PilotBound estimate · Green Bay, WI · Checked September 16, 2026
What flight training at Pilotsmith costs
Website pilotsmith.com
Phone 920-415-2359
Conveniently located near
- Appleton
- Milwaukee
Section 1Cost estimate
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
Base rate. Lowest-cost IFR-capable trainer.
Shown at Pilotsmith's published dry rate. Fuel is billed separately and is not included in this estimate.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Pilotsmith
range $15.9K – $21.1K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Pilotsmith's published rates: Cessna 172L/M/N/P at $160/hr dry + $79/hr instruction, checked September 16, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$7,174 on Pilotsmith'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 Pilotsmith'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 Pilotsmith'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 Pilotsmith publishes
checked September 16, 2026Pilotsmith publishes dry rates; a per-location fuel surcharge ($5-24/hr, effective May 1, 2026) is billed on top. This estimate uses the base (non-club) dry rates and does not add the surcharge or apply club discounts.
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. Pilotsmith trains under both parts, and the estimate above is built on Part 61 hours.
Section 3Discovery flight
$224
Checked September 16, 2026
30 minutes in a Cessna 172, plus tax. An hour is $359, and a Cirrus SR20 flight is $299 for 30 minutes or $474 for an hour.
Section 4Paying for it
Two ways to cover $18,477.
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 Wisconsin-only awards in the directory yet.
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- Money you pay backLenders that cover $18,477All 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 $18,477 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 6What to ask
What to ask when you call
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 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 7Questions
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Pilotsmith?
- Pilotsmith publishes $160 per hour for the Cessna 172L/M/N/P and $79 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 16, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $18,477, in a range of $15,900 to $21,100. 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 Pilotsmith.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Pilotsmith?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Pilotsmith 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 Pilotsmith a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Pilotsmith trains under both Part 61 and Part 141, so you can pick the structured FAA-approved course or the flexible path. Part 141 is the one that matters for VA benefits and for the lower paper minimum on the private certificate; Part 61 is the one that bends around a full-time job.
- Do Pilotsmith's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Pilotsmith publishes $160 per hour for the Cessna 172L/M/N/P, 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 September 16, 2026.
- What ratings can you train for at Pilotsmith?
- Pilotsmith trains Private Pilot, Instrument Rating, Commercial Pilot, Multi-Engine (AMEL), Flight Instructor, Instrument Instructor and Multi-Engine Instructor. Instruction runs $79 to $100 per hour depending on the rating and the aircraft, since advanced and type-specific instruction is priced above the standard rate. PilotBound's estimator on this page prices any of these paths on Pilotsmith's own published rates.
Section 8Sources
Estimates use Pilotsmith's published Cessna 172L/M/N/P and instructor rates (checked September 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 Pilotsmith. 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 Pilotsmith? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.
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