How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Sandhills Fliers?

Sandhills Fliers publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 172P and $65 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 13, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $18,745, in a range of $16,100 to $21,400. 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 Sandhills Fliers.

How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Sandhills Fliers?

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

Sandhills Fliers 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 Sandhills Fliers's aircraft rates include fuel?

Sandhills Fliers publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 172P, 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 13, 2026.

What ratings can you train for at Sandhills Fliers?

Sandhills Fliers trains Private Pilot and Instrument Rating. Instruction is $65 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Sandhills Fliers's own published rates.

PilotBoundEvery hour. Every dollar.

PilotBound estimate · Southern Pines, NC · Checked August 13, 2026

What flight training at Sandhills Fliers costs

Website sandhillsfliers.com

Conveniently located near

Elizabethtown

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Which airplane?

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Sandhills Fliers

$18,745

range $16.1K – $21.4K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Sandhills Fliers's published rates: Cessna 172P at $175/hr + $65/hr instruction, checked August 13, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$11,455

at the hours students actually take$18,745

+$7,290 on Sandhills Fliers's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$16.1K – $21.4K

Aircraft rental$12,600

Instruction$3,770

One-time costs$2,375

Aircraft + instruction$16,370

72 hrs in Cessna 172P @ $175/hr + 58 dual @ $65/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 Sandhills Fliers's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Sandhills Fliers'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 Sandhills Fliers publishes

checked August 13, 2026

Cessna 172P (N5387K)$175/hr wet

Vulcanair V1 (three aircraft)$185/hr for Pinehurst ACES Part 141 students.$220/hr wet

Cessna 182N (N9224G)High performance.$205/hr wet

Mooney M20C (N427SF)Retractable.$205/hr wet

Aviat Husky (N8765H)Tailwheel.$185/hr wet

Aeronca Chief (N4388E)Tailwheel endorsement trainer.$135/hr wet

Aeronca Champ (N1202E)Tailwheel endorsement trainer.$130/hr wet

Instruction$65/hr

These are Sandhills Fliers' MEMBER rates. Membership is not required to fly or train, but the Pilot Training membership is $40 a month and the non-member aeroplane rates are not published, so a non-member cannot work out a price from this site. Instruction is $65/hr for members, $75/hr for non-members, and $55/hr for students in the Pinehurst ACES Part 141 programme, who also fly the Vulcanair at $185/hr instead of $220/hr. The Redbird FMX is $70/hr for members and is programmed as a Beechcraft Baron for multi-engine work, which is a simulator rather than a twin, so no multi is priced here.

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 $18,745 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 Sandhills Fliers'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 Sandhills Fliers's published Cessna 172P 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 Sandhills Fliers. 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 Sandhills Fliers

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Sandhills Fliers?: Sandhills Fliers publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 172P and $65 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 13, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $18,745, in a range of $16,100 to $21,400. 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 Sandhills Fliers.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Sandhills Fliers?: Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Sandhills Fliers 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 Sandhills Fliers a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?: Sandhills Fliers 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 Sandhills Fliers's aircraft rates include fuel?: Sandhills Fliers publishes $175 per hour for the Cessna 172P, 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 13, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Sandhills Fliers?: Sandhills Fliers trains Private Pilot and Instrument Rating. Instruction is $65 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Sandhills Fliers's own published rates.

Other North Carolina flight schools

AERO'Connor Aviation · Durham
Aerowood Aviation · Monroe
All American Aviation Services · Fayetteville
Alpha One Air Service · Concord
Amos Aviation · Salisbury
Aqua Aero · Wilmington
Aviators Unlimited · Smithfield
Bass Aviation · Mount Olive
Cape Fear Aviation · Fayetteville

All North Carolina flight schools

Plan the money before you commit

A program price only makes sense next to what each rating costs on its own, what free money exists, and what borrowing actually looks like.

What each rating costs

Honest per-rating ranges, with the fees most quotes leave out.

Free money first

Verified flight training scholarships. Every scholarship dollar is a dollar you never finance.

If you borrow

Compare lenders and see the real monthly payment before you sign.