PilotBound estimate · Jackson, TN · Checked August 17, 2026
What flight training at Old School Aircraft costs
Website oldschoolaircraft.com
Section 1Cost estimate
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
Two-seat.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Old School Aircraft
range $13.7K – $18.2K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Old School Aircraft's published rates: Cessna 150L at $140/hr + $60/hr instruction, checked August 17, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$6,040 on Old School Aircraft'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 Old School Aircraft's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Old School Aircraft'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 siteSection 2The rate card
What Old School Aircraft publishes
checked August 17, 2026Airframes built 1966 to 1979. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read September 16, 2026.
This estimate uses Old School Aircraft's published wet rates, which include fuel and exclude instruction. A ten-hour block buys $5/hr off. Renters are required to carry a non-owner policy with at least $100,000 of hull liability, or $150,000 for the Cessna 182. Instruction in a student's own aircraft is $70/hr, and ground instruction is $60/hr.
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.
Section 3Paying for it
Two ways to cover $15,935.
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 Tennessee-only awards in the directory yet.
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- Money you pay backLenders that cover $15,935All 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 $15,935 is the starting line. Turn it into a route to your checkride, every step in order with this cost built in.
Add to my planSection 5What 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.
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 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.
Section 6Questions
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Old School Aircraft?
- Old School Aircraft publishes $140 per hour for the Cessna 150L and $60 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 17, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $15,935, in a range of $13,700 to $18,200. 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 Old School Aircraft.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Old School Aircraft?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Old School Aircraft 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 Old School Aircraft a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Old School Aircraft 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 Old School Aircraft's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Old School Aircraft publishes $140 per hour for the Cessna 150L, 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 17, 2026.
- What ratings can you train for at Old School Aircraft?
- Old School Aircraft 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 Old School Aircraft's own published rates.
Section 7Sources
Estimates use Old School Aircraft's published Cessna 150L and instructor rates (checked August 17, 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 Old School Aircraft. 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 Old School Aircraft? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.
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