PilotBound estimate · Gypsum, CO · Checked September 5, 2026
What flight training at Alpine Flight Training costs
Website alpineflighttraining.com
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
Wet. $164/hr on the school's sister site.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Alpine Flight Training
range $19.6K – $26K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Alpine's published rates: Piper PA-28-181 Archer at $215/hr + $85/hr instruction, checked September 5, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$9,090 on Alpine'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 Alpine Flight Training's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Alpine Flight Training'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 Alpine publishes
checked September 5, 2026The Archer is published wet at $215/hr on the school's own rates page. The school's second site, mountaincfi.com, lists the same Archer at $164/hr wet plus a Cessna 182 at $189/hr, so ask which card applies. Instruction is $85/hr in the school's airplane and $95/hr in a customer's, with ground billed at the same rate; the Redbird simulator is $50/hr. Mountain flying is the specialty.
Not published: the examiner's checkride fee. Listed as missing rather than guessed.
Paying for it
Two ways to cover $22,785.
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.
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- Lenders that cover $22,785Five 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.
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Turn this into a plan.
Your $22,785 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.
Add to my planWhat 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.
Estimates use Alpine Flight Training's published Piper PA-28-181 Archer and instructor rates (checked September 5, 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 Alpine Flight Training. 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 Alpine Flight Training
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Alpine Flight Training?
- Alpine Flight Training publishes $215 per hour for the Piper PA-28-181 Archer and $85 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 5, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $22,785, in a range of $19,600 to $26,000. 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 Alpine Flight Training.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Alpine Flight Training?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Alpine Flight Training 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 Alpine Flight Training a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Alpine Flight Training trains under Part 61, the flexible path. There is no FAA-approved syllabus to follow, so lessons can be scheduled around your life and adapted to your pace. The tradeoff is a slightly higher paper minimum for the private certificate (40 hours versus 35) and, for most students, no VA benefit eligibility.
- Do Alpine Flight Training's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Alpine Flight Training publishes $215 per hour for the Piper PA-28-181 Archer, 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 5, 2026.
- What ratings can you train for at Alpine Flight Training?
- Alpine Flight Training trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Flight Instructor and Instrument Instructor. Instruction is $85 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Alpine Flight Training's own published rates.
Other Colorado flight schools
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