A state government club that calls itself the cheapest in India, publishes a real hourly rate and a real admission stage total, and never adds them into a course price.
Nagpur Flying Club has been flying since 1947, was taken over by the state government in 1990, and describes itself as the cheapest flight school in India. It publishes more usable numbers than most schools in this directory and it never publishes the one everybody wants, which is what a commercial licence actually costs from start to finish.
What it does publish is two things. An admission stage total, made up of registration, a refundable security deposit and the full ground instructional course with books, all payable before the course starts. And an hourly rate for flying the club's Cessna aircraft, with different rates for a regular student, a student without ground classes, and a conversion or instructor candidate.
It does not put those together, and neither will this page. Any all in figure would be our arithmetic rather than the club's price, and the club explicitly warns that the hourly rate could be increased at the management's discretion, which means an arithmetic total would be wrong the moment the rate moved. Every figure the club does publish is in the table below with its label.
The regulator prints approval 23/2016 against this organisation, records its ownership as State Government, and gives the approval as valid to 15 November 2028.
Counts agree, one type does not. The DGCA list gives 4 single engine, no multi engine, types Cessna 172R and Cessna 152. The site names four aircraft by registration: 1 Cessna 172R (G1000) VT-ACQ, 1 Cessna FA152 VT-ENC, and 2 Cessna 152 VT-EUL and VT-EUK. The Cessna FA152 and the G1000 fit are named by the school and not by the regulator. Both are recorded.
| What | Our source records |
|---|---|
| Registered name | Nagpur Flying Club |
| Bases | Nagpur, Maharashtra and Chandrapur, Maharashtra |
| Aircraft | 4 single engine and no multi engine aircraft on the regulator's list, being Cessna 172R, Cessna 152 |
| Courses | Run regularly: Private Pilot License and Commercial Pilot License. Also offered: renewal of PPL, CPL, IR, AFIR and FIR; conversion of a foreign licence to an Indian one; aircraft endorsement training. The homepage adds student pilot licence and ab initio training, instructor rating, Garmin G1000 familiarisation, Cessna 152 and 172 endorsement, and hobby flying. PPL flying starts on a single engine Cessna 152 or 172R for 60 hours; CPL requires 200 hours and ends with an instrument rating on single engine aircraft. Stated CPL duration 18 months. |
| Figures checked | 8 September 2026 |
DGCA ranking, 1 April 2026 edition: Category C, printed at serial 27. It was Category B in the 30 September 2025 edition, so this is a move in the regulator's own letters between the two.
The regulator publishes a letter and a serial number and no score at all, so there is nothing behind the letter to inspect and nothing here to rank schools against each other by. The bands the letters come from, and how many organisations sit in each on this edition, are set out on the flying schools in India index.
| What you pay for | Amount | What the figure is |
|---|---|---|
| The largest amount this school publishes, which is not a commercial licence course total | ₹4,75,000Published | As the source prints it: CPL student will be required to undergo a complete ground instructional course prescribed by DGCA, for which a fee of Rs. 4,75,000/- as course fee is to be remitted with the club before the commencement of the course. Fees at the time of admission: Registration Charges Rs. 50,000/-, Security deposit (refundable after successful completion of training) Rs. 1,00,000/-, Ground Training Charges with Books (Non refundable) Rs. 3,25,000/-, Total Rs. 4,75,000/- |
| Flying, Cessna 152 or 172R, regular, per hour | ₹18,000Published | One line of the same published rate card. |
| Flying, Cessna 152 or 172R, without ground classes, per hour | ₹19,000Published | One line of the same published rate card. |
| Flying, Cessna 152 or 172R, conversion or instructor, per hour | ₹20,000Published | One line of the same published rate card. |
| Registration charges, CPL, non refundable | ₹50,000Published | One line of the same published rate card. |
| Registration charges, renewal of CPL, PPL, IR, AFIR or FIR | ₹15,000Published | One line of the same published rate card. |
| Security deposit, CPL, refundable on successful completion | ₹1,00,000Published | One line of the same published rate card. |
| Security deposit, renewal courses, refundable | ₹20,000Published | One line of the same published rate card. |
| Ground training charges with books, non refundable | ₹3,25,000Published | One line of the same published rate card. |
Every figure above: read from the club's own commercial pilot licence page, checked 8 September 2026.
Every figure above was read somewhere other than the school, because the school's own price is Not publishedas a course total, checked 8 September 2026
| How far to trust it | What the source says |
|---|---|
| Published, and inside the figure | Registration, a refundable Rs 1,00,000 security deposit, and the full DGCA prescribed ground instructional course with books. |
| Published, and outside the figure | All flying. |
| Published, and outside the figure | Flying is charged separately by the hour and recovered in four equal instalments, and the club warns the rate 'could be increased subject to the decision of management'. |
| Published, and outside the figure | Also excluded and stated as the student's own cost: DGCA examination fees, licence and medical fees, accommodation and boarding, insurance, library, books, individual insurance, uniform, badges and stay at Nagpur. |
Stated on the CPL page. Age 18 for the course listing, with a separate eligibility block giving 17 years and Class X or equivalent with maths and physics. Qualification 12th or equivalent from a recognised board. Class I medical for the course, with Class II accepted to begin training and Class I mandatory before the licence is issued. Required alongside: EGCA ID, SPL, FRTOL(R), ground classes, computer number, DGCA exams, RTR, ELP, 200 flying hours and police verification. Registration deposits and flying fees are remitted at the Managing Director's office and admission is not final without his approval. Police verification and verification of credentials are done by the club before registration. There is an online admission form at https://nagpurflyingclub.org/admission-form/.
None beyond the regulator's list. The contact page names a registered office at the Divisional Commissioner Office, Old Secretariat Building, Civil Lines, Nagpur 440001, which is an administrative address rather than a flying base, plus the two bases the DGCA also lists.
Fee not published on the school's own site (checked 8 September 2026).
The club publishes no all in commercial licence total at all, and this page does not build one, because the club's own warning that its hourly rate can rise would make any such total wrong as soon as it did.
There is no published instalment plan for the flying beyond a statement that it is recovered in four equal parts.
Nothing above is the whole cost of becoming a pilot. Our pilot training cost in India page has the full stack from the medicals to the type rating, and CPL course fees in India puts this school's licence figure next to the rest of the market.
The club does not publish a total, and this page will not invent one. It publishes an admission stage amount covering registration, a refundable deposit and the ground course, and it publishes an hourly rate for flying. Both are in the table on this page with their labels attached.
Because the club says the rate can be increased at the management's discretion, so a total built that way would stop being true the moment it changed. It would also be our number rather than the club's, which is exactly what this directory refuses to publish.
Part of it. The security deposit is described as refundable after successful completion of training. The registration charge and the ground training charge with books are both marked non refundable.