PilotBound estimate · Cincinnati, OH · Checked August 7, 2026

What flight training at Queen City Flying Service costs

Website queencity.aero

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

"Ruby", the two-seater. The cheapest way to start, but not the aeroplane for the Instrument or Commercial.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Queen City Flying Service

$15,851

range $13.6K$18.1K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Queen City's published rates: Cessna 152 at $134/hr + $66/hr instruction, checked August 7, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$9,847
at the hours students actually take$15,851

+$6,004 on Queen City's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$13.6K$18.1K
Aircraft rental$9,648
Instruction$3,828
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$13,476
72 hrs in Cessna 152 @ $134/hr + 58 dual @ $66/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 Queen City Flying Service's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Queen City Flying Service'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 Queen City publishes

checked August 7, 2026
Cessna 172 (N15222)Garmin G1000. Recently refurbished.$202/hr fuel basis not stated
Cessna 152 (N5453M)"Ruby", the two-seater. The cheapest way to start, but not the aeroplane for the Instrument or Commercial.$134/hr fuel basis not stated
Instruction$66/hr

Instruction is a single $66/hr for any certification, which is unusual: most schools that publish at all charge more past the Private. The $75/hr figure is for instructing an owner in their own aeroplane, not a second tier of training here. Renter's insurance is provided. The site does not say whether the aircraft rates include fuel.

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

See the published ratesSource 2

Step 2

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Your $15,851 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 Queen City's site never answers. The rest are what turns an hourly rate into a real bill.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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 Queen City Flying Service's published Cessna 152 and instructor rates (checked August 7, 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 Queen City Flying Service. 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 Queen City Flying Service

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Queen City Flying Service?
Queen City Flying Service publishes $134 per hour for the Cessna 152 and $66 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 7, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $15,851, in a range of $13,600 to $18,100. 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 Queen City Flying Service.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Queen City Flying Service?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Queen City Flying Service 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 Queen City Flying Service a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
Queen City Flying Service 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 Queen City Flying Service's aircraft rates include fuel?
Queen City Flying Service publishes $134 per hour for the Cessna 152, 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 7, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Queen City Flying Service?
Queen City Flying Service trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Flight Instructor. Instruction is $66 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Queen City Flying Service's own published rates.

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