Become a commercial pilot and realize your professional dreams of flying for hire. Though the trek between becoming a Commercial Pilot and an Airline Transport Pilot is a long one, transitioning from “learning to fly” to “flying to learn” is an important milestone.
Most students work toward a commercial pilot certificate after earning an instrument rating, and we recommend you do the same. With our unique training programs, we blend your instrument and commercial training to help you become a more capable pilot, faster. If you’re training according to our plan, you’ll already have most of the requirements below by the time you begin Commercial Ground School.
We recommend obtaining your instrument rating before applying to become a commercial pilot.
Applicants must:
The practical exams require endorsement from a qualified flight instructor. Our flight instructors will only endorse you once we are certain you have what it takes to pass.
You must remain qualified to act as Pilot In Command and thus become a Private Pilot first or meet requirements of 14 CFR 61.73.
To apply for the exams to become a Commercial Pilot you must also:
Because of the high hour-requirement, becoming a commercial pilot is often an expensive undertaking. We’ve come up with a few tips and tricks to save you money along the way.
Our career-focused instrument & commercial program goes equips you with many of the hour requirements for commercial during your instrument training. This severely reduces the time required between instrument and commercial training and better prepares you to take the flight-instructor exams quickly after becoming a commercial pilot.
Our pre-pay offers and package deals assume you’ll complete both your instrument and commercial training with us. Below is a breakdown of our instrument and commercial training programs relative to the costs of our nearest competitors, but if you’re looking for only commercial training, give us a call to discuss how to best facilitate your training given your specific situation. Our goal is always to give you the best deal we can, and if that means building a custom pre-pay discount package for you, that’s what we’ll do!
*Competitor prices are based on aircraft and instruction rates as of November, 2023. Competitor programs do not reflect the added cost-savings of efficiency and design our program provides, but do include all the same rating and certification requirements and add-on products.
Competitor prices also assume you can split time using their aircraft, though not all competitors may allow this. We make no guarantees as to the complete accuracy of this information. Prices subject to change.
**Peak Aviation’s website estimates an instrument training cost of $17,429. Our calculation assumes students use the company’s least-expensive aircraft. Our programs assume use of our most-expensive aircraft…and we’re still more affordable.
Few Part 61 Schools offer Commercial Ground Schools and even fewer guide students through commercial training with the precision and efficiency we do.
Not only that, most of your instrument & commercial time building is spent mock-teaching, better equipping you to fly right into flight instructor exams!
No, you do not need to follow our training outline. We can provide commercial training without taking into account instrument training by reducing hours spent in the simulator and increasing hours spent splitting time. This will likely increase the overall cost of the commercial program, depending on the hours you have when you begin the program.
We recommend students use our Mooney M20C for much of their instrument and commercial training, but the commercial check ride and much of the VFR training is accomplished in a Cessna 172.
At a cost lower than neighboring schools charge for fixed-gear IFR-equipped aircraft, you can build time in a complex (retractable gear) aircraft while flying the Mooney M20C. This specialized time looks great on resumes and can help with insurance premiums if you ever decide to purchase your own retractable-gear aircraft.
As everyone learns at a different pace, no students’ overall training costs are exactly the same. For students following our unique training plan, we recommend budgeting around $6,500. We do our best to help you accomplish your training for less with virtual accelerated training and pre-pay deals:
Remember to budget for the additional costs of training: driving to and from the airport can rack up fuel expenses, as can taking time off work!
The Flight School at Colorado Springs offers accelerated flight training for those with an adventurous spirit.
Our flight training programs literally take you places while you develop the skills necessary for even the most demanding of aviation careers.
Hate has no home here.
© Chauncey Crail 2023. All rights reserved.
