PilotBound estimate · Erwinna, PA · Checked September 5, 2026
What flight training at Van Sant Airport costs
Website vansantairport.com
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
Tailwheel, and the primary trainer here.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Van Sant Airport
range $16.1K – $21.3K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Van Sant's published rates: 1946 Piper Cub at $170/hr + $70/hr instruction, checked September 5, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$7,260 on Van Sant's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-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).
The hourly flying is priced on Van Sant Airport's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Van Sant Airport'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 Van Sant publishes
checked September 5, 2026A grass field of vintage aircraft. Rental is priced per hour for the Cub and the Citabria; instruction is quoted only as a combined per-hour figure with the airplane and wet, $240 in the Cub and $290 in the Citabria. Both differences give $70, which is the instructor rate recorded. The Stearman flies at $540 combined and the glider at $120 plus tows.
Not published: the examiner's checkride fee, whether rates include fuel. Listed as missing rather than guessed.
Paying for it
Two ways to cover $18,675.
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Your $18,675 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.
Add to my planWhat to ask when you call
The marked ones are what Van Sant'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 Van Sant Airport's published 1946 Piper Cub and instructor rates (checked September 5, 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 Van Sant Airport. 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 Van Sant Airport
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Van Sant Airport?
- Van Sant Airport publishes $170 per hour for the 1946 Piper Cub and $70 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 5, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $18,675, in a range of $16,100 to $21,300. 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 Van Sant Airport.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Van Sant Airport?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Van Sant Airport 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 Van Sant Airport a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Van Sant Airport 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 Van Sant Airport's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Van Sant Airport publishes $170 per hour for the 1946 Piper Cub, 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 September 5, 2026.
- What ratings can you train for at Van Sant Airport?
- Van Sant Airport trains Private Pilot. Instruction is $70 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Van Sant Airport's own published rates.
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