PilotBound estimate · Ann Arbor, MI · Checked September 10, 2026
What flight training at Michigan Flyers costs
Website michiganflyers.org
Section 1Cost estimate
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
Two-seat, the lowest-cost line. Four 152s available.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Michigan Flyers
range $12.5K – $16.6K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Michigan Flyers's published rates: Cessna 152 at $109/hr + $75/hr instruction, checked September 10, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$5,438 on Michigan Flyers's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.
Where it goes
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
Examiner records (DPE dataset).
The hourly flying is priced on Michigan Flyers's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Michigan Flyers'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 →
Put this calculator on your siteSection 2The rate card
What Michigan Flyers publishes
checked September 10, 2026Airframes built 1973 to 2005. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read September 16, 2026.
Rates are wet (fuel and tax included). Michigan Flyers is a nonprofit membership club: flying requires club dues (about $55/mo), which this estimate does not include. Instructors set their own rates ($60 to $75/hr); this estimate uses $75.
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. Michigan Flyers does not state whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so the estimate above is built on Part 61 hours.
Section 3Paying for it
Two ways to cover $14,573.
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 Michigan-only awards in the directory yet.
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- Money you pay backLenders that cover $14,573All 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 4Add to my plan
Turn this into a plan.
Your $14,573 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.
Add to my planSection 5What to ask
What to ask when you call
The marked one is what Michigan Flyers's site never answers. The rest are what turns an hourly rate into a real bill.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 6Questions
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Michigan Flyers?
- Michigan Flyers publishes $109 per hour for the Cessna 152 and $75 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 10, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $14,573, in a range of $12,500 to $16,600. 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 Michigan Flyers.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Michigan Flyers?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Michigan Flyers 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 Michigan Flyers a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Michigan Flyers 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 Michigan Flyers's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Michigan Flyers publishes $109 per hour for the Cessna 152, 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 Michigan Flyers?
- Michigan Flyers trains Private Pilot. Instruction is $75 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Michigan Flyers's own published rates.
Section 7Sources
Estimates use Michigan Flyers's published Cessna 152 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 Michigan Flyers. 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 Michigan Flyers? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.
2 other schools fly from Ann Arbor Municipal Airport.
1 of them publishes at least one rate. ARB is the identifier to give when you ask.
- Solo AviationFull rate card, Cessna 152 at $125/hr and $60/hr instructionAnn Arbor
- ACE Aviation CenterPublishes no ratesAnn Arbor
Other Michigan flight schools
- ACE Aviation Center · Ann Arbor
- Airmen Academy · Lowell
- Airservice Enterprise · Howell
- American Aviation · Waterford
- Apogee Air · Waterford
- Ascend Aviation · Kimball
- Bay Flying Services · Saginaw
- Centennial Aircraft Services · Battle Creek
- Clear2Aviate · Ionia
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What each rating costs
Honest per-rating ranges, with the fees most quotes leave out.
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