PilotBound estimate · Auburn, CA · Checked October 4, 2026
What flight training at Sky Trails Aviation costs
Website skytrailsaviation.com
Phone (530) 537-2087
Section 1Cost estimate
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
Wet. Two-seat, and the cheapest way in.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Sky Trails Aviation
range $15K – $19.9K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Sky Trails's published rates: Cessna 150D at $145/hr + $80/hr instruction, checked October 4, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$6,720 on Sky Trails'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 Sky Trails Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Sky Trails 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 Sky Trails publishes
checked October 4, 2026Airframes built 1956 to 2009. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read October 4, 2026.
Rates are wet and come from Sky Trails' rate sheet effective August 1, 2026. Instruction is $80/hr, which the school gives in its FAQ. The two Piper PA-18s are for dual instruction only. A block rate is offered and not published.
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. Sky Trails trains under both parts, and the estimate above is built on Part 61 hours.
Section 3Paying for it
Two ways to cover $17,455.
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 for51 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 $17,455All 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
Section 4Add to my plan
Turn this into a plan.
Your $17,455 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 5In the app
Track it against Sky Trails's rates.
Sky Trails Aviation's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose Sky Trails when you set up and the app prices your training at its rates, then tracks every flight you log against the projection.
Scan to download on your iPhone
Section 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 Sky Trails Aviation?
- Sky Trails Aviation publishes $145 per hour for the Cessna 150D and $80 per hour for instruction on it, checked October 4, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $17,455, in a range of $15,000 to $19,900. 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 Sky Trails Aviation.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Sky Trails Aviation?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Sky Trails 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 Sky Trails Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Sky Trails 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 Sky Trails Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Sky Trails Aviation publishes $145 per hour for the Cessna 150D, 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 October 4, 2026.
- What ratings can you train for at Sky Trails Aviation?
- Sky Trails Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine (AMEL), Flight Instructor and Multi-Engine Instructor. Instruction is $80 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Sky Trails Aviation's own published rates.
Section 8Sources
Estimates use Sky Trails Aviation's published Cessna 150D and instructor rates (checked October 4, 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 Sky Trails 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 Sky Trails? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.
2 other schools fly from Auburn Municipal Airport.
All of them publish something, so you can compare before you call. AUN is the identifier to give when you ask.
- Mach 5 AviationFull rate card, Cessna 152 Sparrowhawk at $175/hr and $95/hr instructionAuburn
- Sunshine FlyersFull rate card, Cessna 152 at $165/hr and $100/hr instructionAuburn
Other California flight schools
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- Aces High Aviation · Long Beach
- ActivePILOT Flight Academy · Van Nuys
- Advantage Aviation · Palo Alto
- Adventure Air · Chino
- Adventure Flight · Lincoln
- Aero Aviation · Long Beach
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