PilotBound

Published rates, sourced · Updated September 16, 2026

What flight training costs at Minnesota flight schools

Every listing shows the school's own published rates with the source and date, next to an honest PilotBound estimate for your Private pilot certificate. Add any school to your plan to map your whole route on their real rates.

Across the 8 Minnesota schools here with published rates, trainer rentals run $85 to $215 per hour and instruction $45 to $150, and PilotBound's private pilot estimate lands between $13,337 and $23,075, with a median of $17,201.

Search, filter by city, and sort by cost. Each card marks where it falls among the state's schools on cost. Estimates are ours, not quotes, and we are not affiliated with these schools. See a wrong number? Every card has a correct-this-listing link.

Estimate cost toflying
Showing 1–12 of 40 schools

Totals to reach your Private goal at this pace. 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. How we estimate.

Private estimate range across Minnesota

lowest $11.5Khighest $26.3K

  • Bemidji Aviation Services

    Part not stated
    Lowest in MN

    Bemidji, MN·bemidjiaviation.com

    Published rates

    $116/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)+$45/hr instructor

    Checked September 12, 2026·Source

    Bemidji's Private Pilot cost estimate works from a lower aircraft rate than its rental page quotes, and neither page carries a date, so confirm which applies. The instructor rate is published only inside that estimate. Bemidji is also a Part 135 operator with hub operations elsewhere, so the flight school is one part of a larger business.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $13,337

    range $11.5K – $15.2K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planBemidji Aviation cost breakdown →

  • St. Cloud Aviation

    Part not stated

    St. Cloud, MN·stcloudaviation.com

    Published rates

    $116/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)+$50/hr instructor

    Checked September 8, 2026·Source

    St. Cloud Aviation does not say whether its published rates include fuel. This estimate uses the rate exactly as published, so ask before you budget: a dry rate adds roughly $30 to $60 per hour once fuel is on top.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $13,627

    range $11.7K – $15.5K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planSt. Cloud cost breakdown →

  • Twin Cities Flight Training

    Part 61

    Blaine, MN·twincitiesflight.com

    Published rates

    $85/hr aircraft (dry, fuel billed separately)+$100/hr instructor

    Checked September 16, 2026·Source

    This estimate uses Twin Cities Flight Training's published dry rates. It does not include fuel or the 2% MAC (Metropolitan Airports Commission) fee, which are billed separately per their website.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $14,295

    range $12.3K – $16.3K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planTwin Cities Flight cost breakdown →

  • Lakes Area Aviation

    Part not stated

    Little Falls, MN·lakesareaaviation.com

    Published rates

    $125/hr aircraft (wet)+$60/hr instructor

    Checked September 12, 2026·Source

    All rates are wet and include fuel and insurance, with state tax charged on top. The prepay column applies automatically once a student or renter holds $500 or more on account; the figures here are the regular rates. Instruction in an aircraft that is not the school's is $70/hr, which is not the rate used here. Lakes Area also trains helicopters and has a second base at Platte Valley Airpark in Colorado.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $14,855

    range $12.8K – $16.9K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planLakes Area cost breakdown →

  • Great Planes Aviation

    Part not stated

    Rochester, MN·flygreatplanes.com

    Published rates

    $166/hr aircraft (wet)+$90/hr instructor

    Checked September 12, 2026·Source

    The rate sheet states PRICING EFFECTIVE 09/16/2024 on its face, so these figures are the school's current published card but were set a year before this check. Great Planes' rate sheet is stamped effective September 16, 2024, so confirm it is current before budgeting. Instruction of six to twelve hours in a day is billed at a $700 day rate rather than hourly, and instructor lodging, meals and transport are invoiced separately. A 4% discount applies to cash, cheque or on-account payment; the school no longer accepts credit cards for account deposits. Instruction in an aircraft that is not the school's is $100/hr. A separate AeroClub membership prices Cirrus time and is not modelled here.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $19,547

    range $16.8K – $22.3K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planGreat Planes cost breakdown →

  • Aloft Aviation

    Part not stated

    Lakeville, MN·aloft-aviation.com

    Published rates

    $175/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)+$85/hr instructor

    Checked September 12, 2026·Source

    Aloft publishes a second, lower rate on most tails under its Aloft Advantage programme; the figures here are the standard ones. Advanced instruction covers instrument training, the Cirrus and the Cougar, at the school's own definition. An AATD simulator is $50/hr and does not include the instructor.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $19,905

    range $17.1K – $22.7K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planAloft cost breakdown →

  • Inflight Pilot Training

    Part not stated
    Largest fleet

    Eden Prairie, MN·inflightpilottraining.com

    Published rates

    $150/hr aircraft (wet)+$150/hr instructor

    Checked August 20, 2026·Source

    This estimate uses Inflight's standard non-member (retail) rates. Inflight members pay roughly $30 to $40 per hour less on aircraft and $30 per hour less on instruction under its paid membership tiers.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $21,875

    range $18.8K – $24.9K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planInflight cost breakdown →

  • AV8 Flight School

    Part 61 & 141

    Eden Prairie, MN·av8flight.com

    Published rates

    $215/hr aircraft (wet)+$90/hr instructor

    Checked September 12, 2026·Source

    Rates are wet and include fuel. They exclude instruction, taxes and MAC fees, which the Metropolitan Airports Commission charges at Flying Cloud and which AV8 does not quantify. AV8 states that it charges no membership fee of any kind. Simulators are $60/hr for the FMX and $49/hr for the crosswind trainer. Instruction in a customer's own aircraft is $100/hr.

    PilotBound estimate · Private

    $23,075

    range $19.8K – $26.3K

    ~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.

    Add to my planAV8 cost breakdown →
  • Below: schools without a full published rate card. They cannot be priced, so they sit at the end of a cost sort.

  • 360 Aviation

    Part not stated

    Albert Lea, MN·AEL·360aviationllc.com

    Published rates

    aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published

    No PilotBound estimate

    360 Aviation does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    Nothing to total without it.

    See what to ask themWhat they do publish →

  • Accelerated Aviation Instruction

    Part not stated

    Owatonna, MN·OWA·accelerated-aviation.com

    Published rates

    aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published

    No PilotBound estimate

    Accelerated Aviation does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    Nothing to total without it.

    See what to ask themWhat they do publish →

  • Advanced Flight Training & Leasing

    Part not stated

    South St. Paul, MN·SGS·aftl.aero

    Published rates

    aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published

    No PilotBound estimate

    AFT&L does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    Nothing to total without it.

    See what to ask themWhat they do publish →

  • Adventure North Flying Service

    Part not stated

    Baudette and Aitkin, MN·BDE·adventurenorthflyingservice.com

    Published rates

    aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published

    No PilotBound estimate

    Adventure North does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    Nothing to total without it.

    See what to ask themWhat they do publish →

Flight school costs in Minnesota, in numbers

Computed from the 8 Minnesota schools that publish both an aircraft and an instructor rate, on the same method every card above uses. The 32 listings without a full rate card are left out of every figure.

$17,201
Median PilotBound Private estimate across the 8 schools with published rates
$85 to $215
Published trainer rental, per hour
$45 to $150
Published instruction, per hour
8 of 40
Schools publishing a full rate card (aircraft and instructor)

Lowest published trainer rates in Minnesota

Part 141 flight schools in Minnesota

Flight schools by city in Minnesota

Airports with more than one Minnesota flight school

Discovery flights in Minnesota

7 Minnesota schools publish a discovery flight price, median $189. See each price with its source

How these estimates work

We apply one consistent method to every school: PilotBound's own completion-hours model, examiner-completion data where it exists (like the Private and Commercial) and FAA minimums where no credible public data exists (like the Instrument and CFI), times that school's published aircraft and instructor rates (linked on every card, with the date we verified them), plus the one-time fees most quotes leave out. Holding the hours model identical across schools means the only thing that changes card to card is the school's actual rates.

So the number is PilotBound's estimate, not the school's quote, and it will differ from a school's own cost figures, which are often based on FAA-minimum hours. The schools do not set or endorse it.

Want a number tied to your own pace and aircraft choice? Run the estimator or read the full methodology.

These estimates are ours, not the schools' quotes, and we are not affiliated with the schools. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime. Disclaimer & removal policy.

Common questions about Minnesota flight schools

How much does flight school cost in Minnesota?
Across the 8 Minnesota flight schools here that publish full rates, trainer rentals run $85 to $215 per hour and instruction $45 to $150 per hour, checked as recently as September 16, 2026. On each school's own published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate between $13,337 and $23,075, with a median of $17,201. These are PilotBound estimates built on published rates, not quotes from the schools.
What is the cheapest flight school in Minnesota?
Twin Cities Flight Training in Blaine publishes the lowest trainer rental of the 8 Minnesota schools listed here, $85 per hour for its Cessna 150L, a dry rate, so fuel is billed separately on top, checked September 16, 2026. The lowest hourly rate is not automatically the lowest total: instructor rates, fuel basis, and the hours you actually fly decide that, which is what the per-school estimates on this page hold constant.
How current are these Minnesota flight school rates?
Every rate here is the school's own published figure, linked to its source and dated; the newest check in Minnesota is September 16, 2026, and each card and school page shows the exact date its rates were read. The directory is re-checked on a monthly cycle, and 32 more schools in Minnesota are listed without an estimate because they do not publish a full rate card. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime.