From discovery flight to airline pilot

• Booked as a one-hour lesson. Plan on about 90 minutes at the airport, with a briefing before and a debrief after.
• Pay a $100 deposit online and $149 at the airport.
• Your discovery flight is free when you start training: when you buy your first training block (10, 20 or 40 hours), we credit the $249 back to your account.
• It’s logged as dual instruction, so the time counts if you go on to train for a pilot certificate.
• Minimum age at Merlin: 16.

Sources: Merlin prices, updated October 2026.

• Training deposit: $1,000. Start smaller and pay as you fly.
• Every training block comes with free credit: $50 with the 10-hour block ($2,600), $200 with the 20-hour package ($5,200) and $1,000 with the 40-hour package ($10,000).
• Your first block of any size also credits back your $249 discovery flight.
• You can pay for a training block with Klarna at checkout, subject to approval. Klarna decides which plans you see; we never see your approved amount.
• Student pilot certificate: no FAA fee. Your instructor helps you apply online.
• FAA medical (third class) from an aviation medical examiner, before your first solo. The doctor sets the fee; we budget $100–$200.
• TSA: U.S. citizens show proof of citizenship, like a passport or birth certificate. Non-citizens need TSA approval before training, and we help with the application.

Sources: FAA: 14 CFR 61.83. Merlin prices, updated October 2026.

• There’s no minimum number of hours. Your instructor signs you off when you’re ready (14 CFR 61.87).
• Before your first solo: a student pilot certificate, an FAA medical, a knowledge test from your instructor, and training on takeoffs, landings and emergencies.
• On our private pilot timeline, first solo comes around weeks 2–8 at 2 lessons a week. At 2 lessons a week, that’s weeks 2–8.
• Your solo time is part of the private pilot estimate below.

Sources: FAA: 14 CFR 61.87. Merlin private pilot timeline.

• FAA minimum: 40 hours, with at least 20 hours of instruction and 10 hours solo (14 CFR 61.109). That includes:
• 3 hrs of cross-country flying and 3 hrs of flying by instruments, with an instructor.
• 3 hrs of night flying, including a cross-country of over 100 nautical miles and 10 night takeoffs and landings.
• 3 hrs of checkride practice in the 2 months before the test.
• 10 hrs solo: 5 hrs of solo cross-country, one 150 nautical mile trip with landings at 3 airports, and 3 takeoffs and landings at an airport with a control tower.
• Then the FAA written test and a checkride with an FAA examiner. Minimum age 17.
• Most people need more than the minimum. Our estimate is 55–65 flight hours, 10–13 of them solo.
• The $16,625–$21,414 estimate covers the airplane ($185/hr), your instructor ($75/hr), ground school, FAA tests, the medical and gear.

Sources: FAA: 14 CFR 61.103, 61.109. Merlin estimate, prices updated October 2026.

• FAA minimum: 40 hours of actual or simulated instrument time, 15 of them with an instrument instructor, plus 50 hours of cross-country flying as pilot in command (14 CFR 61.65).
• At Merlin you train in N159G, our Alto, wearing a hood that blocks your view outside. That counts as simulated instrument time.
• Includes 3 hours of instrument training in the 2 months before the checkride, and one 250 nautical mile flight on an instrument flight plan with three kinds of approaches.
• Then an FAA written test and a checkride.
• N159G is approved only for VFR (visual) flying, so two flights need an airplane approved for instrument flight: the 250 nautical mile flight on an instrument flight plan, and the checkride (14 CFR 61.65, 61.45).
• Our cost calculator’s estimate: 50 flight hours and 70 instruction hours at our hourly rates, plus test fees. It prices all 50 hours at N159G’s rate. The airplane for those two flights may cost a different amount.
• At 2 lessons a week, about 6 months, using the same math as the private pilot estimate on the calculator’s 50 flight hours.

Sources: FAA: 14 CFR 61.45, 61.65. Merlin cost calculator and aircraft page.

• FAA minimum: 250 hours of flight time, including 100 hours as pilot in command, 50 of them cross-country (14 CFR 61.129).
• 20 hours of training, including 10 hours of instrument training and 10 hours in a complex, turbine or technically advanced airplane.
• Day and night cross-country flights with an instructor (2 hours and over 100 nautical miles each), and a 300 nautical mile cross-country as pilot in command.
• To be paid to fly you also need a second-class FAA medical.
• Then an FAA written test and a checkride. Minimum age 18.
• Our cost calculator’s estimate: 120 flight hours and 168 instruction hours at our hourly rates, plus test fees. At 2 lessons a week, about 14 months.

Sources: FAA: 14 CFR 61.23, 61.123, 61.129. Merlin cost calculator.

• You need a commercial pilot certificate with an instrument rating first (14 CFR 61.183).
• Two FAA written tests (fundamentals of instructing, and flight instructor airplane), then a checkride.
• Includes spin training in an airplane approved for spins, with an instructor’s sign-off.
• Not in our cost calculator yet. Ask us for a quote.

Sources: FAA: 14 CFR 61.183.

• 1,500 hours total, including 500 cross-country, 100 at night and 75 instrument (14 CFR 61.159). Minimum age 23.
• Restricted ATP from age 21 (14 CFR 61.160): 750 hours for military pilots, 1,000 with a bachelor’s aviation degree, 1,250 with an associate’s. The degree options need that college’s commercial and instrument training under Part 141. Merlin is a Part 61 school.
• Before the ATP written test you complete the ATP Certification Training Program (14 CFR 61.156).
• U.S. airlines need an ATP for both pilot seats (14 CFR 121.436). Each airline sets its own hiring requirements.

Sources: FAA: 14 CFR 61.153, 61.156, 61.159, 61.160, 121.436.