FAA requirements are 40 hours to get your private license, but it typically takes around 60-80 hours, and the most commonly quoted approximate price I've always heard is about $10,000 for everything: ground school, flight training, materials, etc.
C++ is used today in any field that requires performance, like Gaming for instance. C++ is also very reliable and is the prime choice for embedded systems, which must be reliable to work and not cause exceptions. C++ can be used to create virtual...
C++ is still heavily used in many mission critical financial applications. For example, most of Bloomberg's platforms are based on C++ with very little front end in other languages. Many investment banks and hedge funds use algorithmic trading systems written completely in C++ (e.g., Tower Research Capital, Knight Capital, etc.). If you've been out of C++ for a while, you may need to get used to a whole bunch of now-standard libraries.