What flight training at ACES Flight School costs
Rock Hill & Pelion (plus Monroe, NC), SC · Checked October 12, 2026
Website acesflightschool.com
Phone (803)-327-2237
Cost estimate
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at ACES Flight School
range $15.4K – $20.4K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on ACES's published rates: Piper Cherokee 140 at $175/hr + $50/hr instruction, checked October 12, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$6,900 on ACES'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 ACES Flight School's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not ACES Flight School'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 siteThe rate card
What ACES publishes
Checked October 12, 2026Rock Hill, SC (KUZA)
Pelion, SC (Lexington area)
Monroe, NC (KEQY)
Airframes built 1964 to 1982. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read November 3, 2026.
Rental rates include fuel. Instruction is $50/hr for single-engine and $65/hr for multi-engine training. Renting outside opening hours adds $40, which is waived when you fly with an instructor. ACES publishes one figure for the Piper Aztec, $439/hr, and does not say whether an instructor is included in it, so confirm that before budgeting a multi-engine rating.
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.
Paying for it
Two ways to cover $17,875.
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 for45 open to anyone. Top awards reach $22,200.No South Carolina-only awards in the directory yet.
- 45
- Money you pay backLenders that cover $17,875All 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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Add to my plan
Turn this into a plan.
Your $17,875 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.
In the app
Track it against ACES's rates.
ACES Flight School's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose ACES when you set up and the app prices your training at its rates, then tracks every flight you log against the projection.
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What 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.
Questions
How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at ACES Flight School?
ACES Flight School publishes $175 per hour for the Piper Cherokee 140 and $50 per hour for instruction on it, checked October 12, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $17,875, in a range of $15,400 to $20,400. 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 ACES Flight School.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at ACES Flight School?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at ACES Flight School 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 ACES Flight School a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
ACES Flight School 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 ACES Flight School's aircraft rates include fuel?
ACES Flight School publishes $175 per hour for the Piper Cherokee 140, 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 October 12, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at ACES Flight School?
ACES Flight School trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine (AMEL), Flight Instructor, Instrument Instructor and Multi-Engine Instructor. Instruction runs $50 to $65 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 ACES Flight School's own published rates.
Sources
Estimates use ACES Flight School's published Piper Cherokee 140 and instructor rates (checked October 12, 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 ACES Flight School. 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 ACES? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.
Other South Carolina flight schools.
- Ace Basin AviationWalterboro
- Aero IISpartanburg
- Aeronautical Services of GreenwoodGreenwood
- Aiken Pilot TrainingAiken
- Aloft Aviation ServicesSpartanburg
- ASG Flight Training AcademyGreenville
- CAVU Flight SchoolGreenville
- Charleston Flight SchoolNorth Charleston
- CRAFT Flight Training & SimulationNorth Charleston
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