Being a professional pilot is a dream that is shared by many. What most people don't realize is that the dream is actually within their reach - right in front of them - waiting to be realized.

In under two years time, you can go from never having flown, to being a professional pilot, and for less than it would cost for one year of college. You can even finance your training through the same people that finance college educations, Sallie Mae - a national leader in student financing.

Once you have your Private Pilot's License you are well on your way to becoming a professional pilot. On this page we will outline the rest of the training necessary to get all the ratings up to and including a Certified Flight Instructor.

The ratings are listed in the order you should acquire them for maximum cost benefit and ease of training.

Financing is available through East Coast Aero Club and Salle Mae to help ease the burden of training costs.

Keep in mind throughout your training that the prices are based on the average student. You can keep costs down depending on the amount that you study. 75% of learning to fly is book work, learning on the ground first makes learning in the sky that much quicker. Students who spend the most time studying and know all the information necessary before each flight, finish their ratings closer to the minimum flight times required by the FAA.

You will be assigned one instructor per license/rating. You may or may not have the same instructor for all of your ratings. We vary instructors from time to time to help give you a diverse education. Ultimately, the instructor you fly with and feel most comfortable with is your choice.

Private Pilot Rating

The following is the estimated cost of training for the Private Pilot Certificate.

The FAA requires a minimum of 40 Hours of flight training. The average student needs about 60-70 hours of training in order to obtain a license.

Advanced Ratings

East Coast Aero Club offers training for all pilot certificates and ratings, from Private Pilot through ATP. The following is a list of the FAA minimum requirements and cost estimates for the instrument rating and commercial certificates.

Instrument Rating

East Coast Aero Club offers instrument training in a Piper Warrior or a Piper Arrow. All of these airplanes are fully-IFR equipped, all with dual communication radios and VORs; the avionics in these airplanes include IFR GPS, LORAN, ADF, and RNAV. The FAA requirements for the instrument rating include 40 hours of instrument time, simulated or actual, 15 of which must be with a Certified Flight Instructor - Instrument (CFI-I), and up to 10 hours of which can be in a flight simulator.

The following cost estimation is in a Warrior and simulator time in an Elite IGate G500.

Single-Engine Commercial

East Coast Aero Club offers single-engine commercial training in a Piper Arrow. The FAA requirements for this rating includes 20 hours of training: 10 hours of instrument training, 10 hours in a complex aircraft, 2 dual cross-country flights, 5 hours night solo time, and a solo cross-country trip. The following cost estimation is based on the FAA minimums in an Arrow.

Starred (*) items: These items are necessary only if not instrument rated & solo night requirements have not previously been met.

Multi-Engine Commercial

With the single-engine rating in hand, the multi-engine rating is an add-on, requiring an average of 10 hours to complete. East Coast Aero Club offers multi-engine training in the Piper Seminole. The following estimates are based on training in the Seminole and the Elite IGate G500 simulator.

Total Average Cost, Zero to Commercial:

Note: Estimated costs only, actual cost will vary. All rates are current as of January 2, 2008 and are subject to change. Aircraft rental is not included in checkride estimates.

Flight Account Bonus Plan

Pre-payment of the following amounts into your flight account will earn a flight account bonus!

Bonus is applied only if your account is positive at the time of pre-payment. Bonus for cash or check deposits only. Bonus may not apply to one time rentals. Bonus must be used and cannot be refunded as cash.

Financing Available through Salle Mae

East Coast Aero Club is happy to provide you with financing through Salle Mae. Management will help you apply for the loan and manage your account. You can make small payments while obtaining your ratings quickly.

Become an Instructor

If you choose to continue your training to become and instructor - you can add it to the professional pilot training program. The following is an outline of the CFI program through our school.

This course is designed to take a holder of at least a Commercial Pilot Single or Multi Engine Airplane certificate to completion of the CFI.

The estimate below gives you an itemized estimation of the costs involved with this training course. Keep in mind that this is an estimate; your actual costs will vary, simply because everyone is different with different learning styles.

You will notice that there are no flight time requirements outside the 3 hours test preparation and there are no "stages" to complete. During the course of this certificate, you will learn in detail the FAA Airman Certification process, the basic fundamentals of instructing, and how to prepare and execute both ground and flight lessons. Additionally, you will learn how to fly, and more importantly, how to teach from the right seat of the airplane. Paired with a CFI with at least two years of experience, this course will be individually tailored based on your current proficiency level.

Note: Estimated costs only, actual cost will vary. All rates are current as of January 2, 2008 and are subject to change.

East Coast Aero Club
117 Perimeter Rd.
Nashua, New Hampshire 03063
Tel: 603-595-1395
Fax: 603-821-4561
www.ecacnashua.com

Summer office hours 8 AM – 7 PM seven days
Winter office hours 8 AM - 5 PM seven days