How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Peterson Aviation?

Peterson Aviation publishes $195 per hour for the Cessna 172 and $80 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 1, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $21,055, in a range of $18,100 to $24,000. 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 Peterson Aviation.

How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Peterson Aviation?

Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Peterson 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 Peterson Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?

Peterson 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 Peterson Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?

Peterson Aviation publishes $195 per hour for the Cessna 172, 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 1, 2026.

What ratings can you train for at Peterson Aviation?

Peterson Aviation trains Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor. Instruction is $80 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Peterson Aviation's own published rates.

PilotBoundEvery hour. Every dollar.

PilotBound estimate · Cameron Park, CA · Checked September 1, 2026

What flight training at Peterson Aviation costs

Website peterson-aviation.com

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Which airplane?

Cessna 172 (VFR and IFR equipped), $195/hr

Wet.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Peterson Aviation

$21,055

range $18.1K – $24K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Peterson's published rates: Cessna 172 at $195/hr + $80/hr instruction, checked September 1, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$12,735

at the hours students actually take$21,055

+$8,320 on Peterson's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$18.1K – $24K

Aircraft rental$14,040

Instruction$4,640

One-time costs$2,375

Aircraft + instruction$18,680

72 hrs in Cessna 172 @ $195/hr + 58 dual @ $80/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 Peterson Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Peterson 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 →

What Peterson publishes

checked September 1, 2026

Cessna 172 (VFR and IFR equipped)Wet.$195/hr wet

Instruction$80/hr

The 172 rents wet. The school offers to train from other Sacramento-area airports for arrangement-specific fixed costs, disclosed here and not modeled. The instrument rating is advertised as coming soon and is not counted until it does.

Not published: the examiner's checkride fee. Listed as missing rather than guessed.

See the published rates→

Paying for it

Two ways to cover $21,055.

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.

Scholarships you could apply forTop awards reach $22,200. Every dollar won is a dollar you never finance.: 68
Lenders that cover $21,055Five 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

See what you could win →or compare the six lenders →

Next leg

Turn this into a plan.

Your $21,055 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.

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What to ask when you call

The marked one is what Peterson's site never answers. The rest are 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 train under Part 61 or Part 141?Missing from their site
It changes the minimum hours, and for some students it changes financing eligibility.
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.

Estimates use Peterson Aviation's published Cessna 172 and instructor rates (checked September 1, 2026), shown in USD for planning only. Real cost varies by student, weather, and pace. An honest range, not a quote.

PilotBound is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Peterson 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.

Common questions about Peterson Aviation

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Peterson Aviation?: Peterson Aviation publishes $195 per hour for the Cessna 172 and $80 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 1, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $21,055, in a range of $18,100 to $24,000. 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 Peterson Aviation.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Peterson Aviation?: Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Peterson 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 Peterson Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?: Peterson 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 Peterson Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?: Peterson Aviation publishes $195 per hour for the Cessna 172, 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 1, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Peterson Aviation?: Peterson Aviation trains Private Pilot, Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor. Instruction is $80 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Peterson Aviation's own published rates.

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