Aircraft fleet at LA Flight School, Van Nuys Airport
Full price list · no per-person surprises

Airplane Tour Prices in Los Angeles

Every flight we operate, every duration, every price, on one page. All of it is priced per flight and not per person — which is the single biggest difference between booking an airplane and booking a helicopter tour, and the reason a lot of people end up here.

Priced per flight, not per seat$189 to $899No fuel surchargesGift certificates for all
$189cheapest — full-motion simulator
$229cheapest real flight, one person
$299cheapest for two people
$0extra for a second person
60 minutes

One-hour flights

The standard booking, and enough for the Hollywood Sign, the studios and a run down the Santa Monica coast. Prices are for the whole flight.

Discovery Flight For One

$229/ 60 min

Cessna or Piper trainer. One guest seat unused.

  • You fly, instructor beside you
  • Logbook entry included
  • Hollywood + coast route
Book $229
Most booked

Discovery Flight For Two

$299/ 60 min

Same aircraft, second person included at no extra charge.

  • Two people, one price
  • Headsets for both
  • Swap seats if you want
Book $299

Luxury Cirrus SR22T For Two

$399/ 60 min

Turbocharged Cirrus, leather, air conditioning, glass cockpit.

  • Whole-airframe parachute
  • Fastest aircraft in the fleet
  • Third seat from $499
Book $399

Multi-Engine Piper Seminole

$499/ 60 min

Twin-engine, three seats, the biggest view we operate.

  • Two engines
  • Best for over-water routes
  • Rare experience even for pilots
Book $499
Every price above includes the aircraft, fuel, headsets and an FAA-certified flight instructor. There are no fuel surcharges, booking fees or per-person add-ons.
90 and 120 minutes

Longer flights

Ninety minutes gets you to Point Dume and back with time to linger. Two hours reaches Catalina Island, or covers the Hollywood route and the full coast in one flight.

For One — 90 / 120 min

$299/ $399

Trainer aircraft, one person.

Book 90 minutes

For Two — 90 / 120 min

$399/ $499

Trainer aircraft, two people. The 120-minute option reaches Catalina.

Book 90 minutes

Luxury Cirrus — 90 / 120 min

$549/ $699

The best long-flight aircraft. Add a third guest from $699.

Book 90 minutes

Multi-Engine — 90 / 120 min

$699/ $899

Twin-engine Seminole. The most capable way to cross to Catalina.

Book 90 minutes
Add a guest to the Luxury Cirrus: $499 for 60 minutes, $699 for 90, $899 for 120.
Everything else

Simulator, lunch flights and gifts

Two options that sit outside the standard list, and the gift certificates.

Redbird Full-Motion Simulator

$189/ 60 min

An FAA-approved simulator that actually pitches and rolls. On the ground, never cancelled for weather, and the cheapest way to find out whether you like this.

Book the simulator

Camarillo Coastal Lunch Flight

$699

For two. Fly the coastline northwest, land at Camarillo, have lunch at the airfield, fly home. Half a day and by some distance the best gesture on this page.

Book the lunch flight

Gift certificates

from$189

Every flight on this page has a matching open-dated gift certificate, so the recipient books the date themselves. Available from $189 up to $899.

See gift options
Enrol in any flight training program within 24 hours of your flight and the full cost of the flight is credited against the program — which makes trying it effectively free if you go on to train.
Context

How these prices compare

Against a Los Angeles helicopter tour

Published LA helicopter tour rates in 2026 generally run about $200 to $400 per person for a 20 to 35 minute flight, with private charters costing significantly more. Two seats on a typical tour therefore lands somewhere between $400 and $800 for roughly half an hour.

Our two-person airplane flight is $299 for a full sixty minutes. Per minute in the air, for two people, that works out at roughly a third of the helicopter cost — and you are flying it rather than riding in it. Helicopter figures vary by operator and season, so check directly with whoever you are comparing.

Against learning to fly properly

A discovery flight is not a discount version of flight training — it is the first lesson of it. If you go on to enrol within 24 hours, the entire cost comes off your program, so the flight is effectively a free trial.

For reference, our Sport Pilot program is $8,400, the Standard Private Pilot program is $10,900, and the Instrument Rating course is $11,700. A $229 discovery flight is a genuinely cheap way to interview a flight school before committing to any of that.

What is not included

Very little, but in the interest of being straight about it:

  • Landing fees at other airports — relevant only if you book a Catalina landing, and we quote it with your booking
  • Food on the Camarillo lunch flight — the flight is $699, lunch is on you
  • Tips. Never expected, occasionally given
  • California sales tax where applicable
Safety

What the price actually buys you

Some of what you are paying for is invisible until you compare it against a cheaper operator.

100-hour inspections

FAR 91.409(b) requires aircraft used for flight instruction for hire to be inspected every 100 flight hours, in addition to the annual. That maintenance is inside the price.

👨‍✈️

A career instructor, not a low-hour pilot

Every flight is commanded by an FAA-certified flight instructor holding a commercial or airline transport pilot certificate and a current medical.

🪂

CAPS on the Cirrus

Part of what the $399 Cirrus costs over the $299 trainer is a rocket-deployed parachute for the whole airframe.

🎛

Real instruction, not a joyride

A full pre-flight briefing, hands-on control time, a debrief and a signed logbook entry that counts toward a certificate.

🌤

Free reschedule for weather

No cancellation charge and no pressure to fly in marginal conditions. That policy costs us money and it is the right one.

💳

No hidden extras

No fuel surcharge, no booking fee, no per-person supplement on the two-seat options. The number on the card is the number you pay.

FAQ

Pricing questions

From $229 for one person for 60 minutes, or $299 for two people for 60 minutes. The luxury Cirrus SR22T is $399 and the multi-engine Piper Seminole is $499, both for two people for an hour. Ninety- and 120-minute versions of every flight are available up to $899.

Per flight. The $299 two-person option costs $299 in total, not $299 each. This is the main way airplane pricing differs from helicopter tour pricing, which is almost always per seat.

The $229 Discovery Flight For One is the cheapest real flight. If you only want to find out whether you like flying, the $189 Redbird full-motion simulator session is cheaper still and never gets cancelled for weather.

No fuel surcharges, no booking fees and no per-person supplements. The only extras that ever apply are a landing fee if you specifically book a Catalina landing, which we quote up front, and lunch on the Camarillo flight.

We do not discount the flights themselves, but the credit is better than a discount: enrol in a training program within 24 hours of your flight and the entire cost of the flight comes off the program price.

LA helicopter tours typically run $200 to $400 per person for 20 to 35 minutes. Two people on our airplane flight is $299 for a full hour. For two people, that is roughly a third of the cost per minute airborne — and you fly the aircraft yourself. Confirm current helicopter rates directly with the operator.

Yes. Every flight has a matching open-dated gift certificate from $189 to $899, so the recipient picks the date. That solves the scheduling problem that makes experience gifts awkward.

Talk to us

An hour over Los Angeles, from $229

Book online in two minutes or call (818) 290-8249 and we will help you pick the right duration and aircraft for what you actually want.

Discovery Flight For Two
$299
60 minutes, two people, no per-person charge
Book for two or call (818) 290-8249