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

Departure Aviation Services publishes $145 per hour for the Cessna 172 and $50 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 13, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $15,715, in a range of $13,500 to $17,900. 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 Departure Aviation Services.

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

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

Departure Aviation Services 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 Departure Aviation Services's aircraft rates include fuel?

Departure Aviation Services publishes $145 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 13, 2026.

What ratings can you train for at Departure Aviation Services?

Departure Aviation Services trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor. Instruction is $50 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Departure Aviation Services's own published rates.

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PilotBound estimate · Laurinburg, NC · Checked August 13, 2026

What flight training at Departure Aviation Services costs

Website departureaviationservices.com

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Which airplane?

The solo and time-building rate. With an instructor the same aeroplane is $195/hr.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Departure Aviation Services

$15,715

range $13.5K – $17.9K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Departure Aviation's published rates: Cessna 172 at $145/hr + $50/hr instruction, checked August 13, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$9,775

at the hours students actually take$15,715

+$5,940 on Departure Aviation's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$13.5K – $17.9K

Aircraft rental$10,440

Instruction$2,900

One-time costs$2,375

Aircraft + instruction$13,340

72 hrs in Cessna 172 @ $145/hr + 58 dual @ $50/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 Departure Aviation Services's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Departure Aviation Services'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 Departure Aviation publishes

checked August 13, 2026

Cessna 172The solo and time-building rate. With an instructor the same aeroplane is $195/hr.$145/hr fuel basis not stated

High-performance / complex aircraftPriced for the commercial's ten complex hours. The type is not named.$240/hr fuel basis not stated

Instruction$50/hr

Departure publishes no rate card. Every figure here comes from its own Flight School Cost Estimates PDF, which prices four certificates in a Cessna 172 against both minimum and average hours. The aeroplane alone is $145/hr, quoted as solo and as time-building. Instruction is NOT quoted directly: it is the $50/hr difference between the $195/hr flight time with a CFI and the $145/hr solo rate, and the same $50/hr appears as the ground-lesson rate on all four tables. High-performance and complex time is $240/hr. The PDF's own totals for a Private run $10,858 at minimum hours and $15,758 at average hours, and include the medical, written, checkride and examiner fees. Fuel basis not stated.

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 $15,715 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 ones are what Departure 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 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 Departure Aviation Services's published Cessna 172 and instructor rates (checked August 13, 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 Departure Aviation Services. 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 Departure Aviation Services

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Departure Aviation Services?: Departure Aviation Services publishes $145 per hour for the Cessna 172 and $50 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 13, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $15,715, in a range of $13,500 to $17,900. 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 Departure Aviation Services.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Departure Aviation Services?: Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Departure Aviation Services 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 Departure Aviation Services a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?: Departure Aviation Services 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 Departure Aviation Services's aircraft rates include fuel?: Departure Aviation Services publishes $145 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 13, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Departure Aviation Services?: Departure Aviation Services trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor. Instruction is $50 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Departure Aviation Services's own published rates.

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