PilotBound

What flight training costs at Missouri flight schools

Across the 7 Missouri schools here with published rates, trainer rentals run $81 to $185 per hour and instruction $50 to $75, and PilotBound's private pilot estimate lands between $11,107 and $19,393, with a median of $16,655.

32 schools listed · Updated October 16, 2026

Estimate cost toflying
Showing 1–12 of 32 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 Missouri$9.6K$22.1K

  • Rebel Aviation

    Part not stated
    Lowest in MO

    Liberty, MO·rebelaviation.com

    $81/hr aircraft (wet)·$50/hr instructor

    Checked September 12, 2026·Source

    All rates are stated wet with no fuel surcharge added. The figures here are Rebel's standard pay-as-you-go rates; buying block time takes $5 to $7 an hour off each one. Ground instruction is $35/hr against $50/hr in the air. Its Piper PA-28-140 is currently listed as down. The site's FAQ page quotes older, different figures for the two Cessna 150s; the pricing page is the current source.

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $11,107

    range $9.6K to $12.7K

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

    Add to my planRebel Aviation cost breakdown →

  • Jefferson City Flying Service

    Part not stated

    Jefferson City, MO·jcfs.net

    $120/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)·$65/hr instructor

    Checked October 16, 2026·Source

    Nine aircraft across six types are priced per tail on the fleet page, which says the rates are per flight hour and does not say whether fuel is included. Instruction is $65/hr and ground instruction is billed at the same figure; both come from the course price sheets, which were updated July 1, 2026. Sales tax is charged on aircraft rental and materials. The school's own Private estimate is built on 55 flight hours rather than the 40 hour minimum.

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $14,785

    range $12.7K to $16.9K

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

    Add to my planJefferson City Flying Service cost breakdown →

  • R&R Aviation

    Part not stated

    Farmington, MO·randraviation.com

    $150/hr aircraft (wet)·$50/hr instructor

    Checked October 16, 2026·Source

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $16,075

    range $13.8K to $18.3K

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

    Add to my planR&R Aviation cost breakdown →

  • Columbia Jet Center

    Part not stated

    Columbia, MO·columbiajet.aero

    $150/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)·$60/hr instructor

    Checked October 16, 2026·Source

    Columbia Jet Center does not state whether its rates include fuel. The estimate uses the published rate as-is. The school's private-pilot page prices the Warrior at $130/hr and the 172N TAA at $185/hr, against the $150 and $195 on the rates page this estimate cites. Worth asking which applies before you budget.

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $16,655

    range $14.3K to $19K

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

    Add to my planColumbia Jet Center cost breakdown →

  • St. Charles Flying Service

    Part 61 & 141

    St. Charles, MO·stcharlesflyingservice.com

    $168/hr aircraft (wet)·$75/hr instructor

    Checked October 12, 2026·Source

    Dual instruction at $75/hr includes ground school and pre- and post-flight briefings. Buying 10 flight hours at a time earns a free 11th hour.

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $18,835

    range $16.2K to $21.5K

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

    Add to my planSt. Charles cost breakdown →

  • FlyTech Pilot Academy

    Part 61

    St. Joseph, MO·flystj.com

    $185/hr aircraft (wet)·$60/hr instructor

    Checked October 12, 2026·Source

    The Sling NGT is $185/hr wet and instruction is $60/hr, with the Redbird MCX simulator at $50/hr. The school also flies a Cessna 172 and has access to a Piper Seminole in Kansas City for multi-engine work, and prices neither. Students pay as they go; bulk time is sold at a discount.

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $19,175

    range $16.5K to $21.9K

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

    Add to my planFlyTech cost breakdown →

  • EAS Flight Training

    Part not stated
    Largest fleet

    Aurora, MO·easflighttraining.com

    $184/hr aircraft (wet)·$65/hr instructor

    Checked September 12, 2026·Source

    All ten aircraft are priced wet. Instruction is tiered: $65/hr for primary and for ground, $75/hr for advanced, and $100/hr for multi-engine. The Redbird FMX full-motion simulator is $65/hr. EAS also publishes course estimates of its own: about $15,000 Private, $13,725 Instrument, $10,365 Commercial, $5,745 multi-engine add-on, $6,995 initial CFI, $3,695 CFII, and $72,900 for zero to CFI. Its $90/hr single-engine and $110/hr multi-engine figures are CONTRACT PILOT rates, someone flying your aircraft for you rather than teaching you, and are not instruction. NOTE ON THE ARROWS: the fleet page files both Piper Arrows under a Multi-Engine heading, but a PA-28R-200 is a single-engine retractable, so that figure is the complex rate here and no multi-engine flying is priced.

    PilotBound estimate, Private

    $19,393

    range $16.7K to $22.1K

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

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

  • ATD Flight Systems

    Part 141

    Kansas City, MO·MKC·atdflightsystems.com

    No PilotBound estimate

    ATD does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    What to ask ATD

  • Cape Air Charter

    Part not stated

    Scott City, MO·CGI·capeaircharter.com

    No PilotBound estimate

    Cape Air Charter does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    What to ask Cape Air Charter

  • Cape Copters

    Part not stated

    Cape Girardeau, MO·CGI·capecopters.com

    No PilotBound estimate

    Cape Copters does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    What to ask Cape Copters

  • Chasaero

    Part not stated

    Warsaw, MO·RAW

    No PilotBound estimate

    Chasaero does not publish a website, an aircraft rate and an instructor rate

    What to ask Chasaero

  • Elite Aviation

    Part not stated

    Chesterfield, MO·SUS·eliteaviation-spirit.com

    No PilotBound estimate

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

    What to ask Elite Aviation

Flight school costs in Missouri, in numbers

Computed from the 7 Missouri schools that publish both an aircraft and an instructor rate, on the same method every card above uses. The 25 listings without a full rate card are left out of every figure.

Median PilotBound Private estimate across the 7 schools with published rates
$16,655
Published trainer rental, per hour
$81 to $185
Published instruction, per hour
$50 to $75
Schools publishing a full rate card (aircraft and instructor)
7 of 32

Lowest published trainer rates in Missouri

Part 141 flight schools in Missouri

Flight schools by city in Missouri

Airports with more than one Missouri flight school

Discovery flights in Missouri

6 Missouri schools publish a discovery flight price, median $130. 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 Missouri flight schools

How much does flight school cost in Missouri?

Across the 7 Missouri flight schools here that publish full rates, trainer rentals run $81 to $185 per hour and instruction $50 to $75 per hour, checked as recently as October 16, 2026. On each school's own published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate between $11,107 and $19,393, with a median of $16,655. These are PilotBound estimates built on published rates, not quotes from the schools.

What is the cheapest flight school in Missouri?

Rebel Aviation in Liberty publishes the lowest trainer rental of the 7 Missouri schools listed here, $81 per hour for its Cessna 150, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure, checked September 12, 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 Missouri flight school rates?

Every rate here is the school's own published figure, linked to its source and dated; the newest check in Missouri is October 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 25 more schools in Missouri are listed without an estimate because they do not publish a full rate card. A school can correct or remove its listing anytime.