PilotBound

Published rates, sourced · Updated October 12, 2026

What flight training costs at Auburn flight schools

3 schools train out of Auburn. All of them publish a full rate card, shown with the source and the date it was read, next to a PilotBound estimate for your Private pilot certificate.

Across the 3 Auburn schools here with published rates, trainer rentals run $145 to $195 per hour and instruction $80 to $100, and PilotBound's private pilot estimate lands between $17,455 and $21,925, with a median of $20,055.

One field: Auburn Municipal Airport (AUN). Whole state instead? California flight schools

Flight school costs in Auburn, in numbers

Computed from the 3 Auburn schools that publish both an aircraft and an instructor rate, on the same method every card below uses.

$20,055
Median PilotBound Private estimate across the 3 schools with published rates
$145 to $195
Published trainer rental, per hour
$80 to $100
Published instruction, per hour
3 of 3
Schools publishing a full rate card (aircraft and instructor)

Lowest published trainer rates in Auburn

Part 141 flight schools in Auburn

Airports with Auburn flight schools

Estimate cost toflying
Showing 3 of 3 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 Auburn

lowest $15Khighest $25K

  • Sky Trails Aviation

    Part 61 & 141
    Lowest in CALargest fleet

    Auburn, CA·skytrailsaviation.com

    Published rates

    $145/hr aircraft (wet)+$80/hr instructor

    Checked October 4, 2026·Source

    Rates are wet and come from Sky Trails' rate sheet effective August 1, 2026. Instruction is $80/hr, which the school gives in its FAQ. The two Piper PA-18s are for dual instruction only. A block rate is offered and not published.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $17,455

    range $15K – $19.9K

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

    Add to my planSky Trails cost breakdown →

  • Sunshine Flyers

    Part not stated

    Auburn, CA·sunshineflyers.com

    Published rates

    $165/hr aircraft (wet)+$100/hr instructor

    Checked October 12, 2026·Source

    Rates are wet. Sunshine also reimburses fuel bought away from base against a receipt, which this estimate does not model.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $20,055

    range $17.2K – $22.9K

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

    Add to my planSunshine Flyers cost breakdown →

  • Mach 5 Aviation

    Part 61 & 141

    Auburn, CA·mach5aviation.com

    Published rates

    $195/hr aircraft (wet)+$95/hr instructor

    Checked October 8, 2026·Source

    Rates shown are Mach 5's standard rates. A flying club membership at $100 up front and $35/month takes roughly $20/hr off each airplane. Rates are wet and billed on Hobbs time. A senior instructor tier at $125/hr covers specialised training; the $95/hr rate modeled here is the standard CFI rate for all levels. The August 2026 sheet no longer carries the two-seat Cessna 152 or one of the two Archer IIIs, so the cheapest airplane on it is now a four-seater. The Redbird FMX simulator is $85/hr.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $21,925

    range $18.9K – $25K

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

    Add to my planMach 5 cost breakdown →

Flight schools in other California cities

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Common questions about Auburn flight schools

How much does flight school cost in Auburn?
Across the 3 Auburn flight schools here that publish full rates, trainer rentals run $145 to $195 per hour and instruction $80 to $100 per hour, checked as recently as October 12, 2026. On each school's own published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate between $17,455 and $21,925, with a median of $20,055. These are PilotBound estimates built on published rates, not quotes from the schools.
What is the cheapest flight school in Auburn?
Sky Trails Aviation in Auburn publishes the lowest trainer rental of the 3 Auburn schools listed here, $145 per hour for its Cessna 150D, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure, checked October 4, 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 Auburn flight school rates?
Every rate here is the school's own published figure, linked to its source and dated; the newest check in Auburn is October 12, 2026, and each card and school page shows the exact date its rates were read. The directory is re-checked on a monthly cycle. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime.
Which Auburn airports have flight schools?
One field carries the listed schools: Auburn Municipal Airport (AUN) with 3. A school that does not state its field on the pages we read is counted in Auburn without one.

Estimates use the same method as every California school page: PilotBound's own completion-hours model times each school's published rates, plus the one-time fees most quotes leave out. They are ours, not the schools' quotes, and we are not affiliated with the schools. How these estimates work·Disclaimer & removal policy