PilotBound

Published rates, sourced · Updated September 8, 2026

What flight training costs at Delaware 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.

Phill-Air in Dover is the one Delaware school here with a full published rate card: $210 per hour for its Cessna 172 plus $70 per hour instruction, a PilotBound private pilot estimate of about $21,555.

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 2 of 2 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 Delaware

lowest $18.5Khighest $24.6K

  • Phill-Air

    Part not stated

    Dover, DE·phill-air.com

    Published rates

    $210/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)+$70/hr instructor

    Checked September 8, 2026·Source

    Phill-Air does not state in words whether its rates include fuel, but warns that "prices may vary depending on fuel costs", so confirm before budgeting. Both aircraft are IFR certified and priced the same. The operator also sells sightseeing and aerial photography flights, which are not training.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $21,555

    range $18.5K – $24.6K

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

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

  • Dover AFB Aero Club

    Part not stated

    Dover, DE·DOV·doverfss.com/aero-club/

    Published rates

    aircraft rate not published+$42/hr instructor

    Checked September 13, 2026·Source

    Flight instructor $42/hr and ground instructor $32/hr, from the club's 2025 brochure, which also sets a $35 initiation fee and dues of $32/month or $352/year with family members free. The same brochure lists a Cessna T41A, a 172N, two 172Ps, a 182RG and a Redbird MCX simulator and prices none of them; the club's web page prices the simulator at $40/hr. Membership includes $1 million of insurance cover.

    No PilotBound estimate

    Dover Aero Club does not publish an aircraft rate

    Nothing to total without it.

    See what to ask themWhat they do publish →

Flight school costs in Delaware, in numbers

Computed from the 1 Delaware school that publishes both an aircraft and an instructor rate, on the same method every card above uses. The 1 listing without a full rate card is left out of every figure.

$21,555
PilotBound Private estimate at the one school with published rates
$210/hr
Published trainer rental, per hour
$70/hr
Published instruction, per hour
1 of 2
Schools publishing a full rate card (aircraft and instructor)

Lowest published trainer rates in Delaware

Discovery flights in Delaware

One Delaware school publishes a discovery flight price. 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 Delaware flight schools

How much does flight school cost in Delaware?
Phill-Air in Dover is the one Delaware school here with a full published rate card: $210 per hour for its Cessna 172 and $70 per hour for instruction, checked September 8, 2026. On those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $21,555. That is a PilotBound estimate, not a quote from the school.
How current are these Delaware flight school rates?
Every rate here is the school's own published figure, linked to its source and dated; the newest check in Delaware is September 8, 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 Delaware is listed without an estimate because it does not publish a full rate card. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime.