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

Vegas Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 172 and $60 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 12, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $18,455, in a range of $15,900 to $21,000. 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 Vegas Aviation.

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

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

Vegas Aviation trains under Part 61, the flexible path. There is no FAA-approved syllabus to follow, so lessons can be scheduled around your life and adapted to your pace. The tradeoff is a slightly higher paper minimum for the private certificate (40 hours versus 35) and, for most students, no VA benefit eligibility.

Do Vegas Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?

Vegas Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 172, a rate that does not say whether fuel is included. Ask before you budget: if the rate turns out to be dry, fuel adds roughly $30 to $60 per hour on top. PilotBound's estimate uses the rate exactly as published. Rates checked August 12, 2026.

What ratings can you train for at Vegas Aviation?

Vegas Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine (AMEL), Flight Instructor, Instrument Instructor and Multi-Engine Instructor. Instruction is $60 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Vegas Aviation's own published rates.

PilotBoundEvery hour. Every dollar.

PilotBound estimate · North Las Vegas, NV · Checked August 12, 2026

What flight training at Vegas Aviation costs

Website vegasaviation.com

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Which airplane?

A fleet of eight, priced as one line rather than per tail.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Vegas Aviation

$18,455

range $15.9K – $21K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Vegas Aviation's published rates: Cessna 172 at $175/hr + $60/hr instruction, checked August 12, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$11,295

at the hours students actually take$18,455

+$7,160 on Vegas Aviation's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$15.9K – $21K

Aircraft rental$12,600

Instruction$3,480

One-time costs$2,375

Aircraft + instruction$16,080

72 hrs in Cessna 172 @ $175/hr + 58 dual @ $60/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 Vegas Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Vegas 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 Vegas Aviation publishes

checked August 12, 2026

Cessna 172 (180hp, dual Garmin G5, 430W)A fleet of eight, priced as one line rather than per tail.$175/hr fuel basis not stated

Beechcraft Duchess (twin)Two of them. Prices the multi-engine add-on and the MEI.$425/hr fuel basis not stated

Instruction$60/hr

Vegas Aviation publishes these as "starting at" rates and does not state whether fuel is included. Instruction is a flat $60/hr, billed on top of the aircraft rate, and the same figure covers ground, flight, single-engine and multi-engine. An AATD simulator is published at $75/hr and is not part of this estimate. The school publishes no complex single, so the commercial's ten complex-or-TAA hours are estimated at a regional average rather than a Vegas Aviation figure; its own commercial cost table does not itemize those hours either.

Not published: the examiner's checkride fee, whether rates include fuel. Listed as missing rather than guessed.

See the published rates→Source 2→

Step 2

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Your $18,455 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.

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What to ask when you call

The marked one is what Vegas Aviation's site never answers. The rest are what turns an hourly rate into a real bill.

Do the published aircraft rates include fuel, or is fuel billed separately?Missing from their site
The site does not say, and it is the difference between two rates that look identical and are not.
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 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 Vegas Aviation's published Cessna 172 and instructor rates (checked August 12, 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 Vegas 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 Vegas Aviation

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Vegas Aviation?: Vegas Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 172 and $60 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 12, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $18,455, in a range of $15,900 to $21,000. 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 Vegas Aviation.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Vegas Aviation?: Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Vegas 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 Vegas Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?: Vegas Aviation trains under Part 61, the flexible path. There is no FAA-approved syllabus to follow, so lessons can be scheduled around your life and adapted to your pace. The tradeoff is a slightly higher paper minimum for the private certificate (40 hours versus 35) and, for most students, no VA benefit eligibility.
Do Vegas Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?: Vegas Aviation publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 172, a rate that does not say whether fuel is included. Ask before you budget: if the rate turns out to be dry, fuel adds roughly $30 to $60 per hour on top. PilotBound's estimate uses the rate exactly as published. Rates checked August 12, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Vegas Aviation?: Vegas Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine (AMEL), Flight Instructor, Instrument Instructor and Multi-Engine Instructor. Instruction is $60 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Vegas Aviation's own published rates.

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