PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · Santa Monica, CA · Checked September 12, 2026

What flight training at Santa Monica Flyers costs

Website santamonicaflyers.com

Phone (310) 800-8050

Section 1Cost estimate

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Electric, two seats. $129/hr on a 10-hour block.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Santa Monica Flyers

$19,483

range $16.8K – $22.2K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Santa Monica Flyers's published rates: Pipistrel Velis Electro at $149/hr + $110/hr instruction, checked September 12, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$11,855
at the hours students actually take$19,483

+$7,628 on Santa Monica Flyers's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$16.8K – $22.2K
Aircraft rental$10,728
Instruction$6,380
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$17,108
72 hrs in Pipistrel Velis Electro @ $149/hr + 58 dual @ $110/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 Santa Monica Flyers's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Santa Monica Flyers'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 →

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Section 2The rate card

What Santa Monica Flyers publishes

checked September 12, 2026
Pipistrel Velis Electro (N354EA / N343EA, 2024)2024Electric, two seats. $129/hr on a 10-hour block.$149/hr wet
SportCruiser (light sport)Light sport, two seats.$169/hr wet
Cessna SkyhawkPublished as a starting rate.$195/hr wet
Instruction$110/hr

Airframe built 2024. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read September 16, 2026.

Rates are wet. Santa Monica Flyers operates two 2024 Pipistrel Velis Electro ELECTRIC trainers and waives KSMO landing fees on the electric fleet. Cessna Skyhawk rental starts at $195/hr and Cirrus models rent wet at rates that vary by model and trip, so only the published starting figures are modeled here. Instruction is published as a RANGE of $110 to $125 per hour rather than a single rate; this estimate uses the low end, so confirm your instructor's 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. Santa Monica Flyers 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 →

Section 3Paying for it

Two ways to cover $19,483.

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 $19,483All 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
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Section 4Add to my plan

Turn this into a plan.

Your $19,483 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 5What to ask

What to ask when you call

The marked one is what Santa Monica Flyers'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 6Questions

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Santa Monica Flyers?
Santa Monica Flyers publishes $149 per hour for the Pipistrel Velis Electro and $110 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 12, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $19,483, in a range of $16,800 to $22,200. 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 Santa Monica Flyers.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Santa Monica Flyers?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Santa Monica Flyers 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 Santa Monica Flyers a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
Santa Monica Flyers 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 Santa Monica Flyers's aircraft rates include fuel?
Santa Monica Flyers publishes $149 per hour for the Pipistrel Velis Electro, 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 Santa Monica Flyers?
Santa Monica Flyers trains Private Pilot and Instrument Rating. Instruction is $110 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Santa Monica Flyers's own published rates.

Section 7Sources

Estimates use Santa Monica Flyers's published Pipistrel Velis Electro 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 Santa Monica Flyers. 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 Santa Monica Flyers? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

Send your training part

2 other schools fly from Santa Monica Municipal Airport.

None of them publishes a rate, so every one is a phone call. SMO is the identifier to give when you ask.

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