PilotBound estimate · Spokane, WA · Checked August 17, 2026
What flight training at Northwest Flight Service costs
Website nwflightservice.com
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
1978. Club $195.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Northwest Flight Service
range $21.7K – $28.8K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on NW Flight Service's published rates: Cessna 172N at $225/hr + $115/hr instruction, checked August 17, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$10,190 on NW Flight Service'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 Northwest Flight Service's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Northwest Flight Service'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 NW Flight Service publishes
checked August 17, 2026This estimate uses Northwest Flight Service's published non-club wet rates from its June 17, 2026 rate sheet. Club members pay $30/hr less on aircraft and $20/hr less on instruction, for $100 to join plus $100/month or $1,000/year. Cirrus Standardized instruction is billed by the day ($1,200 non-club), not by the hour. A 3% fee applies to credit card payments.
Not published: the examiner's checkride fee. Listed as missing rather than guessed.
Step 2
Turn this into a plan.
Your $25,245 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 NW Flight Service's site never answers. The rest are 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 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 Northwest Flight Service's published Cessna 172N 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 Northwest Flight Service. 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 Northwest Flight Service
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Northwest Flight Service?
- Northwest Flight Service publishes $225 per hour for the Cessna 172N and $115 per hour for instruction on it, checked August 17, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $25,245, in a range of $21,700 to $28,800. 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 Northwest Flight Service.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Northwest Flight Service?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Northwest Flight Service 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 Northwest Flight Service a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Northwest Flight Service 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 Northwest Flight Service's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Northwest Flight Service publishes $225 per hour for the Cessna 172N, 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 Northwest Flight Service?
- Northwest Flight Service trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Flight Instructor and Instrument Instructor. Instruction is $115 per hour across the ratings it teaches. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Northwest Flight Service's own published rates.
Other Washington flight schools
- 47 North Aviation · Wenatchee
- Aero Maintenance Flight Center · Vancouver
- All Sports Aviation · Deer Park
- Alternate Air · Seattle
- Arlington Flight Services · Arlington
- Avian Flight Center · Bremerton
- Bellingham Aviation Services · Bellingham
- Bergstrom Aircraft · Pasco
- Cascade Air · Kelso
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