PilotBound

Published rates, sourced · Updated September 16, 2026

What flight training costs at Colorado flight schools

Every listing shows the school's own published rates with the source and date, next to an honest PilotBound estimate for your Private pilot certificate. Add any school to your plan to map your whole route on their real rates.

Across the 13 Colorado schools here with published rates, trainer rentals run $73 to $219 per hour and instruction $50 to $85, and PilotBound's private pilot estimate lands between $10,531 and $22,785, with a median of $17,305.

Search, filter by city, and sort by cost. Each card marks where it falls among the state's schools on cost. Estimates are ours, not quotes, and we are not affiliated with these schools. See a wrong number? Every card has a correct-this-listing link.

Estimate cost toflying
Showing 1–12 of 34 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 Colorado

lowest $9.1Khighest $26K

  • Rocky Mountain Flight School

    Part 61
    Lowest in COLargest fleet

    Broomfield, CO·rmflight.com

    Published rates

    $73/hr aircraft (wet)+$50/hr instructor

    Checked September 5, 2026·Source

    All 29 airplanes on the fleet page are priced per hour wet. Instruction is $50/hr primary, $52/hr advanced and $55/hr for multi-engine and mountain work. The certificates page budgets an average airplane at about $119/hr, which matches the fleet. A handful of representative tails are listed here; the fleet page carries every one.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $10,531

    range $9.1K – $12K

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

    Add to my planRocky Mountain cost breakdown →

  • Cortez Flying Service

    Part 61

    Cortez, CO·cortezflyingservice.com

    Published rates

    $130/hr aircraft (wet)+$50/hr instructor

    Checked September 16, 2026·Source

    Cortez publishes a solo airplane rate ($130/hr) and a dual rate ($180/hr); it does not list a standalone instructor rate, so the $50/hr instruction here is the difference between the two (a dual hour works out to Cortez's published $180).

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $14,635

    range $12.6K – $16.7K

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

    Add to my planCortez Flying Service cost breakdown →

  • Seven Peaks Aviation

    Part not stated

    Salida and Buena Vista, CO·sevenpeaksaviation.com

    Published rates

    $150/hr aircraft (wet)+$60/hr instructor

    Checked September 5, 2026·Source

    Both airplanes are published wet on the rates page. The home page shows the 172 at $140/hr against the rates page's $150; the rates page is used. Instruction is a $60/hr base with $5/hr added for instrument work, $10/hr for mountain instruction and $10/hr in a student-owned airplane. The 182 is based at Buena Vista and Leadville rather than Salida.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $16,655

    range $14.3K – $19K

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

    Add to my planSeven Peaks cost breakdown →

  • Journeys Aviation

    Part 61

    Boulder, CO·journeysaviation.com

    Published rates

    $153/hr aircraft (wet)+$59/hr instructor

    Checked September 5, 2026·Source

    Rates are the non-member wet Hobbs figures from the school's price list dated June 10, 2026. Members ($35/month or $360/year) pay about $20/hr less on every airplane, less again with a $1,000 pre-pay. Instruction is $59/hr for the Private, $64/hr past the Private and $74/hr for multi-engine, mountain and tailwheel work. The Alpha Trainer is billed by tach, the rest by Hobbs. Two tailwheel airplanes are dual only.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $16,813

    range $14.5K – $19.2K

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

    Add to my planJourneys cost breakdown →

  • The Flight School at Colorado Springs

    Part 61

    Colorado Springs, CO·coloradospringsflightschool.com

    Published rates

    $165/hr aircraft (wet)+$50/hr instructor

    Checked September 16, 2026·Source

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $17,155

    range $14.8K – $19.6K

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

    Add to my planThe Flight School cost breakdown →

  • Colorado Flight Center

    Part 61

    Grand Junction, CO·coloradoflightcenter.com

    Published rates

    $150/hr aircraft (dry, fuel billed separately)+$70/hr instructor

    Checked September 16, 2026·Source

    This estimate uses Colorado Flight Center's published dry rates plus their estimated fuel. Their insurance requires a CFC instructor on every rental flight.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $17,235

    range $14.8K – $19.6K

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

    Add to my planColorado Flight Center cost breakdown →

  • Vector Air

    Part not stated

    Erie, CO·vectorair.net

    Published rates

    $155/hr aircraft (wet)+$65/hr instructor

    Checked September 16, 2026·Source

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $17,305

    range $14.9K – $19.7K

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

    Add to my planVector Air cost breakdown →

  • Colorado's BEST Flight School

    Part not stated

    Englewood, CO·coloradosbestflightschool.com

    Published rates

    $170/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)+$65/hr instructor

    Checked September 5, 2026·Source

    The training-programs page prices each certificate with its own aircraft and instructor rate: Private $170 and $65, Instrument $180 and $70, Commercial $180 and $75, high-performance endorsement $210 and $75, flight review instruction $100. The home page lists the fleet by tail. Nothing says whether the aircraft rates include fuel. The Redbird AATD is $70/hr and the twin $314/hr.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $18,385

    range $15.8K – $21K

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

    Add to my planColorado's BEST cost breakdown →

  • Leading Edge Flight Training

    Part not stated

    Loveland, CO·leflighttraining.com

    Published rates

    $170/hr aircraft (wet)+$70/hr instructor

    Checked September 16, 2026·Source

    Leading Edge also sells a flat-rate Private Pilot package (about $14,580 before tax) covering 52 aircraft hours, 40 hours of flight instruction, and 42 hours of ground, built on their standard $170/hr aircraft and $70/hr instruction rates. Hours beyond the package bill at those same rates.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $18,675

    range $16.1K – $21.3K

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

    Add to my planLeading Edge cost breakdown →

  • Springs Aviation

    Part 61

    Colorado Springs, CO·springsaviation.com

    Published rates

    $183/hr aircraft (wet)+$60/hr instructor

    Checked September 8, 2026·Source

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $19,031

    range $16.4K – $21.7K

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

    Add to my planSprings Aviation cost breakdown →

  • Colorado Sport Pilot

    Part not stated

    Loveland, CO·coloradosportpilot.org

    Published rates

    $195/hr aircraft (wet)+$60/hr instructor

    Checked September 16, 2026·Source

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $19,895

    range $17.1K – $22.7K

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

    Add to my planColorado Sport Pilot cost breakdown →

  • Peak Aviation

    Part not stated

    Colorado Springs, CO·cospilot.com

    Published rates

    $219/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)+$69/hr instructor

    Checked September 16, 2026·Source

    Peak Aviation does not say whether its published rates include fuel. This estimate uses the rate exactly as published, so ask before you budget: a dry rate adds roughly $30 to $60 per hour once fuel is on top.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $22,145

    range $19K – $25.2K

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

    Add to my planPeak Aviation cost breakdown →

Flight school costs in Colorado, in numbers

Computed from the 13 Colorado schools that publish both an aircraft and an instructor rate, on the same method every card above uses. The 21 listings without a full rate card are left out of every figure.

$17,305
Median PilotBound Private estimate across the 13 schools with published rates
$73 to $219
Published trainer rental, per hour
$50 to $85
Published instruction, per hour
13 of 34
Schools publishing a full rate card (aircraft and instructor)

Lowest published trainer rates in Colorado

Part 141 flight schools in Colorado

Flight schools by city in Colorado

Airports with more than one Colorado flight school

Discovery flights in Colorado

5 Colorado schools publish a discovery flight price, median $203. See each price with its source

How these estimates work

We apply one consistent method to every school: PilotBound's own completion-hours model, examiner-completion data where it exists (like the Private and Commercial) and FAA minimums where no credible public data exists (like the Instrument and CFI), times that school's published aircraft and instructor rates (linked on every card, with the date we verified them), plus the one-time fees most quotes leave out. Holding the hours model identical across schools means the only thing that changes card to card is the school's actual rates.

So the number is PilotBound's estimate, not the school's quote, and it will differ from a school's own cost figures, which are often based on FAA-minimum hours. The schools do not set or endorse it.

Want a number tied to your own pace and aircraft choice? Run the estimator or read the full methodology.

These estimates are ours, not the schools' quotes, and we are not affiliated with the schools. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime. Disclaimer & removal policy.

Common questions about Colorado flight schools

How much does flight school cost in Colorado?
Across the 13 Colorado flight schools here that publish full rates, trainer rentals run $73 to $219 per hour and instruction $50 to $85 per hour, checked as recently as September 16, 2026. On each school's own published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate between $10,531 and $22,785, with a median of $17,305. These are PilotBound estimates built on published rates, not quotes from the schools.
What is the cheapest flight school in Colorado?
Rocky Mountain Flight School in Broomfield publishes the lowest trainer rental of the 13 Colorado schools listed here, $73 per hour for its Cessna 152 Sparrowhawk 110 hp, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure, checked September 5, 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 Colorado flight school rates?
Every rate here is the school's own published figure, linked to its source and dated; the newest check in Colorado 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 21 more schools in Colorado are listed without an estimate because they do not publish a full rate card. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime.