How Much Does a Private Pilot License Cost in Long Beach?
With Gomez Aviation at Long Beach Airport, most students should budget about $19,000 to $22,750 for a private pilot license at the 75-hour national average, or $11,300 to $13,300 at the 40-hour FAA minimum, plus a few hundred dollars of one-time costs. Instruction is $60 per hour and the aircraft are $160 to $210 per hour including fuel. The spread comes down to which airplane you fly and how many hours you need.
Gomez Aviation is Dylan Gomez, an independent FAA-certified flight instructor offering one-on-one, Part 61 flight training at Long Beach Airport (KLGB) in Long Beach, California. Prices on this page were last updated August 20, 2026.
Cost by Aircraft and Hours
Each estimate includes flight time in the aircraft with Dylan aboard, 15 hours of one-on-one ground instruction, and a $1,600 allowance for checkride day (examiner fee plus aircraft time). Add the one-time costs in the next section.
| Aircraft | Wet rate | 40 hoursFAA minimum | 60 hoursWell-prepared student | 75 hoursNational average |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| N8171L1967 Cessna 172H, Garmin G5 | $160/hr | $11,300 | $15,700 | $19,000 |
| N521391984 Cessna 172P, analog | $185/hr | $12,300 | $17,200 | $20,875 |
| N1484B2007 Cessna 172SP, G1000 WAAS | $210/hr | $13,300 | $18,700 | $22,750 |
Per flight hour: aircraft rate plus $60 instruction. Aircraft rates include fuel. Solo hours cost the aircraft rate only.
One-Time Costs
These are paid to third parties, not to Gomez Aviation, and mostly happen before or at the very end of training.
- Third Class medical certificate
- $150–$220
- Often covered by insurance. Get it before you commit to training.
- Home-study ground school
- $150–$260
- King Schools or Gleim are recommended; finish it before your first lesson if you can.
- FAA knowledge (written) test
- about $175
- Taken at an approved testing center after your ground school endorsement.
- Checkride examiner (DPE) fee
- $800–$1,500
- Set by the examiner and paid directly. Budget aircraft time for the flight portion on top.
- Headset
- varies
- A reliable passive headset is enough to start; you can borrow one for the discovery flight.
- Renter's (non-owned) insurance
- varies
- Required before you fly solo; priced by the insurer, typically a few hundred dollars per year.
How Long It Takes
Students who fly two to three times a week typically finish in about six to nine months. At one lesson a week, plan on a year or more. The hours themselves do not change much; what changes is how many of them are spent re-learning skills that faded between flights.
The FAA minimum for a private pilot certificate under Part 61 is 40 hours of flight time, including 20 hours of instruction and 10 hours solo. The FAA's own figure for the national average is about 75 hours. Dylan needed 60, and says so on the private pilot page, because the honest number is the one worth budgeting for.
Part 61 vs. Part 141
Flight training in the United States happens under one of two sets of rules. Part 141 schools teach an FAA-approved syllabus with formal stage checks and a 35-hour minimum for the private certificate. Part 61, which is how Gomez Aviation and most independent instructors train, uses the same Airman Certification Standards with a 40-hour minimum but leaves the order and pacing of lessons to the instructor and the student.
The checkride is identical, the certificate is identical, and because the national average sits near 75 hours either way, the five-hour difference in minimums rarely changes what a student actually pays. Part 61 suits working adults who need to fit lessons around a schedule; Part 141 matters mostly for certain veterans' benefits and some airline-pathway programs.
Five Ways to Keep the Cost Down
- 01Fly two or three times a week. Skills fade between lessons, and re-learning is the most common reason students end up past 75 hours.
- 02Finish ground school and pass the written test before you start flying. Ground time you do at home is ground time you do not pay an instructor for.
- 03Train in N8171L. At $160 per hour it is the least expensive aircraft in the fleet and a fine trainer for the private certificate.
- 04Get your medical certificate first so nothing is discovered after you have invested in lessons.
- 05Chair-fly each lesson the night before: walk through the maneuvers and checklists at home so the airplane time is spent flying, not figuring out what comes next.
Frequently Asked Questions
Is $19,000 really a typical price for a private pilot license?
Yes, at the national average of 75 hours in the least expensive aircraft. The FAA minimum of 40 hours comes to roughly $11,300 before one-time costs, but very few students are checkride-ready at 40 hours; Dylan needed 60. Budget for 75 and treat anything less as a bonus.
Why is the range so wide online, from $10,000 to over $20,000?
Aircraft rates, instructor rates, and the number of hours a student actually flies vary a lot between schools and regions. Most low numbers quote the 40-hour minimum in an inexpensive airplane; most high numbers include a glass-cockpit aircraft and the national-average hours. The table above shows both ends for this fleet.
Do you offer financing, packages, or block-hour discounts?
No. Gomez Aviation is pay-as-you-go: you pay for each lesson after it happens, and no money is ever held on account. That means no deposit at risk, and you can pace spending to your schedule.
What does a discovery flight cost, and does it count?
$225 to $250 for about an hour in the air. It is dual instruction with an FAA-certified flight instructor, so the time can be logged toward your private pilot requirements.
Is Part 61 training cheaper than Part 141?
Not inherently. Part 141 schools have a 35-hour minimum versus 40 under Part 61, but the national average of around 75 hours applies to both, and the certificate you earn is identical. What moves the price is how consistently you fly and what the aircraft and instructor cost per hour.
Want a number for your situation?
Tell Dylan how often you can fly and whether you have any hours already, and he will give you an honest estimate. Or start with a discovery flight and see how it feels.