Published rates, sourced · Updated September 8, 2026
What flight training costs at Bakersfield flight schools
3 schools train out of Bakersfield. One publishes a full rate card, shown with the source and the date it was read, next to a PilotBound estimate for your Private pilot certificate. The other 2 are listed with what they do publish.
Bakersfield Flying Club in Bakersfield is the one Bakersfield school here with a full published rate card: $155 per hour for its Cessna 172N plus $70 per hour instruction, a PilotBound private pilot estimate of about $17,595.
2 fields: Bakersfield International Airport (L45) and Meadows Field (BFL). Whole state instead? California flight schools
Flight school costs in Bakersfield, in numbers
Computed from the 1 Bakersfield school that publishes both an aircraft and an instructor rate, on the same method every card below uses. The 2 listings without a full rate card are left out of every figure.
- $17,595
- PilotBound Private estimate at the one school with published rates
- $155/hr
- Published trainer rental, per hour
- $70/hr
- Published instruction, per hour
- 1 of 3
- Schools publishing a full rate card (aircraft and instructor)
Lowest published trainer rates in Bakersfield
- Bakersfield Flying Club · $155/hr Cessna 172N, Bakersfield
Airports with Bakersfield flight schools
- Bakersfield International Airport (L45)Bakersfield Flying Club·Robbins Flight Training
- Meadows Field (BFL)Excell Aviation, Inc.
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 Bakersfield
Bakersfield Flying Club
Part not statedBakersfield, CA·bakersfieldflyingclub.com
Published rates
$155/hr aircraft (wet)+$70/hr instructor
Checked September 8, 2026·Source
All rates are wet. Three Cessna 172s: two 160hp (172N, 172M) at $155/hr, both TAA-approved for commercial training, and a 180hp 172S at $165/hr. The Redbird FMX AATD sim is $65/hr in the C172 config ($85 for the C206 config, $25 for emergency-procedures training), plus a CFI. Instructor rates are not on the airplanes page; independent CFIs run about $70 to $80/hr per the learn-to-fly page. Membership club (dues and an application fee apply).
PilotBound estimate · Private
$17,595
range $15.1K – $20.1K
~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.
Add to my planBakersfield Flying Club cost breakdown →- Below: schools without a full published rate card. They cannot be priced, so they sit at the end of a cost sort.
Excell Aviation, Inc.
Part not statedBakersfield, CA·BFL
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
Excell does not publish a website, an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask themWhat they do publish →Robbins Flight Training
Part not statedBakersfield, CA·L45
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
Robbins does not publish a website, an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask themWhat they do publish →
Flight schools in other California cities
- Acampo · 3 schools
- Auburn · 2 schools, all with rates
- Bermuda Dunes · 3 schools, 1 with rates
- Camarillo · 3 schools
- Cameron Park · 3 schools, 2 with rates
- Carlsbad · 4 schools, 3 with rates
- Chino · 5 schools, 1 with rates
- Concord · 3 schools, 1 with rates
- El Cajon · 5 schools, 1 with rates
- Hayward · 3 schools
- Lancaster · 2 schools, all with rates
- Livermore · 4 schools, 2 with rates
- Long Beach · 7 schools, 3 with rates
- Novato · 3 schools
- Palo Alto · 3 schools, 1 with rates
- Ramona · 3 schools
- Riverside · 3 schools, 2 with rates
- Sacramento · 3 schools, 1 with rates
- San Carlos · 3 schools
- San Diego · 5 schools, 2 with rates
- San Jose · 5 schools, 1 with rates
- Santa Ana · 4 schools, 2 with rates
- Stockton · 3 schools, 2 with rates
- Torrance · 4 schools, 3 with rates
- Van Nuys · 15 schools, 5 with rates
- Watsonville · 4 schools, 1 with rates
Common questions about Bakersfield flight schools
- How much does flight school cost in Bakersfield?
- Bakersfield Flying Club in Bakersfield is the one Bakersfield school here with a full published rate card: $155 per hour for its Cessna 172N and $70 per hour for instruction, checked September 8, 2026. On those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $17,595. That is a PilotBound estimate, not a quote from the school.
- How current are these Bakersfield flight school rates?
- Every rate here is the school's own published figure, linked to its source and dated; the newest check in Bakersfield is September 8, 2026, and each card and school page shows the exact date its rates were read. The directory is re-checked on a monthly cycle, and 2 more schools in Bakersfield are listed without an estimate because they do not publish a full rate card. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime.
- Which Bakersfield airports have flight schools?
- 2 fields carry the listed schools: Bakersfield International Airport (L45) with 2, and Meadows Field (BFL) with one. A school that does not state its field on the pages we read is counted in Bakersfield 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