How expensive is the private pilot license?

This is one of the most frequently asked questions I get, besides “what kind of planes can you fly?”. So, now that I’ve successfully completed my private pilot license training, I’ve created a breakdown of the total cost. What this doesn’t take into account are things like food, accommodation, and other additional ‘life expenses’ which in my case I actually had to incur, as I specifically had to fly from Bangkok to Germany since I did my license in Germany.

The total cost for a PPL obviously depends on how many hours you will require, as the bulk of the cost is the actual airplane charter alongside the time for the instructor. It took me nearly 50 hours of flight time (compared to the minimum required 45 hours), including the 1.5hrs final test flight.

So, here’s the breakdown: I spent a grand total of 13311 EUR, comprised of 5,700 EUR on plane charter, 2,900 EUR on the flight instructor, 1,900 EUR on tax, 1,000 EUR on various landing fees (of which roughly 80% are from my ‘home airport’), a combined 1000 EUR on theory training/exam, 200 EUR on a first test flight (prior to starting the actual license training), 158 EUR on various admin expenses (maps, materials, and so on), and lastly roughly 150 EUR on the medical and 150 EUR on the ICAO language test (level 6 — which means unlimited validity and I won’t have to retest my English language skills).

There may be some small items I might have forgotten to write down. Also note that in other countries prices can differ quite considerably — for instance the US the plane charter is typically quite a bit cheaper. However, for me it would have meant more or less the same total cost considering additional expenses for accommodation, food, visa, and flights from Asia to the US.

See also my post on “starting my private pilot license” to read about why I opted for Germany to do the training.