King Air training cost: tuition by model, and what the airplane adds

Access Flight Training ServicesPublished 2026-11-02Revised 2026-11-045 min read

King Air 200 recurrent: 2 or 3 days, about 7 flight hours if required, $2,850. King Air 350 initial: 3 to 5 days, about 10 flight hours if required, $3,950.

Both lines are correct, and neither one mentions the airplane. King Air training cost is tuition, plus the hours flown at your own operating cost, plus any instructor travel.

King Air training cost by model

This is Access tuition as published on the tuition page, for training in your airplane at your airport.

Flight hours are "if required" on the syllabus, so a course can fly less. If your underwriter requires more dual, days can be added, at about 5 flight hours a day. Notes on each model are on the King Air training page.

What does King Air tuition include?

The course is ground and flight instruction per the syllabus, given by an FAA-certificated CFII under 14 CFR Part 61. It ends with a written test specific to your aircraft and a completion certificate.

It can also include an IPC to the Instrument Rating Airplane ACS (FAA-S-ACS-8C), a flight review and a high altitude endorsement, when you meet the standards. A flight review under 14 CFR 61.56 and an IPC under 14 CFR 61.57(d) are separate requirements. An instructor can accomplish both in one session, with separate endorsements. The high altitude endorsement comes from 14 CFR 61.31(g).

Paid apart from tuition:

• Your airplane's fuel and operating cost during the flight hours.
• Added days of dual, if your underwriter requires them. Ask for the daily charge.
• A type rating practical test, which these courses do not include.
• Instructor travel expenses when the instructor comes to you, which vary by location. Tuition is the same at your location or at ours.

Ask for the travel figure when you request dates. If you have more than one pilot to train, ask at the same time. Have your AFM or POH on board: limits and procedures come from it, and this article does not replace it.

How much does the airplane add to King Air training?

Nobody can publish this number for you, so we will not print one. Call it C: your own operating cost per flight hour, from your records. Count fuel at what you pay, oil, and the reserves you set aside for maintenance, engines and propellers. Leave out hangar, insurance and anything else you would pay if the airplane sat for the week.

Each added day of dual adds about 5 x C on top of that day's charge. If your maintenance tracking or engine program counts cycles as well as hours, count them too. As we see it, a training flight with repeated approaches can log more landings per hour than a trip does.

Ben Berman, writing for AOPA in 2026, warns that because training flights are expensive there is a tendency to keep them to a minimum, and says to fight it. Budget the flight hours before the course starts, so the hourly cost does not quietly shorten the training.

The King Air cost calculator runs this arithmetic with your numbers, and nothing you type leaves the page.

What does a simulator course cost beyond tuition?

A simulator course has its own costs: airfare, hotel, days away. Its arithmetic is S, your quote, plus travel, plus whatever your days away are worth to you.

The simulator providers' King Air pages we read on November 2, 2026 showed no course price, so you need a dated quote. The last public figures we found are old. Rick Durden, writing on AVweb in December 2021, put simulator-based turboprop initial programs at over $15,000 and recurrent for turboprop singles at $6,000 and up. Neither figure is specific to a King Air.

That money buys things the airplane cannot give you. A simulator can safely run failures that are never performed in the airplane, and it puts no hours or cycles on your airframe. In your airplane you get your own panel at your own airport, with limits: on these courses no engine is shut down, and no engine failure is simulated between rotation speed and 500 feet AGL. How the two formats compare goes through the trade-off row by row.

What do other providers list for King Air courses?

Other in-aircraft providers whose published prices cover King Airs showed recurrent at $3,500 to $4,250 and initial at $5,400 to $9,000 (November 2, 2026; list price, travel not included unless stated). Course length and stated flight hours differ from one list to the next, and one of those recurrent prices buys a single day.

Compare King Air list prices only after lining up days, flight hours and travel, because they do not describe the same course.

What does a type rating add for a King Air 300 or 350?

A King Air 300 is over 12,500 lb and a 350 is 15,000 lb, so 14 CFR 61.31(a) requires a type rating to act as pilot in command. The 300LW, at 12,500 lb, does not need one, and neither does a 200 at 12,500 lb, though a 200 modified above that weight can. Which King Airs need a type rating has the detail.

The published courses do not include a type rating practical test, so if you do not hold the rating, price that separately. 14 CFR 61.195(e) also requires your instructor to hold that rating on his or her pilot certificate, so ask who will fly with you.

Ask your broker before you compare King Air prices

All of this assumes the format satisfies your policy. BWI Aviation Insurance, a broker, wrote in June 2026 that most insurers require initial transition and annual recurrent training for a King Air, and that simulator training is often preferred or required. That is a broker statement, and your quote may say something else. Berman puts in-aircraft recurrent in a turboprop on the same condition: if your insurance company agrees. Cost only decides between the two formats after your policy accepts both.

Get that answer first, using what insurance approved means and how to get it in writing. Then put your tuition, your C and any simulator quote into the calculator, and travel expenses are added when the instructor comes to you, and vary by location.