How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Arizona Flight Training Center?

Arizona Flight Training Center publishes $185 per hour for the Cessna 172P and $75 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 12, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $20,045, in a range of $17,200 to $22,900. 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 Arizona Flight Training Center.

How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Arizona Flight Training Center?

Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Arizona Flight Training 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 Arizona Flight Training Center a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?

Arizona Flight Training 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 Arizona Flight Training Center's aircraft rates include fuel?

Arizona Flight Training Center publishes $185 per hour for the Cessna 172P, 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 August 12, 2026.

What ratings can you train for at Arizona Flight Training Center?

Arizona Flight Training Center trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Multi-Engine (AMEL). Instruction is $75 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Arizona Flight Training Center's own published rates.

PilotBoundEvery hour. Every dollar.

PilotBound estimate · Glendale, AZ · Checked August 12, 2026

What flight training at Arizona Flight Training Center costs

Website arizonaflighttrainingcenter.com

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Which airplane?

160 hp. Account rate $180. The school lists it for training, time building and instrument work.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Arizona Flight Training Center

$20,045

range $17.2K – $22.9K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on AFTC's published rates: Cessna 172P at $185/hr + $75/hr instruction, checked August 12, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$12,175

at the hours students actually take$20,045

+$7,870 on AFTC's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$17.2K – $22.9K

Aircraft rental$13,320

Instruction$4,350

One-time costs$2,375

Aircraft + instruction$17,670

72 hrs in Cessna 172P @ $185/hr + 58 dual @ $75/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 Arizona Flight Training Center's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Arizona Flight Training 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 →

What AFTC publishes

checked August 12, 2026

Cessna 172P160 hp. Account rate $180. The school lists it for training, time building and instrument work.$185/hr fuel basis not stated

Cessna 172SP180 hp. Account rate $190.$195/hr fuel basis not stated

Cessna 182P (NorthPoint conversion)265 hp, high performance, fixed gear. No account rate offered.$265/hr fuel basis not stated

Piper PA-34-200T Seneca IITwin, for the multi-engine ratings and multi time building. No account rate offered.$400/hr fuel basis not stated

Instruction$75/hr

AFTC publishes two figures per airplane, an Hourly Rate and a lower Account Rate, and does not explain on the aircraft page what qualifies you for the Account Rate. This estimate uses the HOURLY rate, the one a student pays without qualifying for anything, so ask about the Account Rate before budgeting: it is $5/hr lower on the two 172s and is marked not applicable on the 182 and the twin. Flight and ground instruction are the same $75/hr. Two simulators are published separately, an Elite PC-135 BATD at $60/hr and a second device at $70/hr, each with its own lower account rate. The site does not state whether aircraft rates include fuel.

Not published: the examiner's checkride fee, whether rates include fuel. Listed as missing rather than guessed.

See the published rates→Source 2→

Step 2

Turn this into a plan.

Your $20,045 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

What to ask when you call

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

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.
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.
Does the instructor rate change for the Instrument, Commercial, or CFI, or is it flat across everything?
Plenty of schools charge more for advanced instruction. A flat rate quoted for the Private can climb later.
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.
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.
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.
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.

Estimates use Arizona Flight Training Center's published Cessna 172P and instructor rates (checked August 12, 2026), shown in USD for planning only. Real cost varies by student, weather, and pace. An honest range, not a quote.

PilotBound is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Arizona Flight Training 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.

Common questions about Arizona Flight Training Center

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Arizona Flight Training Center?: Arizona Flight Training Center publishes $185 per hour for the Cessna 172P and $75 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 12, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $20,045, in a range of $17,200 to $22,900. 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 Arizona Flight Training Center.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Arizona Flight Training Center?: Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Arizona Flight Training 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 Arizona Flight Training Center a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?: Arizona Flight Training 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 Arizona Flight Training Center's aircraft rates include fuel?: Arizona Flight Training Center publishes $185 per hour for the Cessna 172P, 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 August 12, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Arizona Flight Training Center?: Arizona Flight Training Center trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Multi-Engine (AMEL). Instruction is $75 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Arizona Flight Training Center's own published rates.

Other Arizona flight schools

All Arizona flight schools

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.