PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · Greenville, SC · Checked September 12, 2026

What flight training at Greenville Aviation costs

Website greenvilleaviation.com

Phone (864) 242-4201

Section 1Cost estimate

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Hand brake only.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Greenville Aviation

$17,015

range $14.6K – $19.4K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on Greenville Aviation's published rates: Piper Cherokee 140 at $155/hr + $60/hr instruction, checked September 12, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$10,495
at the hours students actually take$17,015

+$6,520 on Greenville Aviation's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$14.6K – $19.4K
Aircraft rental$11,160
Instruction$3,480
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$14,640
72 hrs in Piper Cherokee 140 @ $155/hr + 58 dual @ $60/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 Greenville Aviation's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Greenville Aviation'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 →

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Section 2The rate card

What Greenville Aviation publishes

checked September 12, 2026
Piper Cherokee 140 (N6389R)1966Hand brake only.$155/hr wet
Cessna 172N (N737WA)1977$173/hr wet
Instruction$60/hr

Airframes built 1966 to 1977. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read September 16, 2026.

Greenville Aviation prices each aircraft on its own page rather than on one rate card, and its own private-pilot page states the fleet runs $155 to $211 per hour WITH FUEL. Instruction is $60/hr flat and covers ground, simulator and single-engine flight alike, rising to $70/hr for multi-engine training or if you bring your own aircraft. Its Redbird MCX simulator is $70/hr. A $300 annual incidental fee covers damage, and the school's own estimate for a Private runs $12,000 to $20,000 all in.

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. Greenville Aviation does not state whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so the estimate above is built on Part 61 hours.

See the published rates →Source 2 →Source 3 →Source 4 →

Section 3Paying for it

Two ways to cover $17,015.

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 for46 open to anyone. Top awards reach $22,200.No South Carolina-only awards in the directory yet.
46
Money you pay backLenders that cover $17,015All 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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Section 4Add to my plan

Turn this into a plan.

Your $17,015 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

Section 5What to ask

What to ask when you call

The marked one is what Greenville Aviation's site never answers. The rest are what turns an hourly rate into a real bill.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  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.

Section 6Questions

How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Greenville Aviation?
Greenville Aviation publishes $155 per hour for the Piper Cherokee 140 and $60 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 12, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $17,015, in a range of $14,600 to $19,400. 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 Greenville Aviation.
How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Greenville Aviation?
Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Greenville Aviation 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 Greenville Aviation a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
Greenville Aviation 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 Greenville Aviation's aircraft rates include fuel?
Greenville Aviation publishes $155 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 September 12, 2026.
What ratings can you train for at Greenville Aviation?
Greenville Aviation trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating and Commercial Pilot. Instruction is $60 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Greenville Aviation's own published rates.

Section 7Sources

Estimates use Greenville Aviation's published Piper Cherokee 140 and instructor rates (checked September 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 Greenville Aviation. 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 Greenville Aviation? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

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4 other schools fly from Greenville Downtown Airport.

None of them publishes a rate, so every one is a phone call. GMU is the identifier to give when you ask.

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