PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · Torrance, CA · Checked September 12, 2026

What flight training at Pacific Skies Aviation costs

Website pacificskies.com

Phone (888) 579-6999

Section 1Cost estimate

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Two-seat. The all-in Your Pace rate for the 152 is $230/hr.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Pacific Skies Aviation

$17,675

range $15.2K – $20.1K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Pacific Skies's published rates: Cessna 152 at $140/hr + $90/hr instruction, checked September 12, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$10,855
at the hours students actually take$17,675

+$6,820 on Pacific Skies's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$15.2K – $20.1K
Aircraft rental$10,080
Instruction$5,220
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$15,300
72 hrs in Cessna 152 @ $140/hr + 58 dual @ $90/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 Pacific Skies Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Pacific Skies 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 site

Section 2The rate card

What Pacific Skies publishes

checked September 12, 2026
Cessna 152Two-seat. The all-in Your Pace rate for the 152 is $230/hr.$140/hr wet
Cessna 172S (N846SP, 2001)2001$190/hr wet
Cessna 172S (N796WW, 2000)2000$180/hr on the accelerated program.$190/hr wet
Cessna 172SP (N439LP, 2003)2003$190/hr wet
Instruction$90/hr

Airframes built 2000 to 2003. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read September 16, 2026.

Aircraft rates are wet (fuel and oil included). The instructor rate is DERIVED: the school's Your Pace program quotes $280/hr all-in for a Cessna 172 including airplane and instructor, against a published $190/hr aircraft rate. Confirm it before budgeting. One 172 has a lower $180/hr accelerated rate.

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. Pacific Skies 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

$250

Checked September 14, 2026

The basic flight. Extended flights cost more.

Book on their siteCall (888) 579-6999

Discovery flight prices in California

Section 4Paying for it

Two ways to cover $17,675.

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.
47
Money you pay backLenders that cover $17,675All six lenders in our comparison lend this much. That is whether a loan this size is on offer, not whether you would be approved.
6 of 6
See scholarshipsCompare lenders

Section 5Add to my plan

Turn this into a plan.

Your $17,675 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 6What to ask

What to ask when you call

The marked one is what Pacific Skies's site never answers. The rest are what turns an hourly rate into a real bill.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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 Pacific Skies Aviation?
Pacific Skies Aviation publishes $140 per hour for the Cessna 152 and $90 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 12, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $17,675, in a range of $15,200 to $20,100. 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 Pacific Skies Aviation.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Pacific Skies Aviation?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Pacific Skies 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 Pacific Skies Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
Pacific Skies Aviation 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 Pacific Skies Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?
Pacific Skies Aviation publishes $140 per hour for the Cessna 152, 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 12, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Pacific Skies Aviation?
Pacific Skies Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot. Instruction is $90 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Pacific Skies Aviation's own published rates.

Section 8Sources

Estimates use Pacific Skies Aviation's published Cessna 152 and instructor rates (checked September 12, 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 Pacific Skies 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 Pacific Skies? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

Send your training part

3 other schools fly from Zamperini Field.

All of them publish something, so you can compare before you call. TOA is the identifier to give when you ask.

Every school in the state

Other California flight schools

All California flight schoolsAll Torrance 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.