PilotBound estimate · Waukesha, WI · Checked September 12, 2026
What flight training at Stein's Aircraft Services costs
Website steinsaircraftservices.com
Section 1Cost estimate
Your plan
Estimate cost to reach
Flying
Wet. Two-seat. The school's Private Pilot trainer.
PilotBound estimate · Private
Examiner dataCost of your Private at Stein's Aircraft Services
range $13.8K – $18.3K · about 6 months at 2×/week
Priced on Stein's's published rates: Cessna 150 at $130/hr + $75/hr instruction, checked September 12, 2026.
Against a minimums quote
+$6,110 on Stein's'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 Stein's Aircraft Services's published rates. About $2,375 of this is one-time fees (written test, examiner/DPE checkride, medical, gear), typical national estimates, not Stein's Aircraft 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 →
Put this calculator on your siteSection 2The rate card
What Stein's publishes
checked September 12, 2026The Cessna 182H is billed at $210/hr on tach time; Stein's estimates that works out to about $190/hr of Hobbs time. Stein's says outright that the retractable Cessna 172RG is not used for Private Pilot training, and that the RV-12's glass panel makes it TAA-qualifying so its time can replace the complex time for the Commercial. Instruction is one flat rate for everything.
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. Stein's does not state whether it trains under Part 61 or Part 141, so the estimate above is built on Part 61 hours.
Section 3Paying for it
Two ways to cover $16,085.
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. Top awards reach $22,200.No Wisconsin-only awards in the directory yet.
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- Money you pay backLenders that cover $16,085All 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 4Add to my plan
Turn this into a plan.
Your $16,085 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 5In the app
Track it against Stein's's rates.
Stein's Aircraft Services's rate card is in the PilotBound app. Choose Stein's 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 6What to ask
What to ask when you call
The marked one is what Stein's'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.
Section 7Questions
- How much does it cost to get a private pilot license at Stein's Aircraft Services?
- Stein's Aircraft Services publishes $130 per hour for the Cessna 150 and $75 per hour for instruction on it, checked September 12, 2026. Applied to those published rates, PilotBound estimates a private pilot certificate at about $16,085, in a range of $13,800 to $18,300. 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 Stein's Aircraft Services.
- How long does it take to get a private pilot license at Stein's Aircraft Services?
- Flying twice a week, PilotBound estimates about 6 months at Stein's Aircraft 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 Stein's Aircraft Services a Part 61 or Part 141 flight school?
- Stein's Aircraft 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 Stein's Aircraft Services's aircraft rates include fuel?
- Stein's Aircraft Services publishes $130 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 September 12, 2026.
- What ratings can you train for at Stein's Aircraft Services?
- Stein's Aircraft Services 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 Stein's Aircraft Services's own published rates.
Section 8Sources
Estimates use Stein's Aircraft Services's published Cessna 150 and instructor rates (checked September 12, 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 Stein's Aircraft 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.
Are you Stein's? Every figure here is yours, shown with its source and date.
2 other schools fly from Waukesha County Airport.
None of them publishes a rate, so every one is a phone call. UES is the identifier to give when you ask.
- Capital FlightPublishes no ratesWaukesha and Middleton
- Spring City AviationPublishes no ratesWaukesha
Other Wisconsin flight schools
- AJR Aviation · Platteville
- Aviation Services · Oshkosh
- Blue Airways · Bay City
- Burton Aviation · Hayward
- Capital Flight · Waukesha and Middleton
- CAVOK · Green Bay
- Central Wisconsin Aviation · Mosinee
- Centurion Flight Academy · Racine
- City of Cumberland · Cumberland
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