma, AL·SEM·aeroproinflight.com

    No PilotBound estimate

    Aeropro does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    What to ask Aeropro

  • Albertville Aviation

    Part not stated

    Albertville, AL·BFZ·albertvilleaviation.biz

    $140/hr aircraft·instructor rate not published

    Checked September 13, 2026·Source·2 aircraft published

    Both aircraft are stated as rented wet at the same rate.

    No PilotBound estimate

    Albertville Aviation does not publish an instructor rate

    What to ask Albertville Aviation

  • Birmingham Flight Center

    Part not stated

    Birmingham, AL·BHM·bhmflightcenter.com

    $203/hr aircraft·instructor rate not published

    Checked August 13, 2026·Source

    $203/hr wet is the rate on all five of its Cessna 172s. Its Beechcraft Bonanza is $335/hr, the Cirrus SR22T is $430/hr plus a $160/hr consumables line, and the Baron is dual-rental only. Its full-motion Redbird is $125/hr WITH an instructor, which is not an instruction rate.

    No PilotBound estimate

    Birmingham Flight Center does not publish an instructor rate and an FAA part

    What to ask Birmingham Flight Center

  • Blackstone Aviation

    Part not stated

    Hartselle, AL·5M0·blackstoneaviation.com

    $100/hr aircraft·instructor rate not published

    Checked August 13, 2026·Source

    The $100/hr is the Cessna 150. The Cessna 172 beside it says to call for pricing, so the cheaper two-seater is the only priced aircraft and it is not the aircraft most students finish in.

    No PilotBound estimate

    Blackstone does not publish an instructor rate

    What to ask Blackstone

  • Blue Skies Above Flight School

    Part not stated

    Lanett, AL·7A3·flytheblueskies.com

    No PilotBound estimate

    Blue Skies Above does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    What to ask Blue Skies Above

  • Cheaha Flight Training

    Part not stated

    Oxford, AL·ANB·flycheaha.com

    No PilotBound estimate

    Cheaha does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    What to ask Cheaha

Flight school costs in Alabama, in numbers

Computed from the 5 Alabama schools that publish both an aircraft and an instructor rate, on the same method every card above uses. The 23 listings without a full rate card are left out of every figure.

Median PilotBound Private estimate across the 5 schools with published rates
$18,595
Published trainer rental, per hour
$155 to $185
Published instruction, per hour
$50 to $75
Schools publishing a full rate card (aircraft and instructor)
5 of 28

Lowest published trainer rates in Alabama

Part 141 flight schools in Alabama

Airports with more than one Alabama flight school

Discovery flights in Alabama

4 Alabama schools publish a discovery flight price, median $180. See each price with its source

How these estimates work

We apply one consistent method to every school: PilotBound's own completion-hours model, examiner-completion data where it exists (like the Private and Commercial) and FAA minimums where no credible public data exists (like the Instrument and CFI), times that school's published aircraft and instructor rates (linked on every card, with the date we verified them), plus the one-time fees most quotes leave out. Holding the hours model identical across schools means the only thing that changes card to card is the school's actual rates.

So the number is PilotBound's estimate, not the school's quote, and it will differ from a school's own cost figures, which are often based on FAA-minimum hours. The schools do not set or endorse it.

Want a number tied to your own pace and aircraft choice? Run the estimator or read the full methodology.

These estimates are ours, not the schools' quotes, and we are not affiliated with the schools. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime. Disclaimer & removal policy.

Common questions about Alabama flight schools

How much does flight school cost in Alabama?

Across the 5 Alabama flight schools here that publish full rates, trainer rentals run $155 to $185 per hour and instruction $50 to $75 per hour, checked as recently as October 16, 2026. On each school's own published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate between $16,725 and $18,885, with a median of $18,595. These are PilotBound estimates built on published rates, not quotes from the schools.

What is the cheapest flight school in Alabama?

Box Aviation in Montgomery publishes the lowest trainer rental of the 5 Alabama schools listed here, $155 per hour for its Piper Cherokee 180, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure, checked September 12, 2026. The lowest hourly rate is not automatically the lowest total: instructor rates, fuel basis, and the hours you actually fly decide that, which is what the per-school estimates on this page hold constant.

How current are these Alabama flight school rates?

Every rate here is the school's own published figure, linked to its source and dated; the newest check in Alabama is October 16, 2026, and each card and school page shows the exact date its rates were read. The directory is re-checked on a monthly cycle, and 23 more schools in Alabama are listed without an estimate because they do not publish a full rate card. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime.