PilotBound estimate · Santa Teresa, NM · Checked September 10, 2026
What flight training at Red Arrow Flight Academy costs
Website flyredarrow.com
Phone (575) 201-6160
Section 1Cost estimate
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
160 hp. G5 and Garmin 430.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Red Arrow Flight Academy
range $17.1K – $22.7K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Red Arrow's published rates: Cessna 172M at $171/hr + $68/hr instruction, checked September 10, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$9,665 on Red Arrow's own rates. Quotes usually price the 35-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.
Where it goes
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
Examiner records (DPE dataset). Note: Part 141 typically runs higher, not lower.
The hourly flying is priced on Red Arrow Flight Academy's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Red Arrow Flight Academy'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 →
Put this calculator on your siteSection 2The rate card
What Red Arrow publishes
checked September 10, 2026Airframes built 1969 to 1981. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read October 4, 2026.
Aircraft rates are published wet. Red Arrow adds a starting fuel surcharge of $13 minimum to every rental and states that its prices do not include tax, so both land on top of the figures here. Instruction is tiered by the INSTRUCTOR's certificate and role rather than by your rating: CFI $68, CFII $74, MEI $88, check instructor $79, assistant chief $88, chief $98. This estimate uses the CFI rate, which is the one most students fly with. An FMX full-motion simulator is $79/hr. The school notes prices may change and asks you to confirm current ones.
The examiner's checkride fee is not on this card: the examiner sets it, not the school. The estimate above includes PilotBound's own figure for it.
Section 3Discovery flight
$220
Checked September 14, 2026
30 minutes in a Cessna 172 or Piper Archer. With a 30-minute simulator session first, $275.
Section 4Paying for it
Two ways to cover $19,929.
Win what you can first, then borrow only what is left. Neither figure assumes anything about you: one is what our scholarship directory holds, the other is what the lenders publish.
- Money you keepScholarships you could apply for51 open to anyone. Top awards reach $22,200.No New Mexico-only awards in the directory yet.
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- Money you pay backLenders that cover $19,929All six lenders in our comparison lend this much. That is whether a loan this size is on offer, not whether you would be approved.
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Section 5Add to my plan
Turn this into a plan.
Your $19,929 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.
Add to my planSection 6In the app
Track it against Red Arrow's rates.
Red Arrow Flight Academy's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose Red Arrow when you set up and the app prices your training at its rates, then tracks every flight you log against the projection.
Scan to download on your iPhone
Section 7What to ask
What to ask when you call
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.
Which instructor rate applies to each rating I plan to do, and does the higher tier start on day one of that rating?
This school prices some instruction above its primary rate. Knowing when the step-up starts keeps the later ratings from surprising you.
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.
Section 8Questions
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Red Arrow Flight Academy?
- Red Arrow Flight Academy publishes $171 per hour for the Cessna 172M and $68 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 10, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $19,929, in a range of $17,100 to $22,700. That covers roughly 78 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 Red Arrow Flight Academy.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Red Arrow Flight Academy?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Red Arrow Flight Academy to reach the private pilot checkride, at roughly 78 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 Red Arrow Flight Academy a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Red Arrow Flight Academy trains under Part 141, an FAA-approved syllabus with a structured course of study. Part 141 can finish the private certificate in fewer required hours on paper (35 versus 40), though in practice most students at either kind of school fly past the minimum. Part 141 also matters if you plan to use VA benefits, which generally require an approved 141 course.
- Do Red Arrow Flight Academy's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Red Arrow Flight Academy publishes $171 per hour for the Cessna 172M, 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 September 10, 2026.
- What ratings can you train for at Red Arrow Flight Academy?
- Red Arrow Flight Academy trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine (AMEL), Flight Instructor and Instrument Instructor. Instruction runs $68 to $88 per hour depending on the rating and the aircraft, since advanced and type-specific instruction is priced above the standard rate. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Red Arrow Flight Academy's own published rates.
Section 9Sources
Estimates use Red Arrow Flight Academy's published Cessna 172M and instructor rates (checked September 10, 2026), shown in USD for planning only. Real cost varies by student, weather, and pace. A range, not a quote.
PilotBound is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or sponsored by Red Arrow Flight Academy. 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.
Are you Red Arrow? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.
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