How much does flight school cost in Missouri?

Across the 5 Missouri flight schools here that publish full rates, trainer rentals run $81 to $184 per hour and instruction $50 to $75 per hour, checked as recently as August 20, 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 5 Missouri schools listed here, $81 per hour for its Cessna 150, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure, checked August 13, 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 August 20, 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directory is re-checked on a monthly cycle, and 26 more schools in Missouri are listed without an estimate because they do not publish a full rate card.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.

PilotBoundEvery hour. Every dollar.

Published rates, sourced · Updated August 20, 2026

What flight training costs at Missouri 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 5 Missouri schools here with published rates, trainer rentals run $81 to $184 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.

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

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Showing 1–12 of 31 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

lowest $9.6Khighest $22.1K

Rebel Aviation
Part not stated
Lowest in MO
Liberty, MO·rebelaviation.com
Published rates
$81/hr aircraft (wet)+$50/hr instructor
Checked August 13, 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 – $12.7K
~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.
Add to my plan Rebel Aviation cost breakdown →
R&R Aviation
Part not stated
Farmington, MO·randraviation.com
Published rates
$150/hr aircraft (wet)+$50/hr instructor
Checked August 12, 2026·Source
PilotBound estimate · Private
$16,075
range $13.8K – $18.3K
~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.
Add to my plan R&R Aviation cost breakdown →
Columbia Jet Center
Part not stated
Columbia, MO·columbiajet.aero
Published rates
$150/hr aircraft (fuel basis not stated)+$60/hr instructor
Checked August 20, 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 – $19K
~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.
Add to my plan Columbia Jet Center cost breakdown →
St. Charles Flying Service
Part 61 & 141
St. Charles, MO·stcharlesflyingservice.com
Published rates
$168/hr aircraft (wet)+$75/hr instructor
Checked August 8, 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 – $21.5K
~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.
Add to my plan St. Charles cost breakdown →
EAS Flight Training
Part not stated
Largest fleet
Aurora, MO·easflighttraining.com
Published rates
$184/hr aircraft (wet)+$65/hr instructor
Checked August 13, 2026·Source
All ten aeroplanes 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 aeroplane 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 – $22.1K
~72 hrs on their published rates, plus one-time fees.
Add to my plan EAS 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·KMKC·atdflightsystems.com
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
ATD does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
Cape Air Charter
Part not stated
Scott City, MO·KCGI·capeaircharter.com
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
Cape Air Charter does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
Cape Copters
Part not stated
Cape Girardeau, MO·KCGI·capecopters.com
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
Cape Copters does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
Chasaero
Part not stated
Warsaw, MO·KRAW
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
Chasaero does not publish a website, an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
Elite Aviation
Part not stated
Chesterfield, MO·KSUS·eliteaviation-spirit.com
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
Elite Aviation does not publish an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
ExcelAir8
Part not stated
Columbia, MO·KCOU·excelair8.com
Published rates
$145/hr aircraft+instructor rate not published
Checked August 13, 2026·Source·3 aircraft published
All three aeroplanes are priced per wet hour. ExcelAir8 also sells fixed-price programmes: about $65,000 zero to hero including the multi-engine add-on, $51,000 starting from an instrument rating and $39,000 starting from a commercial certificate.
No PilotBound estimate
ExcelAir8 does not publish an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →
Fun Flight Aviation
Part not stated
De Soto, MO·KPCD
Published rates
aircraft rate not published+instructor rate not published
No PilotBound estimate
Fun Flight does not publish a website, an aircraft rate and an instructor rate
Nothing to total without it.
See what to ask them What they do publish →

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 5 Missouri flight schools here that publish full rates, trainer rentals run $81 to $184 per hour and instruction $50 to $75 per hour, checked as recently as August 20, 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 5 Missouri schools listed here, $81 per hour for its Cessna 150, a wet rate, so fuel is included in the hourly figure, checked August 13, 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 August 20, 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 26 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.