How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Cloud Catcher Aviation?

Cloud Catcher Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Piper and $85 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 14, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $19,905, in a range of $17,100 to $22,700. 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 Cloud Catcher Aviation.

How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Cloud Catcher Aviation?

Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Cloud Catcher Aviation 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 Cloud Catcher Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?

Cloud Catcher Aviation 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 Cloud Catcher Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?

Cloud Catcher Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Piper, 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 Cloud Catcher Aviation?

Cloud Catcher Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Instrument Instructor. Instruction is $85 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Cloud Catcher Aviation's own published rates.

PilotBoundEvery hour. Every dollar.

PilotBound estimate · Great Falls, MT · Checked August 14, 2026

What flight training at Cloud Catcher Aviation costs

Website cloudcatcherav.com

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Which airplane?

Wet. $170/hr on a ten-hour block.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Cloud Catcher Aviation

$19,905

range $17.1K – $22.7K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Cloud Catcher's published rates: Piper at $175/hr + $85/hr instruction, checked August 14, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$12,095

at the hours students actually take$19,905

+$7,810 on Cloud Catcher's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$17.1K – $22.7K

Aircraft rental$12,600

Instruction$4,930

One-time costs$2,375

Aircraft + instruction$17,530

72 hrs in Piper @ $175/hr + 58 dual @ $85/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 Cloud Catcher Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Cloud Catcher Aviation'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 Cloud Catcher publishes

checked August 14, 2026

Piper (N9690W)Wet. $170/hr on a ten-hour block.$175/hr wet

Piper (N8086H)Wet. $180/hr on a ten-hour block.$185/hr wet

Instruction$85/hr

Both aeroplanes carry a block rate $5/hr lower when ten hours are bought up front; the standard rates are used here. The instructor rate is published on the ground-training page and the site gives no separate figure for flight instruction. A discovery flight is $175. Cloud Catcher will also instruct in a student's own aeroplane.

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

See the published rates→Source 2→

Step 2

Turn this into a plan.

Your $19,905 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.

Add to my plan

What to ask when you call

The marked one is what Cloud Catcher'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.

Estimates use Cloud Catcher Aviation's published Piper 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 Cloud Catcher Aviation. 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 Cloud Catcher Aviation

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Cloud Catcher Aviation?: Cloud Catcher Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Piper and $85 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 14, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $19,905, in a range of $17,100 to $22,700. 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 Cloud Catcher Aviation.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Cloud Catcher Aviation?: Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Cloud Catcher Aviation 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 Cloud Catcher Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?: Cloud Catcher Aviation 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 Cloud Catcher Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?: Cloud Catcher Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Piper, 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 Cloud Catcher Aviation?: Cloud Catcher Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Instrument Instructor. Instruction is $85 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Cloud Catcher Aviation's own published rates.

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