PilotBound estimate · Pasco, WA · Checked August 17, 2026
What flight training at Bergstrom Aircraft costs
Website bergstromaircraft.com
Phone (509) 547-6271
Section 1Cost estimate
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
160 HP. VFR only: single nav/comm, Mode C, no ADS-B. Cheapest tail on the field. Club $140.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Bergstrom Aircraft
range $16.8K – $22.3K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Bergstrom's published rates: Cessna 172 at $186/hr + $65/hr instruction, checked August 17, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$7,642 on Bergstrom'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 Bergstrom Aircraft's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Bergstrom 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 Bergstrom publishes
checked August 17, 2026Airframes built 1965 to 1979. Years of manufacture from the FAA aircraft registry, read October 4, 2026.
This estimate uses Bergstrom's published retail rates. Bergstrom Flying Club members pay 25% less on aircraft, the simulator and dual instruction, for a $150 joining fee plus $20/month. Instruction with a Gold Seal instructor is $90/hr retail. The site does not say whether fuel is included.
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. Bergstrom's site does not state whether its rates include fuel.
Section 3Discovery flight
$120
Checked September 14, 2026
30 minutes in the air with 30 minutes of ground instruction. 60 minutes is $210.
Section 4Paying for it
Two ways to cover $19,537.
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 for51 open to anyone, plus 2 in Washington. Top awards reach $22,200.
- Museum of Flight Flight Training ScholarshipsUp to $14,000 · Check dates
- Youth Aviation Scholarship FundAmount varies · Check dates
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- Money you pay backLenders that cover $19,537All 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 5Add to my plan
Turn this into a plan.
Your $19,537 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 6In the app
Track it against Bergstrom's rates.
Bergstrom Aircraft's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose Bergstrom when you set up and the app prices your training at its rates, then tracks every flight you log against the projection.
Scan to download on your iPhone
Section 7What to ask
What to ask when you call
The marked one is what Bergstrom's site never answers. The rest are what turns an hourly rate into a real bill.
Do the published aircraft rates include fuel, or is fuel billed separately?Missing from their site
The site does not say, and it is the difference between two rates that look identical and are not.
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 8Questions
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Bergstrom Aircraft?
- Bergstrom Aircraft publishes $186 per hour for the Cessna 172 and $65 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 17, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $19,537, in a range of $16,800 to $22,300. 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 Bergstrom Aircraft.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Bergstrom Aircraft?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Bergstrom 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 Bergstrom Aircraft a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Bergstrom 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 Bergstrom Aircraft's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Bergstrom Aircraft publishes $186 per hour for the Cessna 172, a rate that does not say whether fuel is included. Ask before you budget: if the rate turns out to be dry, fuel adds roughly $30 to $60 per hour on top. PilotBound's estimate uses the rate exactly as published. Rates checked August 17, 2026.
- What ratings can you train for at Bergstrom Aircraft?
- Bergstrom Aircraft trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot and Multi-Engine (AMEL). Instruction is $65 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Bergstrom Aircraft's own published rates.
Section 9Sources
Estimates use Bergstrom Aircraft's published Cessna 172 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 Bergstrom 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 Bergstrom? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.
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