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PilotBound

PilotBound estimate · Waukesha, WI · Checked August 14, 2026

What flight training at Stein's Aircraft Services costs

Website steinsaircraftservices.com

Your plan

Estimate cost to reach

Flying

Wet. Two-seat. The school's Private Pilot trainer.

PilotBound estimate · Private

Examiner data

Cost of your Private at Stein's Aircraft Services

$16,085

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 August 14, 2026.

Against a minimums quote

at the FAA legal minimums$9,975
at the hours students actually take$16,085

+$6,110 on Stein's's own rates. Quotes usually price the 40-hour minimum; almost nobody finishes there.

Where it goes

$13.8K – $18.3K
Aircraft rental$9,360
Instruction$4,350
One-time costs$2,375
Aircraft + instruction$13,710
72 hrs in Cessna 150 @ $130/hr + 58 dual @ $75/hr

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
Hours at a steady pace72 hrs

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 →

What Stein's publishes

checked August 14, 2026
Cessna 150Wet. Two-seat. The school's Private Pilot trainer.$130/hr wet
Van's RV-12 (two aircraft)Wet. Light-sport and TAA-qualifying; glass panel, 2-axis autopilot.$165/hr wet
Cessna 172RGWet. Retractable and constant-speed, the complex tail. Rental needs a Private.$175/hr wet
Aeroprakt A32Wet. Garmin IFR light-sport, configured for instrument training. TAA and LSA.$195/hr wet
Cessna 182H Skylane (1964)Wet, billed on tach time. High performance. About $190/hr of Hobbs time by the school's own estimate.$210/hr wet
Instruction$75/hr

The 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.

Not published: the examiner's checkride fee. Listed as missing rather than guessed.

See the published rates→

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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.

  1. 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.

  2. 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.

  3. 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.

  4. 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.

  5. 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.

  6. 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 Stein's Aircraft Services's published Cessna 150 and instructor rates (checked August 14, 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 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.

Common questions about Stein's Aircraft Services

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 August 14, 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 August 14, 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.

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