PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · Soldotna, AK · Checked September 8, 2026

What flight training at Missionary Aviation Repair Center costs

Website marcalaska.org

Phone (907) 262-5388

Section 1Cost estimate

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

MARC names this for Private, Instrument, Commercial and solo work.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Missionary Aviation Repair Center

$17,375

range $14.9K – $19.8K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on MARC's published rates: Cessna 172 at $160/hr + $60/hr instruction, checked September 8, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$10,695
at the hours students actually take$17,375

+$6,680 on MARC's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$14.9K – $19.8K
Aircraft rental$11,520
Instruction$3,480
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$15,000
72 hrs in Cessna 172 @ $160/hr + 58 dual @ $60/hr

One-time fees ($2,375)

  • Knowledge (written) test$175
  • Checkride / DPE fee$800
  • Medical certificate$150
  • Headset$700
  • Ground school / test prep$300
  • Books, charts & supplies$250
Hours at a steady pace72 hrs

Examiner records (DPE dataset).

The hourly flying is priced on Missionary Aviation Repair Center's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Missionary Aviation Repair Center's prices, and several are set by third parties.

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. Full methodology and sources →

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Section 2The rate card

What MARC publishes

checked September 8, 2026
Cessna 172MARC names this for Private, Instrument, Commercial and solo work.$160/hr fuel basis not stated
Cessna 210Complex and high performance, so this is the advanced trainer rather than a primary one.$350/hr fuel basis not stated
Piper ApacheThe twin.$395/hr fuel basis not stated
Instructionstandard $60/hr · multi-engine instruction $70/hr$60 – $70/hr

Every rate comes from MARC's 2025 flight school brochure, a PDF rather than a web page, and it does not say whether fuel is included. Instruction is $60/hr for flight AND ground, rising to $70/hr for multi-engine. An IFR simulator is $25/hr alone or $60/hr with an instructor, and is not modeled. Pre-purchasing ten hours of aircraft rental earns a $100 discount. A separate eleven-week ground school is $600 including materials and a flight bag, and runs twice a year for the Private and once for the Instrument.

The examiner's checkride fee is not on this card: the examiner sets it, not the school. The estimate above includes PilotBound's own figure for it. MARC's site does not state whether its rates include fuel. MARC does not state whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so the estimate above is built on Part 61 hours.

See the published rates →Source 2 →

Section 3Discovery flight

$170

Checked September 8, 2026

An hour of flight and an hour of ground.

See it on their siteCall (907) 262-5388

Discovery flight prices in Alaska

Section 4Paying for it

Two ways to cover $17,375.

Win what you can first, then borrow only what is left. Neither figure assumes anything about you: one is what our scholarship directory holds, the other is what the lenders publish.

Money you keepScholarships you could apply for46 open to anyone, plus 1 in Alaska. Top awards reach $22,200.
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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.
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Section 5Add to my plan

Turn this into a plan.

Your $17,375 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.

Add to my plan

Section 6What to ask

What to ask when you call

The marked ones are what MARC's site never answers. The rest are what turns an hourly rate into a real bill.

  1. Do the published aircraft rates include fuel, or is fuel billed separately?Missing from their site

    The site does not say, and it is the difference between two rates that look identical and are not.

  2. What gets billed on top of the hourly rates, and roughly how much per hour does it add?

    The site notes extras beyond the hourly figures. Ask for the all-in number per hour, not the base rate.

  3. Which instructor rate applies to each rating I plan to do, and does the higher tier start on day one of that rating?

    This school prices some instruction above its primary rate. Knowing when the step-up starts keeps the later ratings from surprising you.

  4. Do you train under Part 61 or Part 141?Missing from their site

    It changes the minimum hours, and for some students it changes financing eligibility.

  5. Do you offer block rates or prepay discounts, and what is the refund policy if I stop partway?

    Block discounts are common and rarely published. The refund terms matter more than the discount.

  6. What do you charge for the written test, the checkride, and the examiner's fee?

    The DPE fee alone runs $800 to $1,200 in most of the country and is almost never in a quoted hourly rate.

  7. How many trainers and how many full-time instructors do you have right now?

    Availability decides your pace, and pace decides your total more than the hourly rate does.

Section 7Questions

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 September 8, 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 does not state on its own website whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so we do not list one. It is worth asking directly 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 on top. PilotBound's estimate uses the rate exactly as published. Rates checked September 8, 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.

Section 8Sources

Estimates use Missionary Aviation Repair Center's published Cessna 172 and instructor rates (checked September 8, 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. Disclaimer & removal policy.

Are you MARC? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

Send your fuel basisSend your training part

One other school flies from Soldotna Airport.

It does not publish a rate either, so that one is a phone call too. SXQ is the identifier to give when you ask.

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