PilotBound

What flight training at The CAVU Pilot costs

Knoxville, TN · Checked October 16, 2026

Website thecavupilot.com

Cost estimate

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Two-seat VFR trainer.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at The CAVU Pilot

$17,165

range $14.8K – $19.6K · about 6 months at 2×/week

Priced on CAVU Pilot's published rates: Cessna 150 at $145/hr + $75/hr instruction, checked October 16, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$10,575
at the hours students actually take$17,165

+$6,590 on CAVU Pilot's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$14.8K – $19.6K
Aircraft rental$10,440
Instruction$4,350
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$14,790
72 hrs in Cessna 150 @ $145/hr + 58 dual @ $75/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 The CAVU Pilot's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not The CAVU Pilot'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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The rate card

What CAVU Pilot publishes

Checked October 16, 2026
Cessna 150Two-seat VFR trainer.$145/hr wet
Diamond DA40IFR-capable trainer.$235/hr wet
Instruction$75/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.

See the published rates →

Paying for it

Two ways to cover $17,165.

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 Tennessee-only awards in the directory yet.
45
Money you pay backLenders that cover $17,165All 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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Turn this into a plan.

Your $17,165 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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In the app

Track it against CAVU Pilot's rates.

The CAVU Pilot's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose CAVU Pilot 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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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 The CAVU Pilot?

The CAVU Pilot publishes $145 per hour for the Cessna 150 and $75 per hour for instruction on it, checked October 16, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $17,165, in a range of $14,800 to $19,600. 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 The CAVU Pilot.

How long does it take to get a private pilot license at The CAVU Pilot?

Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at The CAVU Pilot 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 The CAVU Pilot a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?

The CAVU Pilot 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 The CAVU Pilot's aircraft rates include fuel?

The CAVU Pilot publishes $145 per hour for the Cessna 150, 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 16, 2026.

What ratings can you train for at The CAVU Pilot?

The CAVU Pilot trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Flight Instructor and Instrument Instructor. Instruction is $75 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on The CAVU Pilot's own published rates.

Sources

Estimates use The CAVU Pilot's published Cessna 150 and instructor rates (checked October 16, 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 The CAVU Pilot. 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 CAVU Pilot? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.

2 other schools fly from Knoxville Downtown Island Airport.

All of them publish something, so you can compare before you call. DKX is the identifier to give when you ask.

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What each rating costs

Per-rating ranges, with the fees most quotes leave out.

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