Missionary Aviation Repair Center
Flight training from Private Pilot through Multi-Engine (AMEL) at Soldotna Airport.
Rates checkedChecked October 12, 2026 by Samip Shah, CFI, CFII, AGI
At a glance
- 3 aircraft types.
- A private pilot certificate here, flying 2x a week, is estimated at $17,375.
Basics
| Certificates | Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine (AMEL) |
|---|---|
| Website | marcalaska.org |
| Phone | (907) 262-5388 |
Aircraft and rates
3 types
Cessna 172
MARC names this for Private, Instrument, Commercial and solo work.
- Rate (fuel basis not stated)
- $160/hr
Instruction and rate notes
Checked October 12, 2026Rates are from the 2025 flight school brochure. Instruction is $60/hr for flight and ground, or $70/hr for multi-engine. An IFR simulator is $25/hr alone or $60/hr with an instructor. Prepaying ten hours of rental earns a $100 discount. An eleven-week ground school is $600 including materials and a flight bag, twice a year for the Private and once for the Instrument.
The examiner's checkride fee is paid separately. The website doesn't say whether rates include fuel. The estimate uses Part 61 hours. MARC doesn't say whether it trains under Part 61 or 141.
Airport
Soldotna PASX
Home field · 1 runway · 5,001 ft · asphalt
Weather
In an average year, January to June has 160 flyable days out of 181. That is the six months your estimate covers, marked under the chart.
What counts as a flyable day
Clouds no lower than 3,000 feet and visibility of 5 miles or more (VFR weather) for at least half the hours between 9 am and 5 pm. Hourly observations from the airport's own weather station, 2016 to 2025. Source: Iowa Environmental Mesonet ASOS archive, Iowa State University.
What it costs
Certificate
Flying
Hours
MARC names this for Private, Instrument, Commercial and solo work.
Where this comes from
Examiner records (DPE dataset).PilotBound estimate
$17,375
Usually $14,900 to $19,800 · about 6 months
- Airplane72 hrs in Cessna 172 × $160/hr$11,520
- Instructor58 hrs dual × $60/hr$3,480
One-time feesWritten test, checkride, medical, headset and more$2,375
- Knowledge (written) test$175
- Checkride / DPE fee$800
- Medical certificate$150
- Headset$700
- Ground school / test prep$300
- Books, charts & supplies$250
The hourly flying is priced on Missionary Aviation Repair Center's published rates. The one-time fees are typical national figures, not Missionary Aviation Repair Center's prices, and several are set by third parties.
Discovery flight
$170
Checked October 12, 2026
An hour of flight and an hour of ground.
Paying for it
Two ways to cover $17,375.
Win what you can first, then borrow only what is left.
- Money you keepScholarships you could apply for43 open to anyone, plus 1 in Alaska. Top awards reach $22,200.
- Joe Stancil Jr. Flight Training Scholarship$3,000 · Check dates
- 44
- Money you pay backLenders that cover $17,375All six lenders in our comparison lend this much. That is whether a loan this size is on offer, not whether you would be approved.
- 6 of 6
What to ask when you call
Not on their website
Do the published aircraft rates include fuel, or is fuel billed separately?
Two rates that look the same can differ by the cost of fuel.
Do you train under Part 61 or Part 141?
It changes the minimum hours, and for some students, financing.
Also ask
What gets billed on top of the hourly rates, and roughly how much per hour does it add?
Ask for the all-in hourly number, not the base rate.
Which instructor rate applies to each rating I plan to do, and does the higher tier start on day one of that rating?
Its instruction is priced in tiers, so know when the higher rate starts.
Do you offer block rates or prepay discounts, and what is the refund policy if I stop partway?
Block discounts are rarely published, and the refund terms matter more than the discount.
What do you charge for the written test, the checkride, and the examiner's fee?
The examiner's fee alone runs $800 to $1,200 in most of the country.
How many trainers and how many full-time instructors do you have right now?
Availability sets your pace, and pace drives your total more than the hourly rate.
In the app
Track it against MARC's rates.
Missionary Aviation Repair Center's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose MARC when you set up and the app prices your training at its rates, then tracks every flight you log against the projection.
Scan to download on your iPhone
Questions
How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Missionary Aviation Repair Center?
Missionary Aviation Repair Center publishes $160 per hour for the Cessna 172 and $60 per hour for instruction on it, checked October 12, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $17,375, in a range of $14,900 to $19,800. That covers roughly 72 hours of flying and instruction plus the one-time fees most quotes leave out, including the written test, the examiner's checkride fee, a medical, and study materials. It is a PilotBound estimate built on the school's published rates, not a quote from Missionary Aviation Repair Center.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Missionary Aviation Repair Center?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Missionary Aviation Repair Center to reach the private pilot checkride, at roughly 72 hours. Pace is the single biggest variable: flying once a week typically stretches the timeline and raises the total, because time between lessons gets spent re-learning. Weather, aircraft availability, and instructor turnover all push the same direction.
Is Missionary Aviation Repair Center a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
Missionary Aviation Repair Center's website doesn't say whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141. Ask before you enroll: Part 141 follows an FAA-approved syllabus and is generally what VA benefits require, while Part 61 is more flexible on scheduling.
Do Missionary Aviation Repair Center's aircraft rates include fuel?
Missionary Aviation Repair Center publishes $160 per hour for the Cessna 172, a rate that does not say whether fuel is included. Ask before you budget: if the rate turns out to be dry, fuel adds roughly $30 to $60 per hour. Rates checked October 12, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Missionary Aviation Repair Center?
Missionary Aviation Repair Center trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Multi-Engine (AMEL). Instruction runs $60 to $70 per hour depending on the rating and the aircraft, since advanced and type-specific instruction is priced above the standard rate. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Missionary Aviation Repair Center's own published rates.
Sources
Estimates use Missionary Aviation Repair Center's published Cessna 172 and instructor rates (checked October 12, 2026), shown in USD for planning only. Real cost varies by student, weather, and pace. A range, not a quote.
PilotBound is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Missionary Aviation Repair Center. School names are used only to identify the school. 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. Methodology · Disclaimer & removal policy.
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