SAFETY FIRST
★★★★★
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
Zero Time To Airline Ready · Encino
Airline Pilot Training For Encino Career Changers
The path from no experience to airline-ready is $89,000 and a serious multi-year commitment, flown out of Van Nuys Airport, four miles north of Encino.
2,000+Discovery flights flown safely
5.0★Our Google rating, 100+ reviews
10 minFrom Encino to the flight line
9AM–9PMSeven days a week at KVNY
Airline Pilot Program · Encino, Los Angeles County
A Career Change, Costed Honestly
Encino has a high concentration of people in their thirties and forties who are very good at something demanding and are quietly finished with it. Physicians, attorneys, people who built a practice and now spend most of the week on administration. Airline flying comes up in those conversations more often than you would think. The honest version is that it is $89,000 and several years of work, and it is not a hobby.
The program takes someone with no flight time to the point where they are competitive for a regional airline job. Private certificate, instrument rating, commercial certificate, multi-engine rating, and then a flight instructor rating so you can build hours by teaching. We fly out of Van Nuys, one of the busiest general aviation airports anywhere. Learning here means learning in dense, controlled, real airspace from the very first lesson.
The logistics favor Encino more than most places. This is a full-time or near-full-time undertaking, and the difference between a ten-minute commute and a forty-minute one, twice a day, five days a week, across two years, adds up to weeks of your life. Financing runs through Stratus Financial or an in-house payment plan, and we will go through the numbers with you in person at no charge before you commit anything.
How It Works
The Route From Zero To The Right Seat — Start To Certificate
Five certificates and ratings, in this order, all flown from 7900 Balboa Blvd.
1
Private Pilot Certificate
The foundation, and roughly the first stretch of the program. You learn to fly the airplane, navigate, work with controllers and handle emergencies, then pass a written exam, an oral and a practical test with an FAA examiner. Everything after this assumes you can already do all of it well and without thinking about it.
2
Instrument Rating
Flying in cloud and low visibility on instruments alone. This is the rating that separates a weekend flyer from a professional, and it is the hardest thing most people do in the sequence. Standalone it is $11,700. A lot of the approach work happens in the Redbird MCX simulator, which is both cheaper and better for procedure drills.
3
Commercial Certificate
Higher standards, tighter tolerances, and the legal ability to be paid to fly. You will also build the total time the FAA requires, a good deal of it in cross-country flying out of Van Nuys to Camarillo, Santa Barbara, Palm Springs, Las Vegas and further afield.
4
Multi-Engine Rating
Flown in the Piper Seminole. Engine-out procedures, the Vmc demonstration, asymmetric handling and single-engine approaches. Short, intense, and non-negotiable if an airline job is the goal. As a standalone add-on for pilots who already hold a certificate it is $5,100.
5
Instructor Rating And Hour Building
You become a CFI and teach, which is how nearly everyone gets from around 250 hours to the 1,500 an airline requires. It is paid work, it happens right here at Van Nuys, and most instructors will tell you it is the phase where they learned the most. From there you apply to a regional.
Transparent Pricing
Airline Pilot Program Pricing For Encino Students
Every figure below is the real, published price. No "call for a quote," no hidden block-time minimums.
Complete Career Track
Zero To Airline Ready
Everything from your first lesson to the flight hours and ratings an airline wants to see. One program, one price.
$89,000complete
- ✓Private Pilot Certificate
- ✓Instrument Rating
- ✓Commercial Pilot Certificate
- ✓Multi-Engine Rating
- ✓Time-building toward ATP minimums
- ✓Financing available through Stratus
Or Build It Stage By Stage
Prefer to pay as you progress? The same ratings, priced individually.
$10,900stage one
- ✓Private Pilot — $10,900
- ✓Instrument Rating — $11,700
- ✓Multi-Engine Rating — $5,100
- ✓Commercial & time-building quoted on your hours
Start With One Hour
Before committing to a career, find out whether you love the flying.
$229discovery flight
- ✓You fly it yourself, hands-on
- ✓Loggable toward the program
- ✓100% credited if you enroll in 24 hrs
$89,000 is a career investment, not a hobby purchase — and it is why we publish it openly. Financing is available through Stratus Financial and in-house payment plans, and a free in-person consultation at Van Nuys will map the whole timeline against your budget before you commit a dollar.
Getting Here From Encino
10 Minutes And 4 Miles From Encino
Encino to 7900 Balboa Blvd is four miles up Balboa Boulevard and nothing else. North from Ventura, across the 101, past Burbank Boulevard, through the Sepulveda Basin, then Victory, Vanowen, Sherman Way and Saticoy, with the airport on your right. On a normal morning it is ten minutes door to door, and it does not get materially worse in rush hour because you are never on a freeway.
For a program you will be driving to five or six days a week for two years, that matters far more than it sounds. Parking at 7900 Balboa is free, in a lot directly outside Suite 108A, so there is no permit, no meter and no walk at the end of it. We are open 9 AM to 9 PM seven days a week, which means early morning slots and evening slots for night flying both work from Encino.
Book A Discovery Flight
Book Your Discovery Flight From Encino
Pick your aircraft, pick a date and time, and you are on the schedule. You fly the airplane yourself with an FAA-certified instructor beside you — and every flight is 100% credited toward training if you enroll within 24 hours.
No Weather Cancellations
Redbird Simulator
$189
1 hour
Full-motion simulator with an instructor. No weight limit, no medical needed.
Reserve →
Most Popular
Discovery Flight For One
$229
60 minutes
You in the pilot's seat over Los Angeles, hands on the controls the whole way.
Book Now →
Most Gifted
Discovery Flight For Two
$299
60 minutes
One of you flies hands-on, the other takes in the skyline. Share the story.
Book Now →
The Showstopper
Luxury Discovery Flight
$499
60 minutes
Premium Cirrus SR22 glass cockpit and extended air time over the LA basin.
Book Now →
The Pro Move
Multi-Engine Discovery
$499
60 minutes
Twin-engine Piper Seminole and a genuine look at the professional path.
Book Now →
The Aircraft You'll Fly
The Airplanes You Will Move Through
You start in the Cessna 162 Skycatcher or the Diamond DA20 at $269 and $329 an hour, move across to the Piper Warrior, then to the Piper Arrow II at $349 for complex and commercial work. The Cirrus SR22 Turbo at $649 an hour gives you real glass-cockpit and modern avionics time, which puts you in front of the kind of panel you will meet again later in your career.
Multi-engine time happens in the Piper Seminole, also $649 an hour. Alongside all of it is the Redbird MCX full-motion simulator, where you will spend a serious share of the instrument phase. Simulator time is cheaper than airplane time, you can freeze it, reset it and fly the same approach six times in an hour, and it counts toward the requirements.
What You'll See From The Air
Encino From The Training Pattern
You will fly over this piece of ground several hundred times before you finish.
🛣️
Balboa Boulevard
The same street you drove in on, running arrow-straight from the airport fence south through the basin to Ventura Boulevard. It is the easiest ground reference in the Valley and you will use it constantly.
🌿
Sepulveda Basin Wildlife Reserve
A real patch of willow and cottonwood in the middle of Los Angeles, immediately south of the field and under the departure path. The water is useful for reading wind direction on the way out.
🔀
The 101 And 405 Interchange
Just east of Encino, and one of the busiest road junctions in the country. From the air it resolves into a clean piece of engineering rather than the mess it feels like from the driver seat.
🏢
The Ventura Boulevard Office Corridor
The line of mid-rise buildings running along Ventura through Encino, where a lot of our career-change students currently work. Picking out your own office from 2,500 feet is a specific kind of satisfying.
Questions From Encino
Airline Pilot Program FAQ
$89,000, covering the full sequence from zero time to airline-ready: private, instrument, commercial, multi-engine and instructor. Individual ratings are also available separately, for example the instrument rating at $11,700 and the multi-engine add-on at $5,100. Financing is available through Stratus Financial, and we run in-house payment plans.
No flight experience is required to start. Airlines vary on degree requirements, so check the specific carriers you have in mind before you plan around it. What you do need before spending real money is an FAA first-class medical, so get that done early. We will point you toward an aviation medical examiner.
Many people start part-time and go full-time after the private certificate. The ten-minute drive from Encino makes a genuine difference here, because a two-hour lesson before work is possible when the commute is Balboa Boulevard rather than the 405 or the 101. We fly 9 AM to 9 PM, seven days a week.
The certificates and ratings are the shorter part of it. The longer part is building from around 250 hours to the 1,500 airlines require, which nearly everyone does by working as a flight instructor. Doing that hour building at Van Nuys means you are not moving away from Encino in order to do it.
Van Nuys is a towered airport with heavy traffic, complex airspace and the Los Angeles Class B just to the south. Almost everything you will face professionally is here already. Pilots who learn at quiet uncontrolled fields often have to relearn radio work and traffic management later. And from Encino it is four miles.
Book It Or Gift It
Fly It Yourself, Or Give The Flight To Someone Else
Every discovery flight below can be booked for yourself in the next few minutes, or bought as a gift certificate that is emailed within minutes and never expires. Same flight, same price, either way.
Most Given
Two Seats
The Nice One
Twin Engine
Discovery Flight For One
One person, one instructor, and no audience. Hands on the controls from the left seat, briefed before you go and debriefed after you land.
Hands-On Stick TimePre-Flight BriefingLoggable Flight Time
Flight Length
$229Book It Or Gift It
Same Price Either Way
Discovery Flight For Two
The same flight with a passenger in the back seat, briefed and on the intercom. Couples book it; so do parents who would rather watch than hear about it.
One Passenger SeatPiper Warrior Or ArcherHeadsets For Both
Flight Length
$299Book It Or Gift It
Same Price Either Way
Luxury Discovery Flight
The nicest airplane we put a first-time flyer in. Glass cockpit, air conditioning, leather seats, and a parachute built into the airframe rather than strapped to the person.
Turbocharged Cirrus SR22Air ConditioningWhole-Airframe Parachute
Flight Length
Bring A PassengerInstructor + 2 is our maximum+$100
$499Book It Or Gift It
Same Price Either Way
Multi-Engine Seminole
Two engines, and the airplane instrument-rated pilots move into when they start thinking about a career. Flown from the left seat with a multi-engine instructor.
Piper Seminole TwinMulti-Engine DepartureCareer-Track Instructor
Flight Length
$499Book It Or Gift It
Same Price Either Way
Gift It issues a real gift certificate, emailed within minutes, which never expires and credits in full toward training. Flights are limited to 180 lb per person, 370 lb combined. Questions: (818) 290-8249, 9 AM–9 PM, seven days.
Courses & Pricing
The Rest Of What We Teach
★★★★★
5.0 Rating
100+ Google Reviews
Course prices are packages, not hourly rates - the aircraft, your instructor, ground school and simulator time are all in the figure. Van Nuys Airport, KVNY. Financing Available Through Stratus & In-House Plans.
01
Teen Flight Training Ages 10–15
Starting before it is legal to solo.
$4,200
02
Solo Certificate
Enough training to take an aircraft around the pattern alone.
$5,500
03
Sport Pilot
A real certificate, fewer hours, narrower privileges.
$8,400
04
Comprehensive Private Pilot
Private with flight time, ground instruction and materials bundled.
$15,900
05
Premium Private Pilot
The most flight time before your checkride - 80 logged hours.
$22,500
All Prices In USD. 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108A, Van Nuys, CA 91406 · Open 9 AM–9 PM, Seven Days. Free In-Person Tour Of The School
Loved On Google
Over 100 Reviews. 5.0 Stars.
Every review below is real and shown verbatim, in the reviewer’s own words — written by the people who learned to fly here, not by us.
SAFETY FIRST
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
★★★★★
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
★★★★★
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
★★★★★
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
★★★★★
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
★★★★★
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
★★★★★
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
★★★★★
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
★★★★★
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
SAFETY FIRST
★★★★★
Very safety and detail oriented. Pre-flight briefing explained everything there was. To my knowledge, this flight school is exceptional in their ability.
DISCOVERY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I recently had the chance to take my first-ever discovery flight, and it was nothing short of amazing! From the moment I stepped into the cockpit, the...
SUNSET CIRRUS
★★★★★
It was a great flight! I did a sunset flight and Alex let us fly an awesome. Website was easy to book, and the plane itself was really fun to fly...
FLYING LESSON
★★★★★
We had a great flying lesson with Ralph and came away with a much better understanding of both the aircraft and the principles of flight. Ralph is a...
KIDS LUXURY FLIGHT
★★★★★
I got 2 luxury discovery flights for my kids. I wanted them to have the experience of flying. Our instructor Alex was amazing he made sure they feel...
HONEYMOON SURPRISE
★★★★★
Last minute booking to surprise my wife on our honeymoon. She had no experience with flying and was scared of flying, but Alex was very easygoing and knew...
FULL-MOTION SIM
★★★★★
Amazing flight school in van nuys airport. I have been a student here for the past few months and i could not be happier. I started doing a lot of...
DISCOVERY FOR TWO
★★★★★
I booked a Discovery Flight for Two for my girlfriend's birthday and it was the perfect gift for her. She couldn't have been more excited to get to...
SIMULATORS
★★★★★
Very professional and great airplanes. I love the flight simulators. The pricing is very fair compared to any other flight school
TEEN FIRST LESSON
★★★★★
We gifted our teenage son his first flying lesson. He was so excited! Alex greeted us and gave a reassuring brief that made us all feel comfortable and at...
FIRST-TIME FLYER
★★★★★
Flying is my husband's hobby and I was incredibly anxious and apprehensive about the discovery flight. However, I felt completely safe and at ease once we...
See Discovery Flight Details — $229
Reviews shown verbatim, exactly as each reviewer published them.
Talk To A Real Instructor
Train For The Airlines, 10 Minutes From Encino
This is a large decision and the right first step is a conversation, not a deposit. Call (818) 290-8249 or come to 7900 Balboa Blvd, Suite 108A, and we will go through the $89,000 in detail, the financing options, and what the next two years would actually look like from Encino.
Or Send Us A Message And We'll Come Back To You The Same Day →Airline Pilot Program
$89,000
Zero Time To Airline Ready
Book A Discovery Flight
Full Airline Pilot Program Details