What flight training at Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation costs

Perry, GA · Checked October 16, 2026

Website charlietangoalpha.com

Phone 478.777.3165

Cost estimate

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Cessna 172H Skyhawk (GPS), $160/hr

Wet, the student rate. The only airplane.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation

$16,215

range $13.9K – $18.5K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Charlie Tango Alpha's published rates: Cessna 172H Skyhawk at $160/hr + $40/hr instruction, checked October 16, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$10,055
at the hours students actually take$16,215

+$6,160 on Charlie Tango Alpha's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$13.9K – $18.5K
Aircraft rental$11,520
Instruction$2,320
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$13,840
72 hrs in Cessna 172H Skyhawk @ $160/hr + 58 dual @ $40/hr

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
Hours at a steady pace72 hrs

Examiner records (DPE dataset).

The hourly flying is priced on Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Charlie Tango Alpha 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 →

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The rate card

What Charlie Tango Alpha publishes

Checked October 16, 2026
Cessna 172H Skyhawk (GPS)Wet, the student rate. The only airplane.$160/hr wet
Instruction$40/hr

The Cessna 172 is $160/hr wet for students paying as they go, $150/hr in a 20-hour block, and $170/hr for certificated renters. Instruction is $40/hr.

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.

Discovery flight

$250

Checked October 16, 2026

About 45 minutes to an hour with an instructor, at the controls.

Discovery flight prices in Georgia

Paying for it

Two ways to cover $16,215.

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 for50 open to anyone. Top awards reach $22,200.No Georgia-only awards in the directory yet.
50
Money you pay backLenders that cover $16,215All 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 $16,215 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.

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In the app

Track it against Charlie Tango Alpha's rates.

Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose Charlie Tango Alpha when you set up and the app prices your training at its rates, then tracks every flight you log against the projection.

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What to ask

What to ask when you call

What turns an hourly rate into a real bill.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

Questions

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation?

Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation publishes $160 per hour for the Cessna 172H Skyhawk and $40 per hour for instruction on it, checked October 16, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $16,215, in a range of $13,900 to $18,500. 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 Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation.

How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation?

Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Charlie Tango Alpha 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 Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?

Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation 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 Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?

Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation publishes $160 per hour for the Cessna 172H Skyhawk, 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 16, 2026.

What ratings can you train for at Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation?

Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot. Instruction is $40 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation's own published rates.

Sources

Estimates use Charlie Tango Alpha Aviation's published Cessna 172H Skyhawk and instructor rates (checked October 16, 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 Charlie Tango Alpha 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 Charlie Tango Alpha? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

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