PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · Rock Falls, IL · Checked September 10, 2026

What flight training at Sauk Valley Aviation costs

Website saukvalleyaviation.com

Phone (815) 213-7939

Section 1Cost estimate

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Sauk Valley Aviation

$16,075

range $13.8K – $18.3K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Sauk Valley's published rates: Single-engine trainer at $150/hr + $50/hr instruction, checked September 10, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$9,975
at the hours students actually take$16,075

+$6,100 on Sauk Valley's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$13.8K – $18.3K
Aircraft rental$10,800
Instruction$2,900
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$13,700
72 hrs in Single-engine trainer @ $150/hr + 58 dual @ $50/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 Sauk Valley Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Sauk Valley 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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Section 2The rate card

What Sauk Valley publishes

checked September 10, 2026
Single-engine trainer$150/hr wet
Instruction$50/hr

Sauk Valley publishes one rental rate, wet, without naming the airplane it belongs to, and describes it only as VFR/IFR capable and fully insured. Instruction is $50/hr. The site never lists which certificates it trains, so only the Private is recorded here. A separate maintenance shop rate of $85/hr is not a training cost.

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. Sauk Valley does not state whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so the estimate above is built on Part 61 hours.

See the published rates →

Section 3Discovery flight

Section 4Paying for it

Two ways to cover $16,075.

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 for46 open to anyone. Top awards reach $22,200.No Illinois-only awards in the directory yet.
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Money you pay backLenders that cover $16,075All 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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Section 5Add to my plan

Turn this into a plan.

Your $16,075 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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Section 6What to ask

What to ask when you call

The marked one is what Sauk Valley's site never answers. The rest are 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 train under Part 61 or Part 141?Missing from their site

    It changes the minimum hours, and for some students it changes financing eligibility.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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.

Section 7Questions

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Sauk Valley Aviation?
Sauk Valley Aviation publishes $150 per hour for the Single-engine trainer and $50 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 10, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $16,075, in a range of $13,800 to $18,300. 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 Sauk Valley Aviation.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Sauk Valley Aviation?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Sauk Valley 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 Sauk Valley Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
Sauk Valley Aviation does not state on its own website whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so we do not list one. It is worth asking directly before you enroll: Part 141 follows an FAA-approved syllabus and is generally what VA benefits require, while Part 61 is more flexible on scheduling.
Do Sauk Valley Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?
Sauk Valley Aviation publishes $150 per hour for the Single-engine trainer, 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 10, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Sauk Valley Aviation?
Sauk Valley Aviation trains Private Pilot. Instruction is $50 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Sauk Valley Aviation's own published rates.

Section 8Sources

Estimates use Sauk Valley Aviation's published Single-engine trainer and instructor rates (checked September 10, 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 Sauk Valley 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 Sauk Valley? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

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