PilotBound estimate · Auburn, CA · Checked September 5, 2026
What flight training at Mach 5 Aviation costs
Website mach5aviation.com
Phone (530) 889-2000
Section 1Cost estimate
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
Two-seat, IFR certified. Member rate $155.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Mach 5 Aviation
range $17.6K – $23.4K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Mach 5's published rates: Cessna 152 Sparrowhawk at $175/hr + $95/hr instruction, checked September 5, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$8,070 on Mach 5's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.
Where it goes
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
Examiner records (DPE dataset).
The hourly flying is priced on Mach 5 Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Mach 5 Aviation'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 →
Put this calculator on your siteSection 2The rate card
What Mach 5 publishes
checked September 5, 2026Airframes built 1967 to 2001. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read September 16, 2026.
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 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. Mach 5 trains under both parts, and the estimate above is built on Part 61 hours.
Section 3Discovery flight
$195
Checked September 14, 2026
Section 4Paying for it
Two ways to cover $20,485.
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 California. Top awards reach $22,200.
- Hiller Aviation Museum Flight Training Scholarship$15,000 · San Francisco Bay Area · Opens Feb 5, 2027
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- Money you pay backLenders that cover $20,485Five 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
Section 5Add to my plan
Turn this into a plan.
Your $20,485 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.
Add to my planSection 6What to ask
What to ask when you call
What turns an hourly rate into a real bill.
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 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.
Section 7Questions
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Mach 5 Aviation?
- Mach 5 Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 152 Sparrowhawk and $95 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 5, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $20,485, in a range of $17,600 to $23,400. 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 Mach 5 Aviation.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Mach 5 Aviation?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Mach 5 Aviation 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 Mach 5 Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Mach 5 Aviation trains under both Part 61 and Part 141, so you can pick the structured FAA-approved course or the flexible path. Part 141 is the one that matters for VA benefits and for the lower paper minimum on the private certificate; Part 61 is the one that bends around a full-time job.
- Do Mach 5 Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Mach 5 Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 152 Sparrowhawk, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure. A wet rate is the easier one to compare, because the number you see is the number you fly on. Rates checked September 5, 2026.
- What ratings can you train for at Mach 5 Aviation?
- Mach 5 Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot. Instruction is $95 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Mach 5 Aviation's own published rates.
Section 8Sources
Estimates use Mach 5 Aviation's published Cessna 152 Sparrowhawk and instructor rates (checked September 5, 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 Mach 5 Aviation. 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 Mach 5? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.
One other school flies from Auburn Municipal Airport.
It publishes a full rate card, so you can compare before you call. AUN is the identifier to give when you ask.
- Sunshine FlyersFull rate card, Cessna 152 at $165/hr and $100/hr instructionAuburn
Other California flight schools
- 30 DAY CFI Flight Training Academy · Van Nuys
- A.F.I.T. Accelerated Flight and Instrument Training · Newport Beach
- Above All Aviation · Santa Barbara
- Acampo Flying Club · Acampo
- Aces High Aviation · Long Beach
- ActivePILOT Flight Academy · Van Nuys
- Advantage Aviation · Palo Alto
- Adventure Air · Chino
- Adventure Flight · Lincoln
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