PilotBound estimate · Arlington, WA · Checked August 17, 2026
What flight training at Arlington Flight Services costs
Website arlingtonflightservices.org
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
VFR-only trainer. Six-pack panel, Garmin Area 760 VFR GPS, Lycoming O-320. Dry.
Shown at Arlington Flight Services's published dry rate. Fuel is billed separately and is not included in this estimate.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Arlington Flight Services
range $14.9K – $19.8K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Arlington's published rates: Cessna 172P at $152/hr dry + $70/hr instruction, checked August 17, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$6,684 on Arlington'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 Arlington Flight Services's published rates (dry; fuel billed separately). About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Arlington Flight Services'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 Arlington publishes
checked August 17, 2026Arlington's rates are dry, so fuel is billed on top and is not included in this estimate. The word "dry" appears on the three VFR aircraft's own pages; the two IFR-equipped tails are priced on the home page without restating it.
Not published: the examiner's checkride fee. Listed as missing rather than guessed.
Step 2
Turn this into a plan.
Your $17,379 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 one is what Arlington's site never answers. The rest are what turns an hourly rate into a real bill.
Your published rates are dry. Roughly what does fuel add per hour on the trainer?
The published figures leave fuel out, so they understate the real hourly cost until you add it.
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 Arlington Flight Services's published Cessna 172P and instructor rates (checked August 17, 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 Arlington Flight Services. 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 Arlington Flight Services
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Arlington Flight Services?
- Arlington Flight Services publishes $152 per hour for the Cessna 172P and $70 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 17, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $17,379, in a range of $14,900 to $19,800. 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 Arlington Flight Services.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Arlington Flight Services?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Arlington Flight Services 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 Arlington Flight Services a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Arlington Flight Services 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 Arlington Flight Services's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Arlington Flight Services publishes $152 per hour for the Cessna 172P, a dry rate, so fuel is billed separately on top. Fuel typically adds roughly $30 to $60 per hour, so compare a dry rate against a wet one carefully. PilotBound's estimate uses the published dry rate exactly as listed and does not add a guessed fuel figure. Rates checked August 17, 2026.
- What ratings can you train for at Arlington Flight Services?
- Arlington Flight Services trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine (AMEL), Flight Instructor and Instrument Instructor. Instruction is $70 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Arlington Flight Services's own published rates.
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