Guides

Aviation Maintenance School Guides: Cost, Length, and Choosing a School

Straight answers to the questions students ask before they enroll at an aviation maintenance school, grounded in FAA rules and the programs' own published details.

A mechanic's hands inspecting the swashplate and pitch links of a helicopter rotor head on a maintenance stand

At a Glance

How Long Aviation Maintenance School Takes and What It Costs

FAA Estimate, School Length

18 to 24 mo

FAA.gov

Median Published Program Length

18 mo

47 school program pages

Median In-State Tuition, Per Year

$4,350

IPEDS, 97 institutions

FAA-Approved Schools in IPEDS

102 of 225

IPEDS crosswalk

IPEDS tuition is a yearly figure for the whole college, not a program price. 53 schools post a program cost on their own pages; each appears on that school's profile with the period it covers.

Program Length

Aviation Maintenance Program Lengths Published by Schools

47 FAA-approved schools state their program length in months on their own pages. Before the 2022 rule rewrite, Part 147 set a fixed 1,900-hour minimum for a combined Airframe and Powerplant curriculum; that minimum no longer exists.

Published Program Length, Number of Schools

School program pages, retrieved Sep 2026

FAA Rules

What Every FAA-Approved (Part 147) School Must Do

These rules from 14 CFR Part 147 apply to all 225 schools in this directory. They are a floor, so ask each school how it meets them.

  • Keep a curriculum aligned with the FAA Airman Certification Standards. Current rules set no fixed number of hours.
  • Keep shop classes at no more than 25 students per instructor.
  • Use instructors who hold a mechanic certificate with the right rating, or who are otherwise qualified for their subject.
  • Be institutionally accredited, or run an FAA-approved quality control system.
  • Maintain at least a 70% pass rate over three years for graduates who test within 60 days of finishing.
  • Give every graduate an authenticated document showing the graduation date and curriculum completed.

Keep Exploring

Compare Schools and Pay

State pages show every FAA-approved school with its city, certificate number, and the program details it publishes.

Sources

All sources retrieved .

Every figure on this page comes from a published source listed above. Our data methodology explains how the school list, distances, pay data, and rankings are built.

Compare Programs

See Every FAA-Approved School in Your State

Program length, published cost, and IPEDS tuition appear on each school profile when the school publishes them.