PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · Glendale, AZ · Checked September 10, 2026

What flight training at Arizona Flight Training Center costs

Website arizonaflighttrainingcenter.com

Phone (623) 877-9334

Section 1Cost estimate

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

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 September 10, 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 →

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Section 2The rate card

What AFTC publishes

checked September 10, 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.

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. AFTC's site does not state whether its rates include fuel. AFTC 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

$199

Checked September 14, 2026

An hour in a Cessna 172.

Book on their siteCall (623) 877-9334

Discovery flight prices in Arizona

Section 4Paying for it

Two ways to cover $20,045.

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 for51 open to anyone, plus 1 in Arizona. Top awards reach $22,200.
52
Money you pay backLenders that cover $20,045Five of the six lenders in our comparison lend this much. That is whether a loan this size is on offer, not whether you would be approved.
5 of 6
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Section 5Add to my plan

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

Section 6In the app

Track it against AFTC's rates.

Arizona Flight Training Center's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose AFTC when you set up and the app prices your training at its rates, then tracks every flight you log against the projection.

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Section 7What to ask

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.

  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. 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.

  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 8Questions

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 September 10, 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 September 10, 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.

Section 9Sources

Estimates use Arizona Flight Training Center's published Cessna 172P and instructor rates (checked September 10, 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 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.

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

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5 other schools fly from Glendale Municipal Airport.

3 of them publish at least one rate. GEU is the identifier to give when you ask.

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