PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · Wheeling, IL · Checked September 10, 2026

What flight training at WAir Aviation costs

Website wairaviation.com

Phone (847) 773-1382

Section 1Cost estimate

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Two-seat, 100 hp. IFR approved with a Garmin 430 and dual G5s. Added to the fleet by August 12, 2026.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at WAir Aviation

$19,905

range $17.1K – $22.7K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on WAir's published rates: Cessna 150J at $175/hr + $85/hr instruction, checked September 10, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$12,095
at the hours students actually take$19,905

+$7,810 on WAir's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$17.1K – $22.7K
Aircraft rental$12,600
Instruction$4,930
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$17,530
72 hrs in Cessna 150J @ $175/hr + 58 dual @ $85/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 WAir Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not WAir 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 WAir publishes

checked September 10, 2026
Cessna 172R (N149UD)2003IFR-equipped with autopilot.$215/hr wet
Cessna 172S (N199SP)2003IFR-equipped with autopilot.$215/hr wet
Cessna 172SP (N6265T)2008IFR-equipped with autopilot.$230/hr wet
Cessna 150J (N50541)1968Two-seat, 100 hp. IFR approved with a Garmin 430 and dual G5s. Added to the fleet by August 12, 2026.$175/hr wet
Instruction$85/hr

Airframes built 1968 to 2008. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read September 16, 2026.

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.

See the published rates →

Section 3Discovery flight

Section 4Paying for it

Two ways to cover $19,905.

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.
46
Money you pay backLenders that cover $19,905All 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 $19,905 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

What turns an hourly rate into a real bill.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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 WAir Aviation?
WAir Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 150J and $85 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 10, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $19,905, in a range of $17,100 to $22,700. 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 WAir Aviation.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at WAir Aviation?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at WAir 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 WAir Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
WAir 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 WAir Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?
WAir Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 150J, 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 WAir Aviation?
WAir Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot. Instruction is $85 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on WAir Aviation's own published rates.

Section 8Sources

Estimates use WAir Aviation's published Cessna 150J 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 WAir 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 WAir? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

6 other schools fly from Chicago Executive Airport.

5 of them publish at least one rate. PWK is the identifier to give when you ask.

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