PilotBound
PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · Mason, MI · Checked August 14, 2026

What flight training at Great Lakes Air Ventures costs

Website greatlakesairventures.com

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Wet. Two-seat trainers with Garmin GI 275s.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Great Lakes Air Ventures

$15,505

range $13.3K – $17.7K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Great Lakes's published rates: Cessna 150 at $130/hr + $65/hr instruction, checked August 14, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$9,655
at the hours students actually take$15,505

+$5,850 on Great Lakes's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$13.3K – $17.7K
Aircraft rental$9,360
Instruction$3,770
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$13,130
72 hrs in Cessna 150 @ $130/hr + 58 dual @ $65/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 Great Lakes Air Ventures's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Great Lakes Air Ventures'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 →

What Great Lakes publishes

checked August 14, 2026
Cessna 150 (N8318J, N6088G, N10439)Wet. Two-seat trainers with Garmin GI 275s.$130/hr wet
Cessna 172N/172M (N2073E, N5055R)Wet. Six-pack panels.$175/hr wet
Piper Cherokee 151 (N33149)Wet. Garmin G3X Touch, GFC 500, GTN 650xi.$180/hr wet
Piper Archer / Archer II / Cherokee 180 (N8086G, N1759H, N1491T)Wet.$190/hr wet
Piper Twin Comanche (N7164Y, N7131Y)Wet. The multi-engine trainer.$330/hr wet
Instructionstandard $65/hr · instrument instruction $70/hr · commercial instruction $75/hr · CFI candidates $75/hr · CFII candidates $75/hr · multi-engine instruction $80/hr$65 – $80/hr

Great Lakes prices ground instruction $10/hr below flight instruction at every rating: $55 Private, $60 Instrument, $65 Commercial and CFI, $70 multi. The rates here are the flight tiers. An AATD that can be configured single or twin is $50/hr and is not modelled.

Not published: the examiner's checkride fee. Listed as missing rather than guessed.

See the published rates→Source 2→

Step 2

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Your $15,505 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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What to ask when you call

The marked one is what Great Lakes'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. Which instructor rate applies to each rating I plan to do, and does the higher tier start on day one of that rating?

    This school prices some instruction above its primary rate. Knowing when the step-up starts keeps the later ratings from surprising you.

  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.

Estimates use Great Lakes Air Ventures's published Cessna 150 and instructor rates (checked August 14, 2026), shown in USD for planning only. Real cost varies by student, weather, and pace. An honest range, not a quote.

PilotBound is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Great Lakes Air Ventures. 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.

Common questions about Great Lakes Air Ventures

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Great Lakes Air Ventures?
Great Lakes Air Ventures publishes $130 per hour for the Cessna 150 and $65 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 14, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $15,505, in a range of $13,300 to $17,700. 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 Great Lakes Air Ventures.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Great Lakes Air Ventures?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Great Lakes Air Ventures 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 Great Lakes Air Ventures a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
Great Lakes Air Ventures 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 Great Lakes Air Ventures's aircraft rates include fuel?
Great Lakes Air Ventures publishes $130 per hour for the Cessna 150, 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 August 14, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Great Lakes Air Ventures?
Great Lakes Air Ventures trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine (AMEL), Flight Instructor and Instrument Instructor. Instruction runs $65 to $80 per hour depending on the rating and the aircraft, since advanced and type-specific instruction is priced above the standard rate. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Great Lakes Air Ventures's own published rates.

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