Aerial photo of Fulton County Airport, Rochester, IN — Imagery: USDA NAIPUSDA NAIP imagery via the USGS National Map

Mentone Flying Club

Flight training at Fulton County Airport.

Rates checkedChecked November 13, 2026 by Samip Shah, CFI, CFII, AGI

At a glance

2 aircraft across 1 type.
A private pilot certificate here, flying 2x a week, is estimated at $13,985.

Basics

Certificates	Private Pilot
Website	mentoneflyingclub.org

Aircraft and rates

Cessna 172 Skyhawk

At this school: 2
Built: 1973 to 1979
Rate: $125/hr

Tail	FAA model	Built	Rate (wet)
N12874Cessna 172M	Cessna 172M	1973	$125/hr
N6091DCessna 172N	Cessna 172N	1979	$125/hr

Model and year from the FAA aircraft registry, November 13, 2026.

Instruction and rate notes

Checked November 13, 2026

Instruction$45/hr

Rates are wet. Flying is for owner members: a $500 buy-in and $50 a month, by application, background check and a members' vote. A new owner membership can wait until an existing one is sold. The club runs a free ground school.

The examiner's checkride fee is paid separately. The estimate uses Part 61 hours. Mentone doesn't say whether it trains under Part 61 or 141.

See the published rates →mentoneflyingclub.org/n6091d →mentoneflyingclub.org/flight-instructors →

Airport

Fulton County KRCR
Home field · 1 runway · 5,001 ft · asphalt
View on the map

Aerial imagery: USDA NAIP imagery via the USGS National Map

Weather

286

flyable days a year

Jun to Sep

most flyable months

16 of 31

in January, the fewest

Flyable 286Low clouds or poor visibility 80

If you start in

In an average year, January to June has 136 flyable days out of 181. That is the six months your estimate covers, marked under the chart.

What counts as a flyable day

Clouds no lower than 3,000 feet and visibility of 5 miles or more (VFR weather) for at least half the hours between 9 am and 5 pm. Hourly observations from the airport's own weather station, 2016 to 2025. Source: Iowa Environmental Mesonet ASOS archive, Iowa State University.

What it costs

Certificate

Flying

Airplane

Hours

Flight hours72 hrs

What students typically take.

Where this comes from

Examiner records (DPE dataset).

PilotBound estimate

$13,985

Usually $12,000 to $15,900 · about 6 months

Airplane72 hrs in Cessna 172 Skyhawk × $125/hr$9,000
Instructor58 hrs dual × $45/hr$2,610
One-time feesWritten test, checkride, medical, headset and more$2,375
- Knowledge (written) test$175
- Checkride / DPE fee$800
- Medical certificate$150
- Headset$700
- Ground school / test prep$300
- Books, charts & supplies$250

The hourly flying is priced on Mentone Flying Club's published rates. The one-time fees are typical national figures, not Mentone Flying Club's prices, and several are set by third parties.

Discovery flight

$85

Checked November 13, 2026

See it on their website Discovery flight prices in Indiana

Paying for it

Two ways to cover $13,985.

Win what you can first, then borrow only what is left.

Money you keepScholarships you could apply for43 open to anyone. Top awards reach $22,200.No Indiana-only awards in the directory yet.: 43
Money you pay backLenders that cover $13,985All six lenders in our comparison lend this much. That is whether a loan this size is on offer, not whether you would be approved.: 6 of 6

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What to ask when you call

Not on their website

Do you train under Part 61 or Part 141?
It changes the minimum hours, and for some students, financing.

Also ask

What gets billed on top of the hourly rates, and roughly how much per hour does it add?
Ask for the all-in hourly number, not the base rate.
Do you offer block rates or prepay discounts, and what is the refund policy if I stop partway?
Block discounts are rarely published, and the refund terms matter more than the discount.
What do you charge for the written test, the checkride, and the examiner's fee?
The examiner's fee alone runs $800 to $1,200 in most of the country.
How many trainers and how many full-time instructors do you have right now?
Availability sets your pace, and pace drives your total more than the hourly rate.

In the app

Track it against Mentone's rates.

Mentone Flying Club's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose Mentone 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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PilotBound school screen: the cost of a Private certificate built from a school's published aircraft and instruction rates — The app, shown with a sample school.

Questions

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Mentone Flying Club?

Mentone Flying Club publishes $125 per hour for the Cessna 172 Skyhawk and $45 per hour for instruction on it, checked November 13, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $13,985, in a range of $12,000 to $15,900. 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 Mentone Flying Club.

How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Mentone Flying Club?

Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Mentone Flying Club 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 Mentone Flying Club a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?

Mentone Flying Club's website doesn't say whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141. Ask 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 Mentone Flying Club's aircraft rates include fuel?

Mentone Flying Club publishes $125 per hour for the Cessna 172 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 November 13, 2026.

What ratings can you train for at Mentone Flying Club?

Mentone Flying Club trains Private Pilot. Instruction is $45 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Mentone Flying Club's own published rates.

Sources

Estimates use Mentone Flying Club's published Cessna 172 Skyhawk and instructor rates (checked November 13, 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 Mentone Flying Club. 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. Methodology · Disclaimer & removal policy.

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