PilotBound

Published rates, sourced · Updated September 16, 2026

What flight training costs at Torrance flight schools

4 schools train out of Torrance. 3 publish a full rate card, shown with the source and the date it was read, next to a PilotBound estimate for your Private pilot certificate. The other one is listed with what they do publish.

Across the 3 Torrance schools here with published rates, trainer rentals run $140 to $198 per hour and instruction $75 to $120, and PilotBound's private pilot estimate lands between $17,675 and $21,851, with a median of $18,605.

One field: Zamperini Field (TOA). Whole state instead? California flight schools

Flight school costs in Torrance, in numbers

Computed from the 3 Torrance schools that publish both an aircraft and an instructor rate, on the same method every card below uses. The 1 listing without a full rate card is left out of every figure.

$18,605
Median PilotBound Private estimate across the 3 schools with published rates
$140 to $198
Published trainer rental, per hour
$75 to $120
Published instruction, per hour
3 of 4
Schools publishing a full rate card (aircraft and instructor)

Lowest published trainer rates in Torrance

Airports with Torrance flight schools

Estimate cost toflying
Showing 4 of 4 schools

Totals to reach your Private goal at this pace. 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. How we estimate.

Private estimate range across Torrance

lowest $15.2Khighest $24.9K

  • Pacific Skies Aviation

    Part not stated
    Lowest in CA

    Torrance, CA·pacificskies.com

    Published rates

    $140/hr aircraft (wet)+$90/hr instructor

    Checked September 12, 2026·Source

    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.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $17,675

    range $15.2K – $20.1K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planPacific Skies cost breakdown →

  • South Coast Aeronautics

    Part not stated

    Torrance, CA·southcoastaeronautics.com

    Published rates

    $165/hr aircraft (wet)+$75/hr instructor

    Checked September 8, 2026·Source

    South Coast publishes one airplane at $165/hr wet, with a $145/hr block rate. It advertises multi-engine and MEI training but publishes no twin and no twin rate, so the multi ratings are not priced here.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $18,605

    range $16K – $21.2K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planSouth Coast cost breakdown →

  • Sling Pilot Academy

    Part not stated
    Largest fleet

    Torrance, CA·slingpilotacademy.com

    Published rates

    $198/hr aircraft (wet)+$90/hr instructor

    Checked September 16, 2026·Source

    Rates are wet. The Sling NGT is the primary trainer; the Tecnam P2006T twin prices the multi. The Sling TSi is dual-transition and flight-review only; the Super Decathlon is tailwheel/aerobatic (aerobatic CFI $120/hr). Instruction is $90/hr for CFI and MEI. Sling also offers a fixed-price Professional Pilot program (in the aviation-academies listing).

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $21,851

    range $18.8K – $24.9K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planSling cost breakdown →
  • Below: schools without a full published rate card. They cannot be priced, so they sit at the end of a cost sort.

  • South Bay Aviation

    Part not stated

    Torrance, CA·TOA·southbayaviation.com

    Published rates

    $150/hr aircraft+instructor rate not published

    Checked September 13, 2026·Source·2 aircraft published

    Each aircraft carries an hourly figure on its own fleet card with no wet or dry wording. The instructor is not priced.

    No PilotBound estimate

    South Bay does not publish an instructor rate

    Nothing to total without it.

    See what to ask themWhat they do publish →

Flight schools in other California cities

All California flight schoolsFlight school costs by state

Common questions about Torrance flight schools

How much does flight school cost in Torrance?
Across the 3 Torrance flight schools here that publish full rates, trainer rentals run $140 to $198 per hour and instruction $75 to $120 per hour, checked as recently as September 16, 2026. On each school's own published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate between $17,675 and $21,851, with a median of $18,605. These are PilotBound estimates built on published rates, not quotes from the schools.
What is the cheapest flight school in Torrance?
Pacific Skies Aviation in Torrance publishes the lowest trainer rental of the 3 Torrance schools listed here, $140 per hour for its Cessna 152, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure, checked September 12, 2026. The lowest hourly rate is not automatically the lowest total: instructor rates, fuel basis, and the hours you actually fly decide that, which is what the per-school estimates on this page hold constant.
How current are these Torrance flight school rates?
Every rate here is the school's own published figure, linked to its source and dated; the newest check in Torrance is September 16, 2026, and each card and school page shows the exact date its rates were read. The directory is re-checked on a monthly cycle, and one more school in Torrance is listed without an estimate because it does not publish a full rate card. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime.
Which Torrance airports have flight schools?
One field carries the listed schools: Zamperini Field (TOA) with 4. A school that does not state its field on the pages we read is counted in Torrance without one.

Estimates use the same method as every California school page: PilotBound's own completion-hours model times each school's published rates, plus the one-time fees most quotes leave out. They are ours, not the schools' quotes, and we are not affiliated with the schools. How these estimates work·Disclaimer & removal policy